Vintage coaches on the ‘Royal Blue Run’

While lying in the bath this morning sipping coffee on a whim I tuned my radio into our local BBC Radio Gloucestershire station. The first thing I heard was an interview with a man talking about the tour of fifteen vintage coaches that was arriving in Gloucester at lunchtime. It turned out it was one stage of a three day tour from London to Birmingham, Gloucester, Cirencester, Salisbury, and Portsmouth ending on Sunday in Henley-on-Thames.

He said the coaches would be passing through Stroud at about 2pm, so I suggested to Helena that we combine watching them drive along the Golden Valley with our already planned visit to several local artists’ shows, part of the second weekend of Stroud SITE Festival. 

I thought that a roadside lay-by close to Stroud Brewery, between Thrupp and Brimscombe, would be a good vantage point, as we could then see them approach from a distance. The rain began falling again just as we arrived at the lay-by but luckily there was a canopy of tall trees protecting us, which was useful as I’d forgotten to bring any protective clothing.

Helena and I like seeing these old vehicles, and regularly go to a convention of vintage buses held in the local college grounds. In fact there is one next weekend and as usual they will allow visitors to go on local trips up the Five Valleys in the old buses, which is very nostalgic. Their sounds and smells of their interiors are very evocative, hopefully with not too many burnt diesel fumes. I chose to blip this picture as it very like the coaches I would travel on back in the 1950s and 60s when going to school and on trips to play away rugby and hockey matches.

Today’s 'Royal Blue Run' is organised by The Thames Valley and Great Western Omnibus Trust! All the vehicles today were originally long distance coaches. They approached in dribs and drabs but all going at a good speed, having been separated by the succession of roadwork traffic lights that have plagued our local roads recently. But at least it meant we could see the individual coaches and their drivers who would wave back to us enthusiastically.