Day 236 Another nearby bus the No 356 from Shirley to Upper Sydenham

It surprisingly took an hour from leaving home to getting started on this bus, I have in the past walked from home to Shirley in 45 minutes. This was down to there being roadworks in Waddon Road where my No 407 repeatedly couldn't get through because too many vehicles were coming the other way and stopping at the lights behind us. I thought to change onto a tram at Centrale but no trams were running across Croydon because of track works. No doubt this was adding to traffic density. I alighted at the Whitgift Centre and walked to East Croydon where I caught a No 198 to Monks Orchard Road. Here I had at least a ten minute wait until the next bus arrived-the bus running every twenty minutes.

Twenty minute service taking just under an hour

Layover point empty

Stagecoach 36534 arriving to rest

At 1228 I was finally aboard Stagecoach No 36534 on the No 356 and we passed the Bethlem Hospital as we headed to the roundabout at Links Way shared with the recently introduced SL5.

Passing Bethlem Hospital

Elmers End Green where the No 289 used to
layover before the local Tesco was built

At the roundabout we parted company with the SL5 but were joined by the soon to be ridden No 358 and the last TFL bus I had to pay to travel, the No 194. Together the three buses then went through Eden Park and on to Elmers End Green, arriving at 1236. For the first time the bus was then on its own as it crossed the bridge at Elmers End station and went west towards Beckenham Crematorium and Birkbeck station. On the way we were joined by the No 354 route recently taken, but soon separated from this by turning left down Marlow Road. These houses were initially all late Victorian but the further we travelled away from Birkbeck station they slowly became more recent-some might have been war replacements. At the end of the road we turned right up Wheathill Road and these houses were more of a mix of ages. At the end of this road we rejoined other bus routes by turning right into Croydon Road.

One of many buses on Croydon Road

The Goldsmiths Arms in Penge

From here onwards we ran almost due north to Penge crossing the Elmers End Road we had been using at Beckenham Crem. at 1245 and passing the huge Crystal Palace Travelodge. We crossed Penge High Street at 1251 passing the newish library-well it wasn't there in the '80s and turned right on our own along Thesiger Road. At the end of this road we joined Kent House Road and continued along the length of this passing into the London Borough of Lewisham after Albemarle Court.

Kent House Road the No 356 on its own

Bell Green Retail park

At the end of this road we turned right to run past Sydenham Library to Southend Lane and then into the Bell Green retail development, where I had recently boarded the No 352 to Bromley North. Leaving here at 1304 the bus went straight over into Perry Rise as the only bus to do so. As we reached Perry Vale the No 75 joined us briefly in the direction of Forest Hill station but we were soon alone again. We joined the South Circular at 1315 and followed that road west until the Horniman Museum.

On the South Circular underneath Forest Hill station

 Almost opposite the museum the bus headed left up Sydenham Rise, which at its far end became a 1 in 8 slope. The No 363 briefly joined us here from the right before we dived left down Kirkdale once again alone. This road took us to Sydenham the Woodman where a number of other routes joined from the left. However, soon we separated from those buses taking the right turn at Wells Park Road. Now we just had the No 202 with us for entire length of the road passing the Upper Sydenham station, closed 70 years ago, now just house number 151. The road climbed steeply from here to the Sydenham Hill estate and at the 'T' junction at the top the bus turned right and went past three more stops before terminating at Sydenham Hill/Kirkdale at 1327, just two minutes longer than the 57 minutes journey time specified at Monks Orchard Road.

Journey's End

From here I walked to Crystal Palace Parade and caught a No 157 bus home arriving almost four hours after leaving home.