Day 230 A much more manageable trip than the last one, to do the No 349 from Stamford Hill to Enfield bus garage.

 After a trip into Croydon to deposit some cheques at the bank I caught the 1115 Peterborough Thameslink service to Finsbury Park arriving at 1153. I then walked under the bridge to bus stop R and caught a No 253 bus to Stamford Hill. From the bus stop it was a short walk to Rookwood Road where Arriva's 'Borismaster' LT3 was relaxing in the sunshine.

Arriva's LT3 resting prior to departure

Church with the closed Stamford
 Hill bus
garage behind it

Display at bus stop says a 40 minute journey

The bus stop said the journey should take 40 minutes and I was aboard in my usual spot by 1222. We headed straight back to Stamford Hill Broadway and took the road towards Seven Sisters. The route was created from the No 149 in 2004 and replaced that part of the No 149 that went north of Edmonton Green bus garage. That of course meant that we followed the No 149 past the Bernie Grant Arts Centre at 1228 and on past the new Tottenham Hotspur stadium.

Egerton Road, first stop after leaving Stamford
Hill Broadway

Seven Sisters

Tottenham Hotspur stadium in distance

The beginning of the roadworks

Beyond this the journey became very slow owing to a succession of road works from beyond Bruce Grove station through to the A406; it took 12 minutes from entering London Borough of Enfield to reach the A406 and then again further north it was slow approaching Edmonton Green. This bus station was reached forty minutes after departure instead of Enfield bus garage but north of here progress was fairly fluid. Soon only two bus routes were on the Hertford Road: the No 349 and the No 279 heading for Waltham Cross. At 1315 we reached Ponders End shopping centre and turned left into Southbury Road to reach the bus garage at 1316, fifty five minutes after leaving Stamford Hill.

Ponders End shopping centre

LT3 inside the compound of Enfield garage

Southbury railway station is very close to the garage so I caught the 1340 train towards Liverpool Street. However, rather than go into central London I got out at Hackney Downs and walked to Hackney Central station where I caught a Richmond bound train two stops to Canonbury. At Canonbury I crossed the platform and waited six minutes for a West Croydon train where I arrived at 1507 and then took an Epsom train home..