Day 181 a trip to the extreme North and extreme South of London the Nos 279 and 280.

The journey required me to use an Underground station I don't think I have ever used before-Manor House on the Piccadilly line. So I boarded the 1100 to Victoria and changed there onto the Victoria line as far as Finsbury Park where I was able to just cross to the Piccadilly line for the one stop to Manor House. I arrived at 1201 where an Arriva No 279 was just arriving at the bus stop, but left before I could get there it had left.

Two No 279 one leaving and the one I would catch 
in layover

Arriva's T251 waiting to pull across the road to pick me up

I had used this road a number of times recently, the Nos 253 and 254 pass this way and the No 259 accompanies the No 279 all the way down Seven Sisters Road. Arriva's T251 departed at 1212 heading NE to Seven Sisters and to the A10. 

The weights an measures building in Seven Sisters Road

The bus then took this road north as far as Bruce Grove, but here the A10 heads off to the NW and this bus takes the A1010 which meant we passed the Tottenham Hotspur football stadium at 1232. 

Lovely shop name in Tottenham

Typical toilet facilities near White Hart lane

Passing the Tottenham stadium

Carrying on north we reached Edmonton Green after passing into the London Borough of Enfield at 1247. 

Trafalgar Place Edmonton only 50 yards long

From here the bus route was always accompanied by at least one other bus route. Up to Ponders End this was the No 349. Once the bus arrived at Ponders End at 1302 we were advised that the driver would be changed, and after crossing Soulbury Road I could see this was a very convenient stop for so doing as Enfield bus station was just around the corner. 

Ponders End

Two bus routes accompanied the No 279 for quite a while still along the A1010, but after Ordnance Road it was only the No 327 and that was only on the northbound side of the road. I found out later this bus is an hourly one way circular bus operated by Sullivan Buses. We passed out of the Greater London area into the Broxbourne area of Hertfordshire at 1322 and entered Waltham Cross bus station at 1324, 72 minutes after departure whereas it said on the bus stop the journey would be 74 minutes. 

The act of crossing the M25 puts us into Hertfordshire

T251 at Waltham Cross bus station

Waltham Cross at 1324

The next bus starts from St George's Hospital in Tooting so it would take quite a while to get there. I caught the 1358 No 317 to Enfield then walked up to Enfield Chase to find I had missed the half hourly service to Moorgate by one minute. Thus I was boarding the Class 717 at 1502 and alighted at 1522 at Finsbury Park where there was a Brighton bound Thameslink waiting to depart on platform 1. I then changed to the Northern line at London Bridge and this took me to Tooting Broadway where I arrived at 1615.

Not shown my bus was in 4 minutes

London General WHV81 arriving

I walked to St George's Hospital and arrived with four minutes to wait for a No 280 which was operated by London General WHV81. The bus left at 1629 and returned me straight to Tooting Broadway station where it turned right for Amen Corner and Mitcham, much as I had recently done on the Nos 264 and 270.  

Approaching Tooting railway station with a
 No 270 leading us

However, whereas those buses turned left in Mitcham this bus goes straight on heading for Mitcham tramstop and then Rose Hill. Climbing up to Rose Hill the No 118 bus turned off right into Wandle Road and only the No 280 then continues until we reached the London Borough of Sutton at 1657.

The No 280 is the only bus serving
the stop climbing to Rose
Hill

Now running into Sutton with plethora of services

 

At Middleton Road the driver was exchanged betwixt 1700 and 1702 and after this the bus crossed  the Rose Hill roundabout and on into Sutton. We continued to climb after passing Sutton station to reach Belmont at 1723. Just beyond where the bus terminated was the edge of the Greater London area, so I had gone from just over the northern boundary of London to just inside the southern boundary in a little under three and a half hours.

All other routes split from the No 280 at Sutton Hospital

Final arrival at Belmont

Belmont station originally called California
until post kept being waylaid!!

I caught the next No 280 back to Sutton as it would have been an 18 minute wait for a train from Belmont station. However, when I got onto Sutton station the next train home was that train so it was at 1800 that I emerged from the station and walked home.