Bus Runs Route 79 West Brom to Wolverhampton

I’m tellin’ ya, folks, this bus run don’t get no respect.

I went out Saturday intending to finish the 79 route (see Bus Route Runs for details on the project) but an extra, new road on a roundabout and my general dearth wrt sense of direction left me with a little more to pick up on Sunday (18 Feb 2024) so there you have it.

The 79 is Jimi’s most hated AND favourite route as it is the only one he’s been on (he seems to like the bus) but it takes him to the vet. We might try a tram ride together sometime, though, just for the journey.

For me, the 79 is the easiest way to get back to the buurt when laden with groceries in Wednesbury, hardware in Hilltop, or when the weather is shit in central West Brom. So, I’ve never really seen a lot of the sites along the route above Darlaston.

The architecture — industrial, commercial, and residential — changes rapidly all along the path and winter makes it easier to inspect a lot of it. It may be worth revisiting some of it in the summer for comparison.

The map shows the first 9 runs to cover new segments of the route although 2 of the early ones would have been covered by the other 7 easily.

Bus Runs Route 30 West Brom to Stone Cross via Great Bridge and Hill Top

Went out Sunday specifically to finish up Route 30 which has promiscuously overlapped other route runs around West Brom since starting this project at the New Year. Looking back over the 30, I only found two photos along the way with the first this now closed but formerly Halal abattoir in Harvill’s Hawthorn near Great Bridge.

One of the motivations for the Bus Run project has been to force exploration of the realm. I actually hit some road segments I have never been on before on the 4th of Feb and one of those passed the Bromwich Manor great hall built sometime in the late 13th-century (roughly 1270 ad). It’s now a museum run by the council from April till October every year so now I’ve got a new bit of historical tourism to do this Spring or Summer.

Commute #161, but first one in ages

In early and working through lunch all week afforded me an hour of daylight at end of workday so I planned to do a bit of bus running to tidy up the county-wide bus run map then catch a bus the rest of the way home when I flagged (I’m still woefully far from my best condition).

But, at the turnoff for the 48 toward Warley Wood in Bearwood I still felt light of foot and decided to keep on going to Smethwick. At the Old Talbot (the last pub before the first lockdown was announced during another commute run), I felt that I could make it the rest of the way and continued on. Wanting to pick up some rarely run streets to fluff out the annual map, I chose a more-or-less direct path to the Altun Towers (a Turkish supermarket near the house) but was confronted by that worst of obstacles: children leaving a school. Shit. 

By now, I was starting to reach the limits but opted to go around a bit padding this effort out to 9 miles. This pitifully weak effort is actually pretty good for me having contracted one or another strain of The Dreaded Lurgy to be continuously ill since August 2023. I’ll try another time this month, perhaps to work if I can get out early enough to avoid the kids (or during half term, if there is one in February).

Bus Runs Route 44 Hill Top Loop and West Bromwich

The photo of the lions at the gates to the mental hospital behind the West Bromwich Central Library isn’t on any bus route but it did feature as I jogged down to tie up some loose ends on several bus routes including a wee bit of the 44 at the nearby bus station. The eyes on the lions look demented and I’m a bit troubled by the goo coating the walls beneath that big, round vent.

Nonetheless, the 44 route was finished this afternoon with the last of the runs overlapping it:

Bus Runs Route 47 West Bromwich to Wednesbury

The first completed bus run is now in the bank. I’ve inadvertantly ridden the 47 before but don’t have any emotional connection or baggage with it. True to the spirit of the project, this route is covered by fewer runs than are listed or partially shown, but the first to lick the tarmac of the route makes the claim. I

I’ve been taking photos along the runs but none overlap the bus path. This route has two pubs still to be done on it so I may be linking this run to those write ups. (updated 02 April 2024) –> Such as this map link to the Coach and Horses, across from this park area on Kesteven Road:

Bus Route Runs: New for 2024

This year, any run that overlaps a bus route in the West Midlands (that is, on my bus season ticket) will trigger the start of eventually running the full path of said route. For example, Thursday and Friday I did lunchtime runs which overlapped parts of Route 76 — as well as many more — which meanders from Northfield to Solihull (mapped above).

Also, since some of the routes use limited-access/pedestrian-prohibited roads a good faith effort to follow these segments as closely as practical will be mapped; however, rest assured that all runs, including these with alternative run paths, will pass every bus stop.

This will necessarily be a multiyear project and may never be completed. I’ve only run 25 miles since New Year’s Day and have already overlapped segments of all of the bus routes shown here:

Completed so far (as of 12 February 2024):

47 on 2024-01-20
44 on 2024-01-21
30 on 2024-02-04
64 on 2024-02-11
41A on 2024-02-11

79 on 2024-02-18

Tramvert Explains A Lot

It looks like the tram not only takes an unnecessarily indirect path but the rails are also laid more than twice as wide as the trams themselves. While this might seem to save on expenses and appears to ‘work’ in this tramvert (you can see the reflection of the one approaching on the other track), perhaps the tram line construction would benefit from building it correctly in the first place.

Now I understand why all the extensions so far have taken years longer than originally promised.

Or, maybe this is an example of that famous British Irony that Americans don’t ‘get’.

Rail Runs #36 & 37: To Town Hall Metro & To Library Metro

Storm Dudley has made this windy city quite windy (and rainy) indeed. The training runs are suffering for distance but the effort has been productive. Saturday I ran a loop that depleted my reserves at about 16 miles and I was forced to wolf down some oatmeal cookies just to be able to walk to the bus.

Monday, I was less ambitious and planned an arc from work to Grand Central New Street Metro but emerging near it found the platform rammed with other potential passengers so I continued up the hill to the always less populated Town Hall Station and had my choice of seats for the ride home.

Tuesday, I did some mileage around Wolverhampton ahead of a planned night out watching a comedian record a BBC radio programme but Jackie was delayed and we opted to just dine at Rocco Italian (the swordfish was lovely, the wind afterward oppressive).

Then Wednesday, I retried the trip to Grand Central and found that I was still 0.2 miles short of my self defined minimum of 5 miles for any rail run. So, the Library Metro it was to be. I arrived as the doors were closing and must have triggered the reopen algorithm because they popped back open long enough for me to snap the library out the re-closing door. Success.

Rail Run #27: To Wolverhampton Saint George’s Metro

The reason I keep running has nothing to do with physical well being but, rather, the absolute delight in finding that a trot at dawn on a miserably cold day can be so fucking beautiful.

Bunn should stay in his lane…heard that one before but this is what I do….

Everything was right: tenable but challenging hills, new territory (but, unfortunately, with the only open pub on route that time of day a ‘Spoons, one I already ticked off the list), a dearth of injuries, some winter blooms, and relatively light traffic. Grand.

I did stop at that Wetherspoons (The Clifton in Sedgley) about 60% of the way to my target, Wolverhampton Saint George’s Metro stop, and regrouped over a loverly guest stout (still only £1.99 for guest beers in these houses). I don’t remember the previous visit back in July 2020 but I might have been tripping that time. Pretty old cinema, this one.

Rail Run #26: From Lye Station

Got a late start to the afternoon run but, commencing far from home at Lye Station, the trip would continue until I reached home, again.

Overcast until sunset and raining through about half the time out there, I used an orienteering compass to choose a mostly ENE path with a couple of unfortunate road choices in Rowley Regis driving me SE and then ESE. The hills were good, though, and it was my first double-digit run of 2022.

Spotted many decent pubs on this route but time was of the essence as it grew darker, colder, wetter, and windier. That seems to be my own natural progression as I age (darker, colder, drunker, and gassier).