Open tops in Ilfracombe, but not Lynton.

Saturday 10th June 2023

I’d been looking forward to another ride on First Bus’s wonderful Exmoor Coaster open top bus route and in particular its newly extended route from Lynmouth via Lynton and Combe Martin to Ilfracombe.

First Bus tentatively dipped its toe in the water with a separate service between Lynmouth and Ilfracombe last summer. Branded as Sunseeker it was operated by single decks with the rear side windows removed resulting in an “open air deck”.

This trial presumably gave First’s ‘Adventures By Bus’ team confidence there was a market to exploit as this summer’s Exmoor Coaster timetable includes the extension of five of the 13 journeys from Minehead through to Ilfracombe every two hours making for an end to end journey time of two hours 10 minutes.

The timetable also includes three morning journeys starting at the holiday park in Blue Anchor (east of Minehead) which is a change from last year when they started even further east at Watchet and used the narrow coast road. I’m not surprised this has been changed as that part of the route was prone to delays due to negotiating the narrow road and Watchet is served by the half hourly route 28 between Taunton and Minehead. From Blue Anchor the bus now uses the standard route into Minehead from Carhampton and, as with all journeys, also serves the huge Butlins complex (where most journeys terminate) and is a great source of custom.

The extension from Lynmouth to Ilfracombe began over the Spring Bank Holiday weekend and half term week but I deliberately gave it a miss knowing how crowded it would be – and this on a route that was barely served at all a few years ago such has been the success of this initiative from First Bus.

Instead I took a ride last Monday catching the 12:00 departure from Minehead Butlins which is a Lynmouth “short” journey as I wanted an hour’s break in Lynmouth which is always a pleasant spot to linger and explore before catching the next Minehead departure an hour behind from Lynmouth, which is one of the five through journeys to Ilfracombe.

It was a great ride as always.

You just can’t beat the scenery nor the fun of whether you’re going to meet other traffic coming down Porlock Hill either around the two hairpin bends …

… or along the very narrow stretch at the bottom of the hill.

It must be one of the most challenging sections of bus routes to drive anywhere in Britain, not least with a full size double deck bus, often fully loaded.

While chatting at Minehead before we set off with the driver for the journey, Dom warned me the bus was unlikely to get much above 3 mph up the hill – and he wasn’t far wrong, but at least we made it. First Bus have shipped in some ex Yorkshire Volvos for this year’s operation to supplement the two ex Lothian Scanias which are much more suited to taking the hill with gusto.

One of the challenges with running ageing open top buses on demanding routes like this is their propensity to break down and I understand there were quite a few during half term week which doesn’t help with reliability.

We carried 19 passengers on the journey to Lynmouth (with five making local journeys in Minehead and Porlock) and nine boarded the next bus returning to MInehead after we arrived.

Dom told me one journey he operated during half term week had 65 on board leaving Minehead. I can believe it.

Dom’s duty also included an hour’s break in Lynmouth before taking over the bus behind and drive it on to Ilfracombe. A dozen passengers travelled on this part of the route.

It’s another wonderful journey and highly recommended, taking in the twisty A39 down via the Woody Bay railway to Blackmoor Gate and then across on the A399 through Combe Martin to Ilfracombe.

Here are three photographs taken through the blurry front windscreen showing some of what’s on offer.

When we got to Ilfracombe there was another dozen or so waiting to head back to Lynmouth which was encouraging to see.

That’s all the positive stuff. But there’s one big negative issue with the new extension as well as a few other minor niggles. Despite what the timetable says, both online and in the splendid colourful leaflet available on all the buses as well as the Buses of Somerset timetable book, the new route doesn’t serve Lynton.

As I boarded the bus, I hadn’t spotted the A4 notice on the panel by the stairs advising of this “Service Update” so was taken by surprise when Dom didn’t do the hairpin turn from the steep hill up from Lynmouth on the B3324 on to the road that takes you into Lynton for a circuit of the town. I thought he must have absent mindedly forgotten to make the turn.

It was only when I alighted in Ilfracombe I saw the notice and realised this was deliberate.

For what is supposed to be an all out effort to present a top quality leisure travel experience it’s a rather shambolic notice with random capital letters at the beginning of certain words and grammatical errors (“were” instead of “we’re”) and what on earth does it mean “due to a timetable Error” (sic)?

Does it mean the route will never serve Lynton in which case why aren’t the timetable brochures being withdrawn and reprinted and crucially, the timetable retimed and reregistered with the Traffic Commissioner not least as by missing out Lynton we sped past the following three timing points earlier than the scheduled time (Barbrook, Woody Bay and Blackmoor Gate) – although only arrived into Ilfracombe on time such is the unrealistic running time on that latter section.

There’s nothing in the News and service updates section of the so called Adventures By Bus website, making for a definite adventure if you aim to travel to Lynton on Exmoor Coaster.

There’s also nothing at the bus stops along the route – just the timetable telling you the bus goes to Lynton.

It’s not clear why this late change has arisen. Twitter comments suggest it’s because whereas the Sunseeker single decks could make the hairpin turn between Lynton and Lynmouth…

… as do Filers’ shorter single decks on its route 310 to Barnstaple…

… the double decks just can’t make it with their different steering locks.

Whatever the reason it’s a disappointment having raised expectations and advertised the service.

It’s also a mystery why the vinyls on either side of the buses showing where the route goes haven’t been updated. The extension to Ilfracombe hasn’t been added, and Watchet is still wrongly listed as being served.

However, it was good to see stocks of the colourful brochure available on board the buses, but come on First Bus, a cardboard box is not really the image befitting what is supposed to be a highly professionally marketed product for the discerning leisure traveller.

I know some of the other buses have leaflet dispensers fitted, so it’s a shame these latest buses to the fleet haven’t been similarly kitted out.

And that Used Ticket box can be dispensed with. These days it’s much more useful to have a litter bin.

Another “timetable error” I noticed involves those three journeys starting at or ending up at Blue Anchor. That’s what the colourful brochure and the Buses of Somerset timetable book states (as illustrated in the timetable image shown earlier) but the online timetable on the First Bus website omits any reference to the second journey leaving at 09:35 and the second journey back in the evening, arriving at 17:25. Which is correct?

Then there’s the actual presentation of the timetable online. Without a route number you have to know it’s coded as EXMO to find it, and then, frankly the pdf presentation isn’t exactly eye catching for this high profile leisure experience.

But despite these niggles it’s still a great route and one that should be on everyone’s ‘To Do’ bucket list if you like great scenery, open top buses and an adventure by bus using narrow, steep, hairpin bend hills. It’s good to see it proving popular and now available all year round.

Roger French

Blogging timetable: TThS and the occasional Summer Su including, once again, tomorrow.