Travel As You Please Tours
Page 41
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An Original Scheme which will add greatly to the Enjoyment and Variety of Holidays in the Wye Valley and Forest of Dean District
AMOST comprehensive holiday scheme, known as the "Happy Valleys," has been inaugurated by Red and White Services, Ltd., the head office of which is at Chepstow, Mon., and the main London booking office at 53, Woburn Place, Russell Square, W.C.1.
The scheme embraces inclusive holiday tours in the Wye and Severn Valleys, the Vale of Usk and the Royal Forest of Dean, districts which are strikingly beautiful and offer scenic panoramas and holiday attractions which can be surpassed nowhere in the British Isles.
For one payment the holidaymaker will receive a return motor-coach ticket from any town on the Red and White long-distance routes to any place in the above districts which may be chosen as
a centre for touring. Excellent hotel accommodation and meals are provided, and the ticket holder is free to travel at any time to any place within the area of the Red and White local-service buses. If he wishes, the holidaymaker may change from one hotel to another so that he has a fresh touring centre, although if the changes be made at short intervals this will involve a small extra payment.
As an example of the rates, Happy Valley tours starting from London cost £5 15s. for one week, £8 2s. 6d. for ten days and 111 2s. 6d. for a fortnight. Bookings should be made not less than three weeks before the date of the commencement of the holiday. A deposit of 10s. is required and the balance is payable a week before the departure. On coach journeys out and back meals are provided at the Gloucester coach station.
In order to show the important booking agents the comprehensive nature and attractiveness of the offer, a party of them was invited to participate in a trip occupying Saturday afternoon and Sunday last. They travelled down on an Albion Viking saloon coach, spent the night at Gloucester and on the Sunday toured in the holiday area, visit-, lug such notable places of beauty and interest as Tintern Abbey, Chepstow Castle, Monmouth Old Gate, Symond's Vat, Royal Forest of Dean and the Speech House. On the return to Gloucester the visitors saw a well arranged and instructive film depicting scenes in some of the company's many touring areas. Opportunities were taken to inspect the big Red and White coach station at Gloucester, and the headquarter offices and maintenance depot of the company at Chepstow, and the visitors expressed admiration for the excellent organization displayed throughout every section, not the least appreciated being the catering in the Cadeua cafO forming part of the Gloucester station.
One diversion of particular interest was a trip of a few miles in a service bus equipped with a Gardner five-cyliiidered compression-ignition engine, which as an experiment has been running for several thousand miles on a coal-oil fuel of the creosote type. There was little
difference discernible between the running on this British product and on the more usual grades from petroleum bases—if anything, the performance was slightly better.
The party was accompanied the whole time by Mr. G. Nowell, director and London manager ; and at Gloucester it was joined by Messrs. R. Williams, chairman of the company; J. H. Watts, managing director ; A. Watts, technical director; G. BOW11, director and secretary; and N. Edgar, director of the air services of the company. Amongst the visitors were Capt. Toohey, president, and Mr. A. Bailey, chairman, of the Booking Agents Association of Great Britain, whilst several lady booking agents, Mrs. Watts, wife of the managing director, and other ladies took part in the tour.
The Red and White fleet consists
of Albion, Leyland and A.E.C. vehicles. Some eight have Gardner oil engines, and many more power units of this type will be installed shortly. Of these oil engines the four-eylindered model is being used on the buses, the five-cylindered on the express vehicles and the six-cylindered on the coaches, the rate of fuel consumption being, respectively, 16 m.p.g., 10 m.p.g. and 12-13 m.p.g.
The fleet is composed of between 200 and 300 vehicles owned by the company, but the total is brought up to 400 by associated concerns.
The greatest care is taken to keep the vehicles in the pink of condition. At the local depots they are subjected to a minor docking every 5,000 miles; major dockings take place at 15,000.