16th August
August means at trip to Salisbury Plain to ride bus route 23A to the “lost” village of Imber, requisitioned by the military during the second world war and now only accessible to the public on a very limited number of days each year. Imberbus began in 2009, initially attracting mostly Men Who Like Buses but now also attracting large crowds of other people as well to take a ride on vintage and modern buses to Imber and other villages nearby.
Most arrive by train at Warminster where long queues form past Lidl to get on the buses to Imber and then on to the other destinations. I have previously done so too but last year and in 2023 those crowds returned to Warminster in the evening to find that GWR had cancelled most of the trains, leading to long delays at the station or trying to find another way home. This year I decided instead to repeat what I did in 2022 when the railways were on strike and there were no trains at all, I stayed overnight Friday and Saturday at the Green Dragon in Market Lavington, catching the first bus from that village at 1025 on Saturday morning having breakfasted well. This was a much less stressful way of doing things.
There was already a bus load of passengers waiting at the temporary bus stop when I arrived at 1010. At about half past ten a brand new double-decker appeared and began loading. It was joined a couple of minutes later by a vintage Routemaster so I got on that and both buses departed for Warminster via the interchange at Gore Cross and Imber village, where I alighted.
I have been inside the church at Imber before (I’ve been coming to Imberbus since 2018) so didn’t need to join the very long queue to see it again.
Instead I took some photos and video of the village, and the various vehicles either parked or in service and then joined the queue in the hot sun to get a bus to the village of Chitterne via Gore Cross, correctly estimating that it would arrive about midday and that the King’s Head would be open. It’s important to keep hydrated after all on such a sunny summer day 😏
The pub was doing a roaring trade but I found a shady spot in the garden to drink my beer. Refreshed I walked back to Chitterne Church which is where the buses stop and turn around. I didn’t need to wait too long before I was on another Routemaster back to Gore Cross. It was an open top bus but I know how low the trees are coming out of Chitterne so wisely rode inside - I like my hat to remain on my head 😃
Gore Cross is a roughly square patch of dust and gravel set amongst open fields on the edge of Salisbury Plain. It can be a bit windswept and there’s no shelter. Wearing a hat or bringing a parasol is recommended. Here is the interchange where the buses to and from Warminster and Imber, Chitterne and Tilshead, New Zealand Farm Camp, and Brazen Bottom and The Lavingtons converge. This makes it a good place to photograph and video buses and there were a lot of people doing just that.
Including me until I took a ride on an open top RT to New Zealand Farm Camp - inside to get some respite from the sun. There is nothing much at New Zealand Farm Camp apart from an opportunity to look at the view and or hop off for a photo opportunity before returning to Gore Cross.
I had intended to go to Warminster and back, mindful that I’d need to be on a bus back to Market Lavington not too late but a different opportunity presented itself. For a couple of years I’d seen the blue and white British European Airways Routemaster KGJ 602D visiting Imberbus as it was being restored. This year it appeared to be in service albeit not displaying a route number or destination blind. Enquiries confirmed that it was running and that it was going to Brazen Bottom and The Lavingtons.
Ideal, I could ride back in comfort - there are not many Routemasters with so much leg room, and on what is now a very rare vehicle. It’s in terrific condition and inside carries notices in English, French and German advising passengers to fill in their boarding card before arriving at the airport because these buses used to carry passengers from the West London Air Terminal in Cromwell Road where they would check in, to Heathrow Airport. Their luggage was carried in a closed trailer towed behind the bus. Having been born and lived near Heathrow I can actually remember seeing these buses with their trailers running on the M4 motorway before the Piccadilly Line was extended to Heathrow Central in the late 1970s, after which the central London check in and bus service was ceased.
No motorways here, or luggage trailer, but some narrow lanes across the military training areas to the remote temporary bus stop at Brazen Bottom (which is actually quite high up) and then down a long steep narrow hill to Market Lavington. Here I alighted and after watching BEA2 depart and a couple of other buses come and go I finished my Imberbus adventures for 2025 and headed for a cool shower, dinner, and beer. A much more civilised end to the day than waiting ages on a crowded station platform to board an packed two carriage train hoping none of my connections would be cancelled. I might do it again next year.
There’s a lot more photos in this Flickr Album.
