Meanwhile, at Stevenage, red RML2623 had arrived hotfoot from Hertford on the through 390 service. I walked out to join Eddie Knorn on the National blinded for the 303, and took a photo from there (Hence the poor quality: reflections from the National windows have not helped at all!)
There were still some Volvos around at Stevenage in Sovereign' local service liveries. Ex-Sovereign 143, now Arriva The Shires 3314, came in on a SB1 service sporting the smart and interestingSovereign livery, so different from the corporate blandness of Arriva's turqoise and cream.. Eddie pulled the National round to reach stop J, and we loaded up for the ride to Hitchin.
It seems that perhaps even Arriva is not totally happy with its ice-cream scoop livery. As we passed northwards through the Old Town we passed another of the Wright Renowns, 3303, this time in the more-blue cow-horns style, heading south on the 301 trunk route.
We bowled out of Stevenage by the fast route to Hitchin, and in very little time were sitting in the bus lay-by by St Mary's Square.
On our way into Stevenage we had company for a short while in the shape of an Ensignbus Lynx - ex-Cleveland G620GEF. We went our own way through the Old Town, and round to the bus station where we passed SNC168 just departing with the next 303 to Hitchin. It had made it after all.
Beyond Watton we returned left back onto the main road, and continued our rapid progress southwards. We passed RML2613 heading northwards on another 390 turn, and then a Leyland Tiger of Falcon Coaches growled past.
A few moments later we met Trustline's MetroRider 409 pretending to be a train. We rolled on towards Hertford, and eventually came down towards the town past Hertford North Station, where we paused for a moment, before driving round the town to the bus station.
All photos by Ian Smith. Click on most of them for a larger picture.
Back to Ian's Bus-stop Part 1 Part 2 Part 4: Hacking around Hertford