Riding the Routes: Day 127 the opportunity arose after a short trip to Central London to do the No 201 on the return.

After a trip to the Charterhouse for the Christmas fair we went to Leather Lane which appears no longer to be a leather market and also tried to visit the Museum of London which is now closed Monday and Tuesday. Therefore we arrived at City Thameslink just in time for a train to Herne Hill; the 1249 to Sutton. I left Charmaine at City Thameslink for her to get a train home, whilst I caught this train and arrived at Herne Hill at 1302. However, by the time I had walked through the pedestrianised section to the main road I was in time to see a No 201 just leaving.

Herne Hill railway station bus stop

The next No 201 awaiting its
departure

There was, however, an Abellio single decker waiting in the distance by Brockwell Park and this did a 'U' turn and arrived at the first stop at 1317. It was Abellio's No 8822 an AD E20D -AD Enviro200 based at Beddington Cross.

Abellio 8822 arrives to take me to Morden

The bus initially headed South parallel with the Herne Hill to Tulse Hill railway but soon burrowed left under the railway along Croxted Road which I had also used 4 years ago on the No 3. There were numerous banners outside houses complaining about road closures and the effect this would have on air quality in Croxted Road.

Croxted Road with a No3 in distance

Croxted Road, sign above grey car says stop road
closures

When the bus reached the South Circular it turned right and headed for Tulse Hill station. At this point instead of following the South Circular it took the parallel road to the north called Tulse Hill until we reached Upper Tulse Hill where the bus turned left and entered St Martins Estate. Here we passed the Royal Military Police HQ before taking a left into Roupell Road where the bus was asked to wait to regulate the flow from 1331-1334.

The sign on the post in Roupell Road is a new sign signifying the Ultra Low Emissions Zone starts there since we were just north of the South Circular Road.

From here the bus regained the South Circular as far as the A23 where we turned left and followed down Streatham High Road. This is now the sixth bus I have covered this road on. However, when we reached St Leonard's church at 1348 the bus went straight on into Mitcham Lane unlike 4 of the other buses, a road though nevertheless I had already covered as it was duplicated by the No 57.

Mitcham Lane two churches side by side,
St James West Streatham and Mitcham Lane Baptist Church

This road is Mitcham Lane until we reached the River Graveney where we changed boroughs and it became Streatham Road. This took us down to Figges Marsh and on into Mitcham where we reached the Fair Green, once again, at 1405. The bus then took London Road down to Mitcham station, or tramstop as it is called now whereupon it turned right into Morden Road and Morden Hall Road to terminate in the High Street opposite the Underground station at 1417. This meant the journey took two minutes longer than stated, not bad given the convoluted route switching between surburban and main roads as it crossed SW London.