NEx West Midlands Sale
Clearly, there is more to this than meets the eye or than appears in official press releases. fbb has sought a deeper explanation from a leading bus industry 'player' (retired) who is on holiday with family. A reply is awaited eagerly when a further blog post may well appear.
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To Honiton And Back
Stagecoach X30 is a fairly new route that runs from Seaton to Exeter via a very different route from the long-standing 9A. fbb rode all the way and immediately all the way back soon after the service started. Are you not amazed at this man's dedication to his craft?
Between Seaton and Honiton the route is the same as service 20 to Taunton, formerly with Stagecoach but now with GoAhead's Dartline company. And yes, fbb has ridden the whole route and blogged about it.
See map below for the relevant chunk of the X30.!
As well as offering a different selection of destinations in greater Exeter, the X30 provides a realistic link between Colyford, Colyton, Seaton Junction, Shute and Exeter. fbb was looking forward to extolling the delights of Seaton Junction and Shute to Mrs fbb. She was, perhaps, less enthusiastic about the extolling but would enjoy the ride and the views.
Top deck front seats were already taken so photography was less than ideal.
All was very normal until the approach to Colyton, where the X30 nipped round a small estate, approach Colyton Square from the wrong direction ...
... picked up passengers on the wrong side of the road ...
Kilmington was passed non-stop ...
... and set off sharp left and back towards Seaton! 
We were on a mega diversion such that fbb and Mrs would never see the delights of Seaton Junction or Shute, let alone experience the extolling. The green line shows where we actually went, well away from the X30 labels!.
The X30, becoming less 'X' all the tine, crossed the tramway at Colyford ...
... ran via Musbury ...
... and turned on to the Axminster by-pass!
The electronics waited, to no avail, for the next stop at Colyton Station Road!
... until the registered route was rejoined west of Shute.
And of course there is more to those communities than petrol stations and former petrol stations, but the more picturesque parts of the villages are set back, off the main roads.
The search for Colyton Station Road continued fruitlessly.
The next village, Wilmington, IS picturesque and does not boast a filling station.
At last the electronics worked out where we were, and offered a stop at the quaint White Hart.
The countryside hereabouts is gently rural but sadly an exemplar of the south west's brown and less than pleasant land.
There was one more garage in the middle of nowhere ...
But Seaton had rain yesterday morning, but barely enough to wet the needful agricultural whistle.
... before the former toll office ...
... welcomed us to Honiton ...
... where the fbbs alighted just outside the job centre. Interestingly most of the on-board passengers were going all the way to Exeter, about two dozen souls, which suggests that this innovative route is generating new business.
There is also a 44A from Honiton to Exeter which might explain why no one boarded at the job centre.
The fbb's had just over 30 min to enjoy Honiton. They repaired to the historically named Lace Walk to look for a coffee. 
Coffee was now the order of the hour in what was once ...
... and was now much busier than it ever was when it sold shoes!
And just outside was the fbb's next bus stop.
It was great to see up-to-date information of the stop closure ...
... three weeks ago!
The X30 was a good ride, but disappointing as it missed out some of the interesting bits, namely Seaton Junction'b station ...
... and Shute.
Sadly Shute Barton (The Big House) cannot be seen from the road, but its modest understated front gate can be glimpsed from the passing bus. The village of Shute is a delight ...
... but it would be five hours to wait for the next X30 to Honiton - if it wasn't diverted!
But a journey from Honiton to Sidmouth approaches.
Next Summer Adventure blog : Fri 21 Aug
