In order to expedite our arrival at The Central Middlesex Hospital it was required for us to to take two buses and three trains. We left after a short lunch at 1330 and managed to catch the 1358 from East Croydon to Clapham Junction. This meant we were in time for the 1421 to Stratford which deposited the wife and I at Willesden Junction at 1440 with then only a short wait for the 1444 Watford Junction train to go one stop to Harlesden. From here we emerged and caught a No 260 bus to the hospital.
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| London United's 30028 |
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| Bus laying over at 1500 |
The bus operating the No 228 service was exactly the same type, a Wrightbus Streetlite, as my previous route. This bus used to be owned by Tower Transit but is now operated as London United's 30028.
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| Our No 228 heading for Maida Hill The Chippenham |
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| Charmaine suitably dressed for the heat, boards the bus. |
We departed at 1505 and the timetable at the bus stop suggested it should take 67 minutes. The route took us immediately back to Harlesden railway station and then onwards to Willesden county court along Acton Lane. This was exactly the same route as both the No 206 and No 226, but the bus then turned right to reach Willesden Junction railway station.
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| Old Oak Lane |
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| Building works for HS2, there was a fence preventing good photos |
We continued in the same direction to reach Old Oak Common Lane where there was much evidence of the HS2 building works and we then went under the Great Western mainline to reach Brunel Road where many moons ago I had caught the No 7 bus to the British Museum and subsequently the No 72. The bus continued through East Acton to cross the Westway and further on we emerged onto the Uxbridge Road at 1533. Initially we headed east towards Shepherd's Bush, but turned left up Bloemfontein Road and then right into South Africa Road which took us past Loftus Road football stadium.
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| Home of QPR, this is the only route to serve this road but it appears not to do so on match days as there were diversion signs to that effect |
This road lead to White City Underground station where we turned right to go past TV centre and a little way after this we entered the White City bus station. The route then follows many to Shepherd's Bush railway and tube station before heading east along the A40 to Holland Park. Beyond this Underground station the bus turned left up Ladbroke Grove. To the north of this station the traffic became exceedingly slow and it was a struggle past North Kensington library with its anniversary hearts for 5 years since Grenfell.
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| North Kensington library |
After entering Ladbroke Grove Sainsbury's the bus took the Harrow Road eastwards and at this point (1614) there was an announcement that the terminal point of the bus had changed. It did not indicate to what as we continued along the Harrow Road towards Maida Hill. We were told on arrival at Great Western Road at 1621 that this was the final stop and we all had to get off.
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| Disembarkation at bus stop D on the Harrow Road |
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| As it clearly shows just three minutes more journey to go-DRAT! I'll have to come back. |
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| In pictorial form, we were at bus stop D there would appear to be bus stop E and two more only. |
On inspection of the timetable on the bus stop I could see that this was only three minutes before the end of the route. The service was only every 20 minutes so I resolved to wait for the next one. However it was seriously hot and Charmaine was desperate for an ice lolly. It was very difficult to find an appropriate shop despite us actually waiting over 40 minutes for the next bus. By now it was nearly five o'clock and she had a booking for a talk near Chancery Lane starting at 6PM and then tickets for Oklahoma at 7.30 PM so I thought it best to abort at this stage and we walked to Royal Oak tube station and just about reached Chancery Lane at 6 PM.
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