Day seventy five to Enfield for the No 121

I left home at 1140 and changed at West Croydon for the 1201 to Highbury and Islington. At Canada Water I took the Jubilee line to Stratford with the entire journey taking less than an hour. From Stratford I needed to get to platform 11 in order to take a train to Enfield Lock and luckily there was only ten minutes until departure at 1300. The train was held at the junction south of Tottenham Hale whilst trains to Stansted airport and Hertford North ran across the junction ahead of us. This meant the train arrived at Enfield Lock at 1324, three minutes behind time. However, the biggest hold up was yet to come as in order to get to the start of the route at Enfield Island Village, I needed to catch the No 121 from just along the road from the railway station. This bus didn't come until 1339 despite the service being supposed to be every 7-11 minutes.

Barge advertising Royal Ordnance factory with converted
factory buildings behind

Factory building converted for accommodation

The Island Village is built on the site of the original Enfield Royal Ordnance Factory and some of the buildings have been nicely converted into living accommodation.

DW560 awaiting departure at Enfield Island Village

Bus stop at Enfield Island Village

The route is operated by Arriva and the Daf with Wright bodywork DW560 was waiting as my bus arrived. As I boarded at 1354 I asked the driver how long he expected the journey to Turnpike Lane to take and he said he anticipated to be there about 1527, so over an hour and a half. He did intimate he would get there quicker if he could and he certainly set off at a pace.





The level crossing at Enfield Lock station provided a considerable barrier to traffic as I waited earlier, but on our route west we only waited for one Stansted express to rush through and then we were on our way.

Ordnance Road

 The road we travelled along was called Ordnance road but at the 'T' junction at the end we turned left and headed south along Hertford Road through Enfield Wash until we reached Southbury Road where the bus turned west once more.

Awaiting the time to depart outside Enfield bus garage

Upon reaching Enfield bus garage the driver informed us we would need to wait three minutes to regulate the service so we lingered until 1417 before heading on through Enfield town and up the hill past Enfield Chase.

Semi rural route betwixt Enfield Chase and Oakwood

The route became increasingly rural as we passed the huge Trent Park country park to the north and rather waterlogged fields to the south.




At Oakwood Piccadilly line station we turned south towards London and left the country behind reaching Southgate at 1455. From Southgate the bus made its way to Palmers Green

Broomfield Park Palmers Green

and once we had turned left at the triangle we then headed along the A105 across the North Circular Road and on to Wood Green and finally reached Turnpike Lane at 1519, a full 8 minutes before the driver had expected to arrive. I complimented him on his time keeping as I left the bus.

Views of Alexandra Palace were frequent as we continued southwards.

Approaching Turnpike Lane tube station from the direction of Wood Green Shopping City.

From Turnpike Lane I caught the No 41 to Tottenham Hale and then the train to Stratford and returned the way I had come reaching home about 1730.