There was a large turnout to see a parade of historic buses pass through the Lake District, organised by operator Stagecoach.
A convoy of four restored and one modern vehicle made the 90-mile round trip from Lancaster to Keswick on Sunday to mark the centenary of the 555 Lancaster-Keswick bus route.
The public were able to board and take a look around when the buses paused at Kendal, Grasmere, Thirlmere and Keswick.
Tom Waterhouse, managing director of Stagecoach Cumbria and North Lancashire, said: “It’s been absolutely fantastic. I’ve been really taken aback, actually, by how many people have come out on the route taking photographs and waving at the drivers. It’s been special.
“It’s important that when we have iconic routes like the 555, that has served communities in this part of the world for over a century, that we actually celebrate that fact and the staff that, over those 100 years, have operated the route and served the local communities.”
The Lancaster-Keswick bus route carries almost a million passengers each year.
Launched as the Westmorland Main Service in 1925, it was operated by Ribble Motor Services for most of its life, initially as service 68.
It became the 555 in 1969 and has carried that route number ever since under Cumberland Motor Services and latterly Stagecoach.
The vintage line-up included a 1965 single-deck Leyland Leopard, a type widely used on Ribble’s longer routes from the 1960s to the 1980s and once based at Ambleside depot; a 1962 Leyland PD3 double-decker, familiar both on Carlisle’s city services and on the 555; a 1976 Ribble Leyland Atlantean double-decker, typical of the 555 in the 1980s; and a 1996 Stagecoach Volvo B10M single-decker, representative of the buses serving The Lakes in the early 2000s.
All have been restored by the Ribble Vehicle Preservation Trust.
Lance Jobson, the trust’s company secretary, said: “We are a charitable organisation, and we restore these vehicles to bring that moving piece of history back to people.
“We are not a static museum, we come to events like this where we take the vehicles out and showcase them to the public.
“People love it, you know, and they really enjoy getting on an old vehicle.”
Alongside the historic buses was a modern-day Alexander Dennis Enviro400 double-decker.
