After driving for 20-30 minutes, the driver received a call over his radio loudspeaker. “You’ve got two passengers you shouldn’t have”. The coach was stopped and David made a roll call and asked if there was anyone whose name had not been called out – silence.

The driver reported back “They’re not here”, got an OK so we proceeded on our way. By this time we had well passed the Minehead turn-off ...the significance of that statement will become apparent.

Another call “We still haven’t found them – are you sure you haven’t got them? It’s a Mrs “A” and Mrs “B” from Staple Hill.” Stopped the coach again and the passengers were asked if there were a Mrs “A” & “B” on board. A call from the back of the coach “YES – we’re here”

David and the driver went back to see the ladies who were convinced they were on the right coach for Minehead; as the seats were the same, the coach was the same and it was exactly as they had left it at Monkton Elm.

The two coaches; ours from Turners coaches (blue/grey) and the other from Stevens Coaches (white) were parked beside each other in the car park.

There was no way we were going to back-track so it was decided the ladies would stay with us and go to Lynmouth and arrangements were made with the driver to get them to the Stevens depot on return, where they could pick up the bits and pieces they had left on the other coach; on to Lynmouth.

The foregoing events made a good subject for conversation for the remainder of the journey.

As we climbed higher going over the moors; so the weather changed. We met heavy cloud and at times we almost seemed to be in it and we had some rain. What sort of weather were we going to experience at our destination?

Getting closer to Lynton and descending (my wife said her ears were popping going up and down) so the cloud started to ease and the sun broke through. We arrived in Lynmouth at about one and were met by a bearded gentleman, looking for another bearded gentleman on our coach—Frank Webb. He told us that Tony and Jean Gillett were there to meet us and spend the day with old friends.

We started our walkabout in glorious sunshine.

We had lunch first then a walk around the shops. Plenty of people in Lynmouth but not too crowded. Some of our party took the cliff railway back up to Lynton but I believe the majority were content to stay in Lynmouth and enjoy the sights and sounds in glorious sunshine.

We returned to the coach for a five-o-clock departure and, after a careful check ascertained we had the same number of people we arrived with (including the two stowaways) and no new faces.

Still in glorious sunshine, the driver advised we would be taking the scenic, coastal route back and would descend Porlock Hill while heading for the motorway – OH GOODY; a 1 in 8 gradient at the top, steepening to a 1 in 4 gradient at the bottom, very narrow and twisting like a pretzel in places. Warning notices all over the place and a prayer that the driver would keep it on the road – no mean feat with a 53 seat coach. Safely down we headed home with our first drop at BAWA and the second (for us) at Downend at about 8:15 pm. The driver had one more drop off for the two stowaways who thanked us very much and said they had had a wonderful day, had done a lot of shopping and had enjoyed it much more than they would have done at Minehead. (Must ask David if he is prepared to start an RMSA Coaching Company and open it to the general public – I don’t think so – do you?)

Once again our grateful thanks to David and Janet for a wonderful day out; not forgetting our driver who’s driving was excellent, courteous and never once gave cause for worry or concern.

Bill Brand

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