Every route 99. 22 of 25.

Saturday 19th September 2026

After the South East, South West and South Wales, East Anglia, West Midlands, Potteries, South Yorkshire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside and last time’s seasonal adventure in East Yorkshire it’s now time for the first of the two bus route 99s in the North East as we enter the home straight in this year long odyssey exploring all Britain’s 25 bus routes numbered 99.

And this one is the eighth of nine routes operated by an SME rather than one of the Groups. It’s the Weardale Motor Services’ route between Spennymoor and Shildon in County Durham. It’s also the third of three route 99s I’ve travelled on thats been operated by a minibus size of vehicle (check out Ubley and Maldon for the other two).

The route performs local connections for residents living to the south of Spennymoor wanting to access the town’s commercial centre as well as a link across the rural area to the east of Bishop Auckland in this picturesque part of County Durham, connecting the villages of Kirk Merrington, Coundon and Coundon Grange with both Spennymoor and Shildon.

The hourly frequency is a very appropriate level of service for the timetable which commits one bus travelling up and down on a fairly tight schedule with an end to end journey time of 58 minutes giving just two minutes layover at either end across the 10 return journeys operated between 07:33 and 18:01 but only on Mondays to Fridays, with no weekend service.

I made a journey on the route on a Wednesday afternoon catching the 15:03 departure from Spennymoor’s High Street. It was a pleasant spot to wait with some nice bus shelters and decent departure information sited in a section of road restricted to buses only but it was noticeable how some cars were ignoring this and also just how quiet it was for a mid week, mid afternoon. There were very few people about.

I noticed the bus on its incoming journey from Shildon on the bustimes.org tracking website but became concerned as it seemed to go off route on reaching Spennymoor and stop for about five minutes without moving. I began to wonder if it had broken down but luckily it then started moving again and eventually appeared six minutes late at 15:09.

I was surprised to see 12 passengers already on board, especially as the High Street is the first listed stop in the timetable, but on closer examination the previous stop at Cheapside acts as a kind of crossover point between journeys on a small loop arrangement and I guess that’s where they boarded.

The passenger who boarded with me enquired about the delay and the driver explained something about a school day variation for the incoming journey and I think he said about a driver changeover but I didn’t hear it all and the timetable doesn’t highlight any differences on schooldays.

Anyway all 14 of us on board were pleased to be heading off and just at the very next stop further along the High Street two passengers alighted which then made me realise the loop working at this end of the route probably meant others of the 12 on board were coming into town, rather than going home, all the more so as two more alighted at the next stop and two more at the stop after that where one also boarded.

After three more stops where we lost two and gained one, we were leaving Spennymoor behind after six minutes travelling, at 15:17, with seven on board.

There was then a very enjoyable ten minute drive savouring the Durham countryside and passing through the village of Kirk Merrington where we did a small dogleg to serve the village centre and turning around the village green with its lovely tree, but there were no takers…

… from where we continued towards Coundon…

… which we reached at 15:27 and where we stopped four times as we passed through the village losing six of our passengers with just one left aside from myself.

Some more lovely countryside followed until we arrived into Shildon approaching the centre of this small town through its narrow roads…

… and where the remaining passenger and myself alighted at the rather quaint terminal point…

… and three boarded for the return journey to Spennymoor…

… with the bus leaving immediately as it was still three minutes late having foregone its two minute layover.

The shelter at the bus stop looked lovely from a distance but sadly it clearly isn’t looked after by anyone…

… and the bench style seating wasn’t very comfortable nor practical.

Weardale Motor Services, also known as Weardale Travel, is a long established family run business based in both Stanhope and Crook running a fleet of coaches as well as buses on some local bus routes and which coincidentally is celebrating 100 years of service this year. There’s a fascinating history of the company on its website which explains, even though the company was first registered as a limited company in 1961, it’s heritage can be traced right back to 1926 when an eight seater Dodge was operated by Stanley Gibson between Stanhope and Crook.

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The company obviously takes its revenue seriously, as readers may have spotted the rather blunt message on one of the windows of the bus I travelled on as well as at the front behind the driver.

Good to see the company also cross-promoting its Day Trip Excursions and Holiday Tours and I would add my congratulations on reaching the centenary milestone this year.

Good old Stanley Gibson. Would he have thought 100 years later his name was being celebrated and the company was still going strong, including running between Spennymoor and Shildon?

Roger French

Did you catch the previous 21 blogs in this series? 1 Eastbourne-Hastings, 2 Petworth-Chichester, 3 Woolwich-Bexleyheath, 4 Tilbury Town-Tilbury Ferry Terminal, 5 Chippenham-Swindon, 6 Ubley-Chew Valley, 7 Exmouth-Brixington-Exmouth, 8 Taunton-Chard, 9 Pontypridd town circular, 10 Cheltenham-Gloucester, 11 Leigh-on-Sea-Shoeburyness East Beach, 12 Malton-Chelmsford, 13 Lowestoft-Southwold-Halesworth, 14 Solihull-Kingshurst, 15 Telford-Shawbirch circular, 16 Newcastle-under-Lyme-Chell Heath, 17 Doncaster-Retford, 18 Barnsley-Denby Dale, 19 Manchester-Prestwich, 20 Whiston-Prescot, 21 Scarborough Beachcomber.

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