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.