Day 235 The next two nearby buses on the 24th July 2024, the No's 354 and 355.

I caught the 1030 to West Croydon and then the 1046 London Overground train three stops to Penge West where I arrived at 1058. From here it was a short walk down the hill towards the Crooked Billet and as I approached I could espy a bus in the layover space. I was just too far away to reach it though and so I had a twenty minute wait for the next No 354 service to Bromley North once more.

A No 354 too far away for me to catch

Starting point of the
No 354

My bus waiting 'for the off' outside the Penge
Crooked Billet 

This time it was London General (Metrobus) No 176 that arrived at 1125. The bus took me straight back the way I had come turning left so as to pass Penge West station and onwards running parallel with Crystal Palace Park to reach Anerley Road. Here the bus went left to join with the Nos 157 and 358 as far as Croydon Road. 

Anerley Town Hall

As we crossed the traffic lights here this was only route that now takes the hill down to Birkbeck. This road used to be covered by the No 194 up to the 1980s operated out of Elmers End garage; now long closed. 

Passing Beckenham Crematorium and cemetery

The No 356 joined us just before Birkbeck station but soon we were off on our own again down Beck Lane and Churchfields Road to reach Beckenham Road.

Beckenham Library building undergoing renovation

Here the bus headed east past Clock House station and past Beckenham library to reach the war memorial and on down the High Street unlike the No 352. At the traffic lights at the end the bus turned left past St George's church and over the railway line at Beckenham Junction station. From here at 1147 it was announced  the bus was on diversion and went down The Avenue rather than Foxglove Road which caused some passengers some inconvenience.

At traffic lights by St George's church
 and Beckenham Junction station

Diversion from Foxgrove Road

Half way down The Avenue the bus went left into Westgate Road and then right into Foxgrove Road regaining its normal route. This route proved to be very windy thereafter and I can understand why when the route was introduced by Metrobus it was with small minibuses. There was a sharp turn from Downshill into Ravensbourne Avenue to access the railway station and then  right turn into Farnaby Road. The road gave us access to Beckenham Lane which climbs Swan Hill and at the top the bus drove to the Market Square then along West Street to terminate at Bromley North at 1205.

Sharp turn into Ravensbourne Avenue

Market Square Bromley

Arrival at Bromley North

Before boarding a No 119 I enquired if the High Street was open unlike last week. The driver answered that it was, so I boarded the short distance to Bromley South station. On arrival I saw that chaos reigned and the 1203 had not arrived yet and most other trains did not have times at all. Apparently something had hit a bridge between Bromley and Bickley. I had hoped to catch a train to Brixton where the No 355 starts but the 1203 stopping service arrived at 1218 called at Victoria only. This train conveyed me to Victoria by 1238 and then I used the Victoria line to get me to the starting point of the No 355 where I arrived at 1250.

Only five minutes to wait

Another 40 minute or so journey

London General's WS102 arriving

On arrival at bus stop F, I had a 5 minute wait and London General's WS102  arrived at 1302. This bus then headed past the station and then did a circuit around the church to stop at Lambeth Town Hall and then turned left along Acre Lane. We were accompanying the Nos 35 and 37 until we swung left into Kings Avenue and from then until the end we were with the Nos 137 and 415. We turned towards Clapham at that point along Poynders Road, now with the No 50. At Clapham Common at 1323 we headed south along the A24 through Balham and Tooting to turn left at Tooting Broadway. At Tooting Bec station we were held for three minutes, as the bus had been travelling too quickly. 

Brixton Hill outside Lambeth Town hall

At the end of Kings Avenue new
 builds on Poynders Road

Clapham South Underground station

We then followed the road from Tooting Broadway to Mitcham via Amen Corner, Tooting railway station and Figge's Marsh, terminating at the Canons Leisure Centre at 1357. 

Tooting Bec where the Sewing Machine museum is located

I then walked to Mitcham Junction  station and took a tram home.

The end of the road with two No 355s and No 270s awaiting return whence they had cometh

Day 234 on the 19th July 2024, all but 1 of the next 8 buses are nearby and even that has a local alternative. The No 352 and 353 both operated by the Metrobus are of London General.

This journey started with a No 410 bus to the top of Tamworth Road where I alighted at 1058 and managed to catch the 1101 London Overground train at West Croydon to Sydenham. Here I visited the post office to send a couple of items and walked to Bell Green Sainsbury's, a place I last visited just prior to lockdown on the No 194.

A forty minute journey time from
Bell Green to Bromley

Bell Green retail park

London General (Metrobus) 160 approaching

I boarded unexpectedly at 1039 the London General single decker No 160 as I had thought I had fifteen minutes to wait for the next one. The bus turned left out of the retail park and left again to go under the Mid Kent railway line before immediately turning right down Worsley Bridge Road. This meant the bus was the only service on the road and this happened a good deal on this service. We passed Lower Sydenham station and then Beckenham Cricket Club and at the end of the road headed right to New Beckenham station.

Beckenham Cricket ground grandstand

Kent County Cricket club headquarters

The building that was Beckenham Post Office
now a church

The bus then took a short section of Copers Cope Road before crossing the railway at Bridge Road and then running along Blakeney Road to reach Rectory Road. From here the bus went right to the war memorial and then up Beckenham High Street for a short while in company with many buses at 1052 before taking Village Way with the No 367.

View towards Croydon skyscrapers
 from Village Way

 At Stone Lodge Road this bus headed left on its own to the Chinese Garage and then into Hayes then Wickham Way as a hail and ride service beyond Langley Park school through the golf course to a mini roundabout where it had to turn hard left owing to width restrictions in the road. 

