Day 259 To London Bridge to ride the No 388 to Stratford.

 I intended to get the 1205 to London Bridge but on checking 'live trains' I found there were trespassers on the line betwixt West Croydon and Sydenham and not only were London Bridge trains were cancelled but the Victoria ones were cancelled too, presumably because of the log-jam created. So I walked to Wandle Park intending to get a tram to change at Mitcham Junction. However, I just missed a tram and on arrival at Mitcham Junction the train I had wanted left for Blackfriars. I therefore continued on the tram to Wimbledon and changed for a train to Waterloo at 1244 and arrived at Waterloo East in time for the 1309 Dartford via Sidcup train. It therefore took me an hour and a half to reach London Bridge when the train usually would have taken 23 minutes, GRRR!

No 388 waiting departure time

Bus should be every twelve minutes and 
journey takes 3/4 an hour

Stagecoach 12502 approaching

At 1325 I was aboard Stagecoach 12502 heading for Stratford International. The bus crossed London Bridge and then took Gracechurch Street and Bishopsgate to pass Liverpool Street station at 1335.

Crossing London Bridge on the No 388

Sculpture of bag Gracechurch Street

Beyond Shoreditch High Street station railway bridge the bus went right in the direction of Bethnal Green along Bethnal Green Road. This meant we passed the end of Brick Lane and once we had turned left at the end of this road at 1347 we ran up to Cambridge Heath station passing the V&A museum, previously the Museum of Childhood where there was a substantial queue of people waiting to enter; it was the last day of half term!

Approaching Shoreditch High Street Station with
Bishopsgate goods depot on right

Passing Brick Lane

This road, Cambridge Heath Road becomes Mare Street, Hackney and just after this change had occurred the bus driver announced we were exchanging drivers. This was at 1353 but the wait was a whole ten minutes before we resumed our progress to turn right along Well Street which after a while morphs into Cassland Road. At the end of this road we turned right into Wick Road which meant we descended under the A12 Eastern Cross Route and entered Eastway, where the bus very briefly covers a short part of road on its own.

Netflix advert in Cambridge Heath Road

The turnaround point for the No 26 and 236 so the No 388 is
only bus to cover this part of Eastway with Passengers!

 It soon joins with the No 236 and the No 276, but these peel away north whilst the No 388 goes it alone into the Stratford Olympic Park. 

Entering the Olympic Park

Pausing at the bus station entrance

My No 388 overtaken by succeeding one thanks
to delay in finding a replacement driver no doubt

Virgin A330

Finnair A320

Singapore B777

Air China A350

Bangladesh B787

Malaysian A350

Autigny ATR outbound from London City

The bus wended its way east then south towards the Acelor Mittel Orbit and then went around the Westfield shopping centre to terminate at the bus station at 1429.

I then walked to Stratford station where I was able to take some photos of inbounds to Heathrow and the odd outbound from London City before catching the Jubilee line to Canada Water and then London Overground to West Croydon onward to reach home around 5 PM.

Day 258 An opportunity to visit Tring with Susan to do the No 387 and visit the natural history museum outpost there.

 I caught the 0935 to London Bridge and with the use of the Northern line went to Euston station so as to take the 1054 to Tring. At Euston I met Susan and we travelled north together reaching Tring at 1132; bang on time.

First time I have seen an Avanti class 807, 807002 at Euston

Tring station our LNWR train in platform 4

Tring station with Avanti
west coast class 390 passing through

The bus starts from the nearby village of Albury which is much nearer to Tring railway station than Tring itself. We needed to get to the village for 1159 and the bus timetable stated that the bus only took three minutes to cover the distance. Indeed as we were walking down the road the bus passed us heading for Aldbury.

Red Rose bus No 387 passing us on road to Albury

Red Kites were frequently visible

Aldbury church

We reached the village at 1155 and spied the bus waiting on the opposite side of the pond. It was E7RRT operated by the company Red Rose one of three similar named bus companies from Aylesbury.

Bus other side of pond with Susie walking briskly

Phew made it in time!

Stocks on green adjacent to pond and bus was in
Stocks Road

The bus left at exactly the time expected retracing the route we had walked except for the bit where we walked in the adjacent field for 'safety' and I immediately did a forward roll as my foot got trapped in a rope of vegetation. We passed the station at 1202 and headed onward towards Tring along Station Road. Before we reached Tring the bus turned right along Grove Park past the local high school and then left along Mortimer Hill. At the end of the hill we turned left and then instead of  entering the town went left again at the Robin Hood PH and took the road south until we reached the local Tesco superstore at 1211.

Passing The Robin Hood the first time

Old milepost from when this was the main A41 as
we headed south

 Here we did a loop picking up three passengers, there were another three on the bus already two from the start and one picked up at the railway station. We then returned to the Robin Hood and entered the town properly. At 1212 we were at the Rose and Crown where most people got off. We continued straight for a while along Western Lane and then went right down Miswell Lane to the end where there was a Windmill without sails.

Tring High Street

Mill at end of Miswell Lane

Susan having disembarked

Journey's End

We turned right at the end and took the B488 down to New Mills where the bus turned right into Wingrave Road and terminated at 1221.

From here we waked into Tring town centre so we could access the Natural History Museum which was created by Walter Rothschild as his personal collection when he was 21 years of age. 

Akeman Street in Tring

Interesting remnant of building in Akeman Street

Inside the Museum hall 3

Zebras in Hall 4

Chamois in hall 5

After three hours we walked to Tring station arriving at 1648 fortuitously arriving in time to take the train at 1650 to Euston. There we separated, Susan taking Northen line to Charing Cross and me the Victoria line to Victoria catching the 1800 Epsom Downs train arriving home about quarter to seven.

