Day 156 The No 239 a trip way outside the TFL area which means I had to pay to use a bus for the first time since prior to Covid.

 There has not been a TFL bus numbered 239 since the 16th Feb 2008 when the bus route was combined with the No 170. Thus I was required to take only the second foray outwith the London area to continue the sequence in an unbroken manner. The nearest No 239 I found was a bus betwixt Maidenhead and Henley run by Thames Valley buses which runs Monday, Wednesday and Friday twice each way. We couldn't use the freedom pass to catch the 1100 to Henley from Maidenhead so decided to do it the other way round.

Return to Maidenhead from boundary of Zone 6, single Maidenhead to Henley on Thames, and 
then between them the bus ticket from Henley to Maidenhead. The bus is 40p or 8/- cheaper per person.

Thus we caught the 1030 to Victoria then the Circle Line to Paddington and a GWR train heading for Didcot Parkway at 1157 as far as Twyford. The train arrived at 1241 and I could see the train to Henley waiting in the platform was booked to leave at 1245. We had 4 bags of books we were taking to a second hand book shop in Henley so it was a hard job getting over the footbridge in time for the train.

Charmaine dozing courtesy of GWR.

387142 of GWR leaving Twyford for Didcot
 Parkway

Charmaine grateful we have made the Henley train

We managed, however and duly arrived in Henley at 1257, I had suggested we might arrive by 1PM to the proprietor and we were pretty close to that as its wasn't far to get to Friday Street from the station.

165125 of GWR ready to return to Twyford
3 minutes after arrival

Henley On Thames station

Once we were through with the negotiations on behalf of the Feed The Mind Charity for Purley URC we repaired to Starbucks in Bell Street for lunch and to wait for the No 239. 

The packing tape across where the bus No 239 is shown on the bus stop in Hart Street. 

Starbucks and the stop in Bell Street
where the bus used to start from

I was more than a little concerned that there was no sign on the bus stop in Bell Street that the bus stopped there so went to find the bus stop in Hart Street to check if it stopped there.

When I arrived at the Hart Street stop there was a strip of packing tape over the details of the No 239 timetable which made me fear the worst. Having looked at the website since arriving home it seems the timetable was changed from last Sunday and hence they were yet to put the updated one at the bus stop so just blocked potential passengers reading it. There are now 3 buses a day rather than 2 on Mon, Wed and Fri but still 2 on Saturday.

Thames Valley 126 with Charmaine boarding at 1435

However at 1435 we boarded Thames Valley's Optare Solo No 126 at the stop in Hart Street and it departed at the time it said on the website. Nobody was waiting at the other stops in Henley, which was hardly surprising giving their total lack of information. I asked locals and they didn't seem to have a clue. The bus continued around the Henley one way system and over the river bridge and up Remenham Hill. So many times I made this route when commuting to RAF Benson at all times of day and in all weathers.

Running beside the Thames before crossing
the bridge in the distance

The Angel public house on the Oxfordshire side of the bridge

The bus stop on the opposite side of the road at Aston Lane was completely blank. Was that deliberate or was it just weathering- we were going too fast to check and continued at breakneck speed down the other side of the hill where we turned left for Hurley caravan site.

Hurley Caravan site indicted off the main road to the left

 This was a very narrow road and once we had dropped off one of the two other passengers at the site we turned right and headed for the stop called Hurley High Street. To get there we passed a sign stating road only open between dawn and dusk- not seen that before ever. We emerged out of Shepherds Lane in the middle  of the High Street but I only noticed a barbers and the Rising Sun pub as businesses there. After passing a blue plaque saying this was the site of Station Victor at the next stop we picked up two people who were returning to Maidenhead. These were the only people we picked up until we reached the edge of Maidenhead itself. The bus resumed its way back on the main road until it reached the roundabout and turned right which was signposted Burchett's Green.

Berkshire College of Agriculture Zoo sign

 We didn't progress far though, before we turned right into the Berkshire College of Agriculture. Here we saw tree surgery being practised, lots of cabbages, some people playing footie, and a sign for the zoo which Richard later informed us is where someone he knows called Emily works. The bus did a complete circuit in the car park and returned whence it had come.

Hall Place Mansion Berkshire College of Agriculture

At the end of the drive there was sign forbidding turning right so we had to return to the roundabout and from there we took the road back towards Maidenhead. However, I expected us to take the old road through Pinkneys but we drove onto the A404 M4 to M40 link road and absolutely pelted down to the junction with the A4. We then headed into Maidenhead along the A4 but after a while took the left called Courthouse Road past Boyn Green Park which was a method of getting the bus to St Mark's Hospital. The bus took St Mark's Road at the hospital and ran back to the A4 with none added to the clientele. Here went left for a little while before taking the right, Grenfell Road over the single line to Marlow and entered Frascati Way at the end. The final bus stop was on the wrong side of a dual carriageway and so we had to turn left run up to a roundabout and do a 360 degree turn here to return  precisely on time at 1517.

On time arrival at Frascati Way with bus already showing its next trip on the No 234

From here we walked to Maidenhead station and just missed the fast GWR train to Paddington so had to wait fifteen minutes for the next Elizabeth Line train at 1540. The 'Marlow Donkey' was waiting on Platform 5 when we arrived but as soon as this left our train was indicated as arriving.

The 'Marlow Donkey' on platform 5 at Maidenhead

The train got us to Paddington for 1625 and we were then able to get the 1700 train straight to home unlike two weekends ago when a trespasser meant it took 3 hours to get home from Paddington.