Day 282 Much nearer home again; to Crystal Palace for the No 417 and Kingston to Epsom on the No 418.

 I caught a No 407 to the top of Tamworth Road and then a London Overground train to Anerley. A No 157 conveyed me from there to Crystal Palace Parade and at 1205 I was aboard Arriva London's ES34.

Two No 417s waiting at Crystal Palace Parade

Journey should take 36 minutes

The final bus of 7 to do here

Arriva's ES34 coming out of lay over

This bus takes two sides of the Westow triangle at Upper Norwood before turning left in Central Hill at Gipsy Hill police station. Given storm Amy was battering the far north it was very windy at this elevation with the trees swaying wildly as we passed Norwood park.

A Just Married Routemaster ahead on Westow Street

A view over London before turning into
Central Hill

The trees in Norwood park blowing about

Beyond this point as the bus climbed towards crown point the No 417 was on its own but crossing over at the lights at crown point we were joined by the No 249. However, this meeting was brief as we turned right into Leigham Court Road and ran alone until near Glennie Road where the No 315 joined us for a short while to Knollys Road. The run down to Streatham Hill station from here was alone, but as we turned right onto the A23 many buses joined us for the run to Brixton bus garage.

The No 417 on its own

Streatham Hill station at the end of the road

At the bus garage we exchanged drivers between 1233 and 1236 and then set off turning left on to the south circular for a short while before taking the right at Kings Avenue. This road I also covered on the No 137 and No 355. On this occasion though the traffic was really bad at the northern end where we eventually went left into Clapham Park Road at 1255.

Roadworks in Streatham High Road

Power cable drums

Power cables for strengthening London's power

Baring right at Park Hill we reached Clapham Common station and then went right into Long Road and finally Rookery Road where we terminated at 1302.The journey was billed to take 36minuttes but actually took almost an hour, mostly owing to the traffic jam in Kings Avenue.

Crossing Clapham Common

ES34 returning towards Crystal Palace

The next bus starts from Kingston so I walked to where I could catch a No 345 to Clapham Junction station. However, on arrival I found all trains around the Kington loop were delayed owing to trespassers. Making a swift decision, as it was 1331 I boarded the 1333 as far as Raynes Park where I knew there were two buses which I could catch to Kingston. Boy did I chose the wrong one. The first to arrive was the No 131 and checking the timetable it stated it would only take six minutes longer than the No 57. I boarded the bus at 1351 which should have taken 25 minutes, there were two sets of roadworks and long holdups at each roundabout which meant the journey took nearer 40 minutes.

RATP 45160 laying over 

Bus takes 45 minutes and runs every twenty

There are some 500s and 700s here

RATP 45160 approaching

Since the No 418 only runs every twenty minutes it was not until 1517 that I was aboard RATP 45162 at the Cromwell Road bus station. This bus repeats the route of the No 406 as it round the one way system to access the High Street at Kingston and then heads west towards Surbiton.

St Marks hill

Climbing up St Marks Hill after passing Surbiton Girls School the road was half closed as some workmen were chopping up the remains of a tree which had recently been blown into the road. We then continued along the road in the direction of Tolworth Broadway and the Tolworth roundabout where we arrived at 1537.

Tolworth Roundabout

Chessington train still of Class 455 stock

We continued along the A240 in the direction of Ewell following the same path as the No 406 until we reached Ruxley Lane. At this point the bus finally branched off on its own for the length of this road.

Entering Surrey from the LB of Kingston

Ruxley Church Ruxley Lane

Joining Hook lane

Once we reached Hook lane we went left joining with the sparsely operated No 467 until we reached Long Lane. Along this road the bus was the only user to its far end where we turned left and joined with two ' E ' buses the E5 and E9. At the railway bridge the bus turned hard right, as presumably it was two high to go through and took Chase Road to reach Epsom station where it terminated at 1604. I then caught the 1633 train to Carshalton and the No 407 home.

The bus doesn't go into the station forecourt to terminate

Day 281 To Gravesend for the only No 416 I could find a trip in rural Kent to Meopham.