Bus ticket from Pond at
Aldbury to Tring Rose and
Crown

Tickets from Boundary of zone 6 to Tring

Day 257 To Woolwich for the No 386 to Blackheath.

 I caught the 1205 to London Bridge and then the Thameslink to Rainham service at 1248 to Woolwich Arsenal where I arrived at 1309. Consulting the map at the bus stop outside I saw that the bus started from Woolwich High Street which I would be able to access by heading down to Beresford Road and turn left. However, when I did this I found that the pavement immediately left was closed so crossed the road and went left. Then after a short walk I found the pavement on that side was also closed so had to cross over once again. Eventually walking west I got to where a single decker bus was visible and this was SEN18 awaiting its next journey on the No 386. 

Woolwich High Street stop with SEN18 behind

View opposite the bus stop of Woolwich Leisure centre

The service is expected to take over an hour and was quite contorted around the borough of Greenwich and left the stop at 1327. Indeed just around Woolwich itself, after starting facing west we then went Southeast on Hare Street, Southwest along Powis Street then Southeast along John Wilson Street, NE into Castile Street before reaching Woolwich Arsenal station where we were facing due East at the end of Vincent Road. Here we turned right up Burrage Road then left to climb up Bloomfield Road to Plumstead Common. After a quick right and left we were in Herbert Road at 1342 and for the first time of many subsequent occasions this was the only bus route operated on the road. Herbert Road led us to Woolwich Common and going right here we were able to take Ha Ha Road so as to reach the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Having been full and standing when we left Woolwich Arsenal only 5 passengers now remained.

Entering grounds of Queen Elizabeth Hospital

Travelling beyond the hospital the bus reached Shooters Hill Road for the first time and here turned right and then soon left on our own again into Corelli Road. This took us past the place where I parked my car when I did the No 291 which starts at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Wricklemarsh Road. The bus went right along Holburne Road, left along Dursley Road before going right up Woolacombe Road and returning via Wricklemarsh Road and Weyman Road to Shooters Hill Road. Heading west briefly the bus deviated once again on its own along the Old Dover Road which took us across the A102M and past Blackheath library.

Crossing over the A102M with Docklands behind

This meant we were at Blackheath and did a circuit by the Royal Standard at 1409 but then took Westcombe Park Road passing the end of Mycenae Road where Charmaine's friend from school Debbie used to live. At Vanburgh Hill the bus turned right and headed down the steep hill 17% or in old money 1 in 6  towards the river. 

Descending Vanburgh Hill

At the junction at the bottom traffic was very slow, initially as we turned into Trafalgar Road it looked like the parked lorry outside Tesco's was the problem but once past this the queues continued and eventually it proved to be roadworks outside the Royal Naval College that was the problem. It took almost twenty minutes to get from Vanburgh Hill to Greenwich Town centre a distance of about 5 furlongs.

Do they still repair the appliances in the line above
or just more techy items. Trafalgar Road.

 At 1437 we left Greenwich town centre and took Greenwich South Street to reach Blackheath Hill. Climbing up the hill there was a continuous stream of traffic coming the other way and this continued across the heath. Presumably this traffic was trying to avoid the queues in Greenwich. We went right at the roundabout into Blackheath and terminated at Royal Parade at 1446.

Solid traffic on a Saturday afternoon
on Blackheath

Royal Parade with interesting display destination
on bus I have just got off!

I walked down to the railway station and caught the next No 202 to Crystal Palace which took nearly 50 minutes. From There I caught a No 410 which was diverted from Anerley Hill, as was the No 157 owing to roadworks and returned home just before 5 PM.

Day 256 To Chingford for the hourly No 385 shopper's bus.

 I took the 1200 train with Charmaine to Victoria and then took her to a talk in Sloane Square using the District line. I then retraced my steps to Sloane Square tube station and changed at Victoria for the Victoria line to Walthamstow Central arriving there at 1328. Climbing up to the mainline station I had only three minutes to wait for the 1333 to Chingford and this brought me to the railway station by quarter to two. This was perfect timing to meet Tim for the hourly No 385 that was to depart from the bus station outside the railway station at 1405.

Stagecoach 45007 arriving

Three buses from this stop all 300s

Bus arriving to layover

Tim thumbing a lift

There was no timetable at the bus stop but at 1400 Stagecoach electric 45007 arrived for layover. At 1405 Tim and I boarded and the bus turned left down the High Street as I had recently when aboard the No 379. Indeed, we were travelling with one of these down the High Street and then as we went right down Kings Head Hill we overtook the bus as we headed down to Sewardstone Road. At the Sewardstone Road junction the bus turned left along with the No 215 but then separated from this route taking the right along Waltham Way and then the parallel road Valley Side. Much of this route is hail and ride and continued to be so until we returned in a very tight turn to Waltham Way and then left along New Road.

At the bottom of Kings Head Hill on a very gloomy day

This road took us to Chingford Mount where the bus then  joined five other routes down Chingford Mount Road which took us to the remains of the Walthamstow greyhound stadium. Here the bus turned right to go past the Walthamstow Stagecoach bus garage and once at the North Circular Road we went right and turned into the bus terminus of the Crooked Billet Sainsbury's terminating at 1431. The online timetable said it would take twenty five minutes it was only only one minute more.

Chingford Mount taxi firm

South Chingford library

The Crooked Billet Sainsbury's

After some food and drink in the Sainsbury's cafe and a visit to the nearby bus garage we caught a No 397 back to Chingford railway station. I then said goodbye to Tim and caught the 1625 train to Walthamstow Central, the Victoria line from there to Finsbury Park and then a Thameslink train to East Croydon. A tram and bus then got me home just before 6PM.