My wife had been wanting to see our friend Tim's new workplace situation for a number of years. He told us he has now been there for five years so it really was time to get to Woolwich Arsenal. It seemed a good opportunity to catch the No 202 bus to Blackheath. We thus caught the 1300 train to West Croydon and then changed to the 1321 train from there to Crystal Place. Climbing Anerley Hill we were astonished to see a young adult on a skate board hurtling down this steep slope in the middle of the road with one leg in the air. He seemed totally oblivious to his own personal danger or that he might cause to others!
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Anerley Hill looking ESE, skate boarder by this time
around corner at bottom |
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Crystal Palace bus station with Arriva's HT9
ready to depart on the No 202 |
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| At bus stop awaiting our mount to Blackheath |
The bus station that I have now used a number of times is just around the corner at the top of the hill and we could see there was already a No 202 waiting. However, the bus doesn't pick up in the bus station but as with the No 3 I took 4 years previously it starts from bus stop B on the other side of Crystal Palace Parade.
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| Charmaine boarding HT9 at bus stop B |
At 1352 we were aboard and were heading north past the transmitter mast and at the end of the Parade took the left along Sydenham Hill. There was an abrupt turn to the right down Wells Park Road and before I realised it we were passing the station building for Upper Sydenham station which closed in 1954, hence the blurry picture.
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| Now a private dwelling, Upper Sydenham Station building |
This road took us through the Sydenham Hill estate and at the end of the road we turned right into Kirkdale. At the end of this road we entered Sydenham High Street and I was sad to see the cake shop where I bought my wife's 60th birthday cake was no longer there. Further along we passed a presumably reproduction Tudor type house which had what looked like a Magnolia tree coming into bud!
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Looking back across Sydenham Hill Estate with
invading Altocumulus |
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| Sydenham Road, extension of High Street |
As we reached Bell Green I was reminded that the Bell Green shopping area was where I ended my last trip before the first lock down on the No 194. This bus doesn't enter the shopping 'village' but heads past up Perry Hill and then down the other side into Catford Hill where we joined with route No 75 at 1415. This then meant we joined the South Circular Road through Catford and once around the one way system we remained on this road as it became Brown Hill Road, where I noted many of the Victorian villas had names of West Country locations carved above their doorways. As we approached the bridge under the main Southeastern railway near Hither Green the traffic suddenly became much slower for some reason. We managed to pick up speed though once we had turned left down Burnt Ash Hill towards Lee.
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Travelling up the South Circular road. Every side
road on the left had the new ULEZ signs |
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| View towards London from Burnt Ash Hill |
Once past Lee Green station we crossed straight over the A20 and climbed towards Blackheath with the private Cator estate to our right hand side. Reaching Blackheath village the bus goes down and up towards the Heath and then crosses the Heath itself as the Royal Standard is actually nowhere near the village, being almost at Charlton House. We arrived at 1448 just under an hour's journey from Crystal Palace.
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| Approaching North side of Blackheath 'heath.' |
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| Arriva's HT16 making a return journey |
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| Journey's end the Royal Standard turn around. |
Moving on we caught a No 54 to Woolwich arriving at Tim's workplace for half past three for tea and choccy biccies. Getting home was much easier taking a train to London Bridge and then the fast train to Epsom home from there, arriving around 6PM.
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