Courageous & Confrontational in Cornwall (4)

Surftown's Surprising S-Routes

Newquay is famous for its beaches including Fistral (above) to the west of the town centre and and multiple-named sandy spots below the cliffs on which the town sits. And below is the right word!

The bus station is some distance from the railway, but many routes serve both.

Now in the hands of Transport for Cornwall (TfC) ...

... it used to be the home of Western Greyhound ...

... and historically Western National then First!

The railway station is unstaffed as are all the other stops on the branch from Par but in recent years it has had a bit of a makeover.

The town is well served with bus routes, many of them tendered by Cornwall Council and now in the hands of TfC, with First's presence limited to two hourly routes from Truro with an additional service joining them rom May 16th.

For many years there has been a Newquay Town service carrying various route numbers; 558 with Western Greyhound ...

... and back to 58 after First's "rescue"!

Historic photos even show an open top route to Pentire Head in the hands of a Devon General vehicle!

Latterly, the 58 timetable was minimalist - doubtless the cheapest tender that could be provided.

It will come as no surprise, however, to find that, under the TfC improvement plan, the 58 has been expanded to hourly.

And now a quiz question. What is the name of the River at Newquay?

Pentire Head lies between Fistral Beach and the river estuary; this view looking east towards the town.

Fistral Beach is on the left and the River Gannel (no, neither did fbb!) is on the right. Service 58 terminates at the main car park and snackery, seen more clearly on this closer view, now looking west.

The building centre right is an hostelry, Lewinick Lodge ...

... with splendid views back over to the town and its beaches.

At the end of this month (late May bank holiday weekend) First Kernow starts its HALF HOURLY service from town to Pentire Head. Half hourly and open top, to boot! This must be yet another poke in the eye of Cornwall Council and TfC's one - whoops, sorry, HALF a - network for Cornwall!

The new service runs through from a Newquay "suburb", Porth, which initially seems an odd place for a terminus. It is just a double roundabout ...

... on the A3058 where four roads join - hence "Porth Four Turns'. To add to the "mystery" the table above is headed ...

... S1, S2 and S3; yes, THREE route numbers. 

You see, someone at First has had a clever idea. Provide an open top bus to three locations near to Newquay, join them up at Porth, and they become competition for TfC's hourly town service 58.

Service S1 ...

... runs hourly and serves a couple of large holiday "parks" (camp and/or caravan sites) before terminating at Dairyland ...

... although First don't seem to have got the name exactly right.

Service S2 ...

... serves the pretty coastal locations on the road out to Padstow ...

... and the vast expanse of Porth Beach.

The S2 runs every two hours, as does he S3.

Service S3 ...

... visits a couple more holidays parks and terminates at RAF St Mawgan.

RAF St Mawgan in Cornwall is a No 22 (Training) Group Station that provides a platform for future and current operations in the south west.  The Station is home to the Defence Survive, Evade, Resist, Extract (SERE) Training Organisation (known as DSTO), and supports the Remote Radar Head at Portreath – part of the air defence system for the UK.

All Services are represented at RAF St Mawgan, and DSTO trains around 5,000 personnel from around Defence each year to prepare them for operations overseas.

As a hub of activity in the south west, RAF St Mawgan supports or employs around 3,000 personnel across the region, including Regulars, Reserves, and RAF Air Cadets.

fbb was confused by this destination. He thought it was the same as Newquay Airpot ...

... but it isn't. Civil and military operations share the same runway. RAF St Mawgan is at the end of the lane serving the Treloy Touring Park.

This is on the WEST of the big runway.

The Civil terminal is way over on the WEST of the runway.

fbb doesn't think they would allow you to get off the open topper and walk across!!

 

The three services thus combine to provide the half hourly link up to Pentire Head. Of course, First's excellent network map helps put this all together ...

... whereas TfC doesn't include its 58 at all.

Come the late May bank holiday weekend, and come some fine weather, it will be interesting to see how the pressure for staycations this year affects loadings on these intriguing seven days a week rides.

Which leaves us with the Eden Project.

Prepare yourselves for an intellectual and omnibological challenge!

 Next Cornwall blog : Friday 21st May