Expected Curtailment of Excess in Cornwall

It seemed a good idea at the time. 

Once school and college buses had done their academe access activity for the morning, they could run exciting day trip routes for tourists. To give the pleasure seeking peripatetic passenger a wide choice, you can schedule all the services to meet up at the Eden Project coach park where interchange and multiple choice was possible.

Repeat for homebound holidaymakers then whizz off to transport the student crowd to their places of residence.

Hence Day Tripper!

But it was not successful. Time at the destination was too short, and despite a brave effort to explain it all ...

... it was hard to understand. And its wasn't cheap for a short stay!

So "Day Tripper" will not appear at all in 2022, leaving a simple hourly extension of service 27 to get folk to the Eden Project ...

... and to make connection with trains at Snozzle - which used to be a dedicated rail-connection bus.

 

Nobody has bothered to tell The Eden Project about the change - it still refers to Summer 2021.

Bus service that stops at Eden

The Day Tripper service: First Group offers the Day Tripper bus service connecting Eden with the following locations: Newquay, Perranporth, Truro, Mevagissey, Lost Gardens of Heligan, Fowey, Looe, Polperro and Charlestown. View the timetable on the First website.

But it did seem a good idea at the time.

This was Roger French's conclusion when he tried the Eden Project "Le Mans Start" interchange last year.

You do wonder whether the scheme had a fair start. Covid restrictions were still around complete with the unhelpful demonising of all public transport. Surely a second year would be worth a try?

But, back to now.

The 17 has lost its inclusion in the Lands End Coaster open top package and reverts to just plain 17 ...

... while the 18, with its country ride to Pendeen, becomes the Tin Coaster and topless to boot. 

It does serve Geevor Tim Mine, if you don't mind a long walk down the lane ...

... but mostly you will see very little coast on the Tin Coaster. Good ride, poor name.

Most of the other open toppers (Branded "Adventures By Bus") return with two significant changes.

The winter network map advised that the Atlantic Coaster between St Ives and Perranporth (and on to Padstow during winter ,) would return for the 2022 season. It hasn't! The Atlantic Coaster now only tuns between Newquay and Padstow.

The St Ives to Newquay bit is split into two with a new branding.

But they don't actually meet in the middle.

So no longer can you ride topless all the way from St Ives to Padstow. Perhaps First Bus realised that few people had the buttocks and/or bladder to ride the whole way!

And beware, dear reader, of the small print. The S1 (Perranporth to Newquay) does not start until late May!

The "Lizard" is cut from hourly to two hourly ...

... whilst the Exeter part of the Dartmoor Explorer is increased from two journeys to four.

Readers may remember that last year there were journeys from Plymouth to Moretonhampstead giving an overlap in the middle. 

The open topper that ran three short routes in Newquay (but was operated inconsistently) is not repeated in 2022.

The best news, of course, is that cheaper fares should attract more customer - lets hope that there is plenty of attractive printed publicity widely available to give visitors a prod into leaving their cars behind and enjoying a top deck ride.

Cornwall's coasts and villages look stunning from the upper floor and even more stunning from an open top.

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If you've messed up and upset a close friend, how do you put things right? Obviously you apologise, but sometimes you feel the need to do more, like offer a bunch of flowers or a box of chocs. YOU GIVE SOMETHING BACK TO PUT THINGS RIGHT!

In a sense that was the principle of the Old Testament system of sacrifices; you give to God to show Him that you are thankful for what he has givEn you - his love and his forgiveness.

Some sacrifices involved tough decisions. The offering was costly.

Throughout the Old Testament this theme is repeated time and time again. Three simple words say it all:-

One early "hint" to this theme comes from the story of Abraham, dating from about 2000 BC.

“Take your son,” God said, “your only son, Isaac, whom you love so much, and go to the land of Moriah. There on a mountain that I will show you, offer him as a sacrifice to me.”

Yikes!

He tied up his son and placed him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he picked up the knife to kill him. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!”

He answered, “Yes, here I am.”

“Don't hurt the boy or do anything to him,” he said. “Now I know that you honour and obey God, because you have not kept back your only son from him.”

Abraham looked around and saw a ram caught in a bush by its horns. 

He went and got it and offered it as a burnt offering instead of his son. 

There is much more to this narrative than the simple facts quoted above from Genesis Chapter 22; but there it is, a clear hint of what is to come.

The blood of a sacrificed lamb (ram? ovine creature?) brings salvation.

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fbb received a surpise email from Peter ...

Thanks for your kind words, Peter - but who could resist the challenge to "digest at your peril"? So the London map work is in abeyance, the model railway will wait a few more days and the rest of the Paris Metro extensions blogs are on the way but delayed. And fbb must NOT neglect his care for Mrs fbb, still waiting immobile for her hip replacement! 

Yesterday was roast pork, baby potatoes, carrots, onions and roasted red peppers with delicious gravy followed by sliced peaches in raspberry jelly with "quenelles" of Cornish clotted cream. ("quenelles" - a posh word for "blobs"!)

But the changes in Essex happen at the end of this week. So ...

 Next TOWIE blog : Tuesday 12th April