The roundabout where the bus turns hard left

The bus then climbed up the hill to Pickhurst Lane, initially straight over into Meadway but then hard left into Pickhurst Park now combined with the route No 246 for a while winding through this estate to emerge onto Hayes Lane and then into Bromley. The bus should have run up the High Street here but the road was closed so we were diverted up Kentish Way to terminate at Bromley North at 1120.

Unusually running up the full length of
Kentish Way 

Arrival at Bromley North Bus terminus

At 1125 I then caught a No 261 to Locksbottom and there boarded a No 353 to the start/end of the route at Ramsden estate in Orpington. In using this method of getting to the start of the route I unwittingly covered some roads in the estate that were not covered when starting there. I therefore covered Petten Grove and Rye Crescent before getting off London General's EE106 at 1218.

Crofton Road hill looking down across Orpington

Road works on station hill making transit difficult

Layover at Ramsden

Bus stop at war memorial end of
Orpington High Street depicting 21 buses

I then reboarded the same bus at 1225 going left to run past the Eldred Road shops before heading back to Court Road via Tintagel Road and Ramsden Road. At Carlton Parade the bus took the length of Orpington High Street and then up Station Road to stop opposite Crofton Halls where drivers were exchanged at 1247. At 1249 the bus was climbing up the hill to run along Crofton Road to Locksbottom. When I was about 10 years old a speculative bus route was offered from Orpington to Croydon called the North Downs Bus shown as N on the timetable. This was an hourly minibus service. Historically it has become so successful it now runs every twenty minutes throughout the day as a double decker bus. After the bus had passed through Keston it turned right down Baston Manor Road and I disembarked to hand deliver a birthday card to St Mary's Cottages. 

Queues waiting to get to Orpington station, the 
Arriva Kent bus No 477 in lead

The cause of the hold ups, roadworks at the station

Disembarkation in Hayes

Awaiting the next No 353 arrival

EE108 arriving to take me the rest of the way

The next No 353 EE108 picked me up at 1321 and took me through Hayes and along Kent Gateway to the Addington tram interchange at 1332. From here the bus follows the route of what was the No 357/857 many years ago to Forestdale and terminated at 1341 at the end of Courtwood Road.

The high speed run along Kent Gateway

Passing arable fields near New Addington

Addington tram and bus interchange

The first bus stop on the way back but
 not included on the run from Orpington

View from bus after arrival at end of route

Arrival of EE108 at Courtwood Road

Bus stand at end of route

I explained to the driver what I was doing and he told me to get back on the bus and so took me around the turning circle at the end of Courtwood Road and back to the tram interchange. However, my intended route home was blocked by the police stopping all trams in Lloyd Park, so my backup plan was a No 64 to the Whitgift centre in Croydon and a No 407 or 410 bus home from there, and I arrived  home at 1510. 

Day 233 Another attempt to do a No 351, this time successfully from Chelmsford on 17th July 2024

 I caught the 1005 train to London Bridge went down to the Jubilee line and travelled to Stratford where I arrived just in time for the 1055 towards Braintree. This train arrived at Chelmsford at 1124 and I walked down the stairs then under the bridge into the adjacent bus station to ascertain when the next No 351 was going to leave.

Quite a wait for the No 351

Eastern National colours from 
1970 on a more recent bus

First Essex bus at Chelmsford bus station

The service is hourly so the next bus to Brentwood and beyond was not until 1205. Whilst I was waiting I felt a thump on my back, I had been assaulted by a Painted Lady butterfly. At just prior to 1205 a first Essex bus number 44469 arrived on route No 351 to Warley.

First 44469 arriving to take me to Warley

Barbers in Chelmsford

Driving past the access to the newer A12
 entering Margretting

 

This bus went straight under the railway line unlike all the double deckers and did a sweep of the centre of the city before doing two sides of a dual carriageway so as to be able to head west down the old A12. At the BBC Essex building the bus swung right along Writtle Road to cross over the Great Eastern mainline and left once we arrived at Westway. Taking the roundabout's second exit returned us to the old A12 which was now a dual carriageway and we tore down this at a fair lick as there was only farmland or woods either side. After a while we crossed under the newer A12 Chelmsford bypass and passed into Margretting and then Ingatestone.

Typical Essex cottages in Ingatestone

Should have been a photo of Mountnessing
windmill but tree swept into screen  

Entering Margretting we also entered the Borough of Brentwood at 1227. Once through the adjoining settlement of Ingatestone it was back over the A12 and on to Mountnessing at 1234. Crossing the A12 there was a sign stating Chelmsford 7 miles: the bus had taken half an hour to achieve that distance. The A1023 now called Chelmsford Road took us into Shenfield and past Brentwood Community Hospital and into Brentwood itself. The bus had been quite busy for much of the journey but finally 10 travellers left the bus at Brentwood town centre to leave just two of the original bus load to continue on beyond the railway station. However, whilst here at 1252 bus three boarded.

Clock in Brentwood

Journey's End Warley

The bus climbed up the hill from the valley where the railway was crossed and turned left into The Drive. At the end of this road we terminated at 1256 at Eagle Way Warley. 

Mascalls Lane, no path either side and loads of
vehicular traffic

Looking NE towards Brentwood

Mascalls Lane still with view towards London

The only TFL route to Brentwood

I could have caught the next bus back to Brentwood but decided it would more interesting to walk cross country so as to intercept the No 498 bus for the run into Romford. This entailed walked along Eagle Way to the crossroads at Warley Hill and then cross straight over into Mascalls Lane. This latter road took me all the way to Brook Street where I had about ten minutes to wait for the next bus to Romford which arrived at 1337. This bus conveyed me to Romford where I caught the Elizabeth line at 1402 to Whitechapel and changed here for the London Overground to West Croydon and home.