 I caught the 1035 to London Bridge and there boarded the 1104 to Dartford via Bexleyheath. At Dartford I just missed the late running 1137 to Gravesend but it would still not have got me there in time to get the previous No 416. So when I caught the 1156 to Gravesend and arrived at the bus station at 1210 I had just short of two hours to wait for the next bus.

The Class 707 going back to London, whilst my
networker arriving to take me on to Gravesend

A class 395 Javelin train arriving at Gravesend

Each Javelin is named after an olympian

At 1225 no sign of a No 416 

Class 69 69005 with a ballast train for Hoo
Junction in 1960s livery

The No 416 timetable but from Meopham
to Gravesend not the other way around

Balfour Beatty class 20 20905 which was running
light attached to No 20901

Redroute buses E4HRR resting

Finally the bus is indicated but still plenty
of time to go to Greggs for a tuna baguette
and latte.

Inbound Embraer to Biggin Hill

The bus arrived just after 1PM  and then waited in the bay east of the station for almost an hour before running into the bus station at 1403 and leaving for Meopham at 1405. The bus was Redroute buses Optare Solo E4HRR which I had seen many times years ago locally when it was operated by Epsom Buses Quality Line.

The No 416 arriving

Heading north in one way system

Passing pier for ferry to Tilbury

The bus turned right and went around the one way system heading down to the riverside and then later climbing up to the east of the town centre so as to head east along the A226 in the direction of Rochester. Once past St Peter and Paul church of Milton Next Gravesend with Denton we reached a roundabout which we went straight over. Quite soon though, the bus turned right into a housing estate at Forge Lane the bus then went left into Barr Road and then right into Cruden Road. we were climbing all the way and at a t junction at the end we took Cervia Lane to the end and then turned left down Thong Lane back to the A226. 

At this point this A road had a 50 mph speed limit which meant we whistled along. I wanted to get pictures if the Thames Estuary as we were climbing again but the trees were too frequent to enable me to photograph the increasingly widening river Thames. We passed Thamesview Crematorium and entered Shorne where we turned right off the main road into Forge Lane where we climbed once more reaching Shorne Village at 1423.

Shorne village store

Crossing the A2

We continued climbing into the village of Shorne Ridgeway and at the end of Tanyard Hill we took the right turn signposted Cobham. Passing Shorne Woods Country Park we crossed the A2 and next to it HS1 before stopping at Cobham Hall bus stop.

Cobham War Memorial

Looking down The Street Cobham

Cobham village sign

We turned left here past fields to reach Cobham War Memorial where we forked right along The Street and into Cobham Village itself.

Building near Cobham

Beyond the village we reached the national Trust property of Owletts. where we went left and at 1433 we reaching Sole Street railway station.

Numerous apple trees betwixt Cobham and Sole
Street

Sole Street village sign

Agricultural areas en route

Turning into Meopham

Arrival at Meopham school

The end of the road

Awaiting return to Gravesend

E4HRR standing for twenty five minutes before
returning

Owletts on way back

Continuing along the same road we eventually reached the main road and turned left in Meopham. The bus remained on this road steadily climbing the shallow rise until we reached Meopham Secondary School. The bus did a circuit within the school grounds and then parked at 1441.

A clearer view of Cobham sign

Cobham primary school

Junction at end of The Street Cobham

Shorne Woods Country Patk

Clearer view of Shorne Village stores

I had had a chat with the driver about what I was doing once the last passenger disembarked at Shorne until another boarded at Sole Street. He very kindly pointed out things I could photograph on the route which would be good references to my having done the journey. Since I was the only passenger at the terminus I filled him in with more detail as to what I was doing and why. The bus the  headed back to Gravesend at 1505 and I was on platform zero at 1546 boarded the 1549 Victoria train. I changed at Lewisham and caught a Hayes train to Elmers End and then the tram to Wandle Park and finally a No 410 arriving home at 1750.

Gravesend necessitated a train and return bus ticket to Meopham