Farewell O' Vallium Run.

Farewell O' Vallium Run. Will I miss you? Not really. Eleven hours of trundling up and down the road, carrying the odd passenger was sometimes akin to watching paint dry. Then again every job has its down side and there were plenty of plus points. The characters on the run, the beautiful countryside where the light and the colours of the landscape were constantly changing.

It started out wet and dull, but very green ...

then the clouds lifted, the rain stopped and the sun came out ...

It was the usual Northern day. Four seasons in one day. Cold, warm, wet and dry. The only constant was the chill of the June wind, which varied from shivery to icy.

The passengers seemed sad to see the end of the bus route in its current form. They complained about the replacement service which would be a pale imitation of the current service. The introduction of any new service is always problematic, but this one with different times on different days, some buses roll up, some have to be booked and some only run as per demand, was challenging even the passengers with the most active brains.

It will sort itself out. There is no other option.

As a passing shot, one of the passengers is intent on giving a graphic description to their last visit to the dentist:

'He puts putty in my mouth. It's a nasty feeling. You see, he gets a large lump of putty and he rams it in my mouth ... that's when me arms and legs are waving all o'er the place. Then it gets worse ... he sticks ...'

Fortunately the passenger's stop comes up fast and it is not possible to complete the story.

So on my last run in the evening, I bid farewell to the Land That God Forgot, past the fields of buttercups which cover the redundant slag heaps and mine workings, past the caravan which never goes anywhere, the lay-by where some rubbish has been illegally left and the bus shelter where the pony is rubbing its backside against.

Will I miss it? I query again.

No I'll be driving through it on Monday, on another route. Through it. Without stopping. That's the best way to see it.