Three rural bus rides through the Weald

Saturday 14th December 2024

Sometimes it’s just nice to take a leisurely three bus excursion around a lovely rural part of the country with no tight connections and some attractive scenery to enjoy on an unhurried itinerary.

Norman Kemp, part owner and top man at Aylesford based Nu-Venture bus company, recently gave me a set of paper timetables for his Company’s portfolio of bus routes in western Kent and my eye was caught by one for routes 23/27 operating six times a day through the lovely Weald of Kent between Goudhurst and Maidstone (route 25 provides four more journeys from part way along the route to and from Maidstone).

While researching a nice way to reach Goudhurst I spotted something I’d not realised before, that being just how far the bus timetable between Hastings and Tenterden had been cut back in recent years. I remember the halcyon days when it enjoyed an hourly service via Brede, Broad Oak, Northiam and Rolvenden including buses continuing on to Ashford, and even, at one time, Canterbury. Now, sadly, what’s numbered as route 329 has been cut back to comprise just eight journeys as far north as Northiam with only three continuing to Tenterden leaving Hastings at 10:18, 12:15 and 16:20.

A ride on the 10:18 would get me to Tenterden for 11:27 giving an hour’s break to enjoy that lovely town before route 297, operated by Hams Travel, would take me to Goudhurst at 12:30 arriving there at 13:11 making for a nice 15 minute connection with the 13:26 Nu-Venture departure on route 23 to Maidstone.

A nice train ride along the coast to Hastings to kick things off, and a return to Hassocks via the lovely Maidstone to Paddock Wood line and then connecting trains via Tonbridge, Redhill and south via Gatwick Airport added to the enticement.

What could possibly go wrong?

Thanks to Southern, which was having one of its better mornings when I travelled last month, I arrived in Hastings in good time for the 10:18 departure on the 329 to Tenterden. Hastings benefits from having a bus station right outside the railway station. You can’t miss it as you leave the station concourse.

And there’s a prominent colourful electronic departure board advising of the upcoming bus departures. Bay A of the busy six bay bus station is currently out of use which was having the impact of making arriving buses wait for an empty stand to pull on to, from time to time, and buses leaving from any stand rather than the allotted one, so you had to keep your wits about you waiting for your bus.

Route 329 was due to leave from Stand F. The incoming journey was due in at 10:13 so I kept a close watch to see where the bus went as it arrived.

Except the minutes went by and it didn’t arrive.

I checked the Stagecoach ‘live times’ section of the Stagecoach app but no bus was showing as a 329. Ominously, the bustimes.org map wasn’t showing any live buses either.

When it got to around 10:30 I approached a gaggle of Stagecoach staff to ask for information only to be told by a well informed passenger it was definitely coming – he knew it was bus fleet no 36506 too – and he’d been told “it’s always running late”.

Another ten minutes went by and I enquired again and this time it turned out to be the driver of the bus I was waiting for who I asked and she told me about the roadworks north of the town which were delaying the bus but she assured me it would definitely come as I began to wonder whether I needed a Plan B as despite the hour’s leisurely gap in Tenterden in my itinerary, if the delay was going to be half an hour per journey, that could rapidly get eaten into.

At last, at 10:47 a bus appeared with 329 Town Centre on the blind except it had to wait behind another bus queuing for an empty stand as all five were in use, including three occupied by buses with doors shut and out of service.

Eventually the bus got on to a stand, passengers alighted, drivers changed over and myself and three passengers boarded, including the knowledgeable young man who was also going all the way to Tenterden.

One of the two others went as far as Westfield and the other only travelled a few stops locally in Hastings.

We eventually left the bus station at 10:57, 39 minutes late.

I’d spotted on Google maps the bright red lines indicating a delay where the County Council have reduced a long section of the A21 to alternate single lane traffic…

… with a connecting road used by the 329 closed necessitating the lengthy diversion via Harrow Lane and the A21 (through the queuing traffic) as shown below.

Stagecoach also operates a route 329A running half hourly between the town centre and Conquest Hospital and we picked up five passengers from the first stop after the station, three of whom travelled locally with one to Broad Oak and another to Tenterden. So, the number of passengers heading out of Hastings only numbered four, but the delay had been very significant.

Despite heroic efforts by the driver, she was unable to make good on the 40 minute delay, not least because we got held up by around ten minutes heading north up the A21, meaning she did well to arrive in Tenterden only forty minutes down.

According to the Stagecoach website these roadworks began on 30th August and are set to continue to 31st January 2025 so I suggested to the team at the company whether a spare bus could be inserted into the cycle at 10:18 which would help alleviate many of the delays and knock on impacts. I’m pleased to say, James, the Head of Operations for the Ashford, Eastbourne and Hastings Area quickly replied and looked into my experience. Another thought was whether the bus should be rerouted to miss out Conquest Hospital seeing as how the 329A covers this route, albeit it would inconvenience those attending the hospital from north of Hastings, but on balance I think they’d be in the minority compared to those using the route for other reasons (and route 312 too – see below).

Update: I’ve subsequently been advised a changeover with a post school working has now been arranged so the 10:18 journey runs on time. Well done Stagecoach and thanks to Steve in control for letting me know.

On arriving in Tenterden, the bus interworks with the infrequent route 312 to Rye so the inconvenience caused by these roadworks stretches far and wide across the counties of both Kent and East Sussex.

As well as the slimmed down frequency to Hastings, Tenterden as also seen a reduction in the number of buses to Ashford with Stagecoach’s route 2A now running two-hourly.

It’s interesting to see that Arriva’s route 12 via Headcorn and Biddenden to Maidstone runs half-hourly which seems a very generous frequency compared to the other destinations that can be reached from Tenterden.

Indeed my next bus, the Hams Travel route 297 also runs two-hourly via Benenden, Cranbrook, Goudhurst and Pembury to Tunbridge Wells.

And when I caught the 12:30 departure I could see why with just seven passenger boarding with me in Tenterden, one alighting just down the road, two in nearby Rolvenden, one in Benenden and four in Cranbrook where we picked up another passengers making for just the two of us to Goudhurst where I alighted.

Goudhurst is a lovely Kent village to spend a quarter of an hour changing buses…

… and waiting for the purpose of my jaunt – a ride on Nu-Venture’s route 23 to Maidstone.

The bus arrived into Goudhurst from its previous journey with just one passenger and it was just myself on the 13:26 to Maidstone – all the way almost, except for one other passenger who boarded in Tovil Green at 14:20, for the ten minute ride into Maidstone.

It was a lovely rural bus ride through Marden, Collier Street, Laddingford, Yalding, West Farleigh and East Farleigh, including a small diversion due to a road closure in Farleigh Green, but such a shame I was the only passenger. Some of the roads were extremely narrow in parts but the driver coped admirably especially when following a large HGV adding to the challenge of passing traffic coming the other way with only short sections of widened road.

A wander over to Maidstone West rail station and I was soon on my way down the lovely picturesque Medway Valley Line with Southeastern to Paddock Wood and after connecting there for Tonbridge on to the line to Redhill then down to Gatwick Airport where trains were badly disrupted due to “a person being hit by a train between Clapham Junction and East Croydon”. As always the useless auto-announcements just added to everyone’s frustration as they waited for a delayed train, but I switched off and retained the lovely memory of the day’s rural bus riding around the Weald instead.

Roger French

Blogging timetable: 06:00 TThS.

Comments on today’s blog are welcome but please keep them relevant to the blog topic, avoid personal insults and add your name (or an identifier). Thank you.