Sun, Surf and Buses – Scarborough Bus Fest 2017

It’s hard to think of many things more ‘British’ than a day out at the seaside.  The reality of which often falls short of the idealised version with beautiful sunshine, golden sand and ice cream or fish and chips.  Fortunately for us, despite the satnavs best efforts, our recent visit to Scarborough Bus Fest in Yorkshire was much closer to the picture postcard ideal.

Scarborough is, of course, famous in bus term as the home of Plaxton which was founded in the town 110 years ago.  This was celebrated at the event with Plaxton vehicles attending.  It can be really easy to get a bit down when thinking about the automotive industry in Britain, so many of the household names have disappeared, so it’s wonderful to see one continuing and being celebrated.

The venue itself was a short walk from the sand and sea of the north bay, with a shuttle bus service running regularly into the town centre and along the seafront.  We started off at the rally site and it was fun to not only look at the buses parked up but to have a mooch on the stalls as well.  I also shot some footage at the site before we headed into town on a preserved B10 that used to form part of the Reliance fleet.  There is a video of that journey below, in fact, I’ve linked to all the videos specific to the Bus Fest at the bottom of this post.  The circular shuttle service which ran up into the main town then looped back along the seafront was a free service and we were surprised that the buses weren’t carrying donations buckets.

The atmosphere on the buses was friendly and after a stop off by the mainline Railway Station, we headed back on a ‘Coastliner’ Wright Gemini.  That part of the trip included a few stops for photos and she did look very beautiful in her shining blue livery in the sun.  We then finished the day off watching the open topper sightseeing buses (plus a few from the rally) going along the sea front while eating ice cream in the sun.  All in all a wonderful way to spend a Sunday.

– Mara