Day 250 A trip to Suffolk to ride the No 374 from Bury St Edmunds to Clare.

 This trip started with catching the 0905 train to London Bridge whereupon we caught the the Northern line the one stop to Bank and then the Central line eastbound the one stop to Liverpool Street. We than had over half an hour to wait for the 1030 Norwich train which strangely left from platform 14. The platforms numbered 12 onwards used to be reserved for the Shenfield and Southend Victoria trains but since the instigation of the Elizabeth line I suppose there are vacancies in this area of the station now. We than had over an hour on this train before we reached Ipswich where we needed to change for the Peterborough train which took us to Bury St Edmunds at 1156. Thus we arrived at Bury St Edmonds at 1224 which was ample time for me prior to the 1300 departure of the bus.

View of the Lowestoft bound class 755 from our Peterborough bound version at Ipswich

Two ex Metrobus buses of Chambers at
Bury St Edmunds bus station

Three different companies buses,
Chambers, Coach Service and Dans

Another bus company Stephenson,
and there was Mulleys as well

Bus stop 6 services with No 374 at the top

Chambers 802 arriving

The bus, Chambers No 802 arrived about 1255 and comprised a bus I had seen in its previous life running the No 119 and No 353 buses out of Croydon. Chambers is part of the Go Ahead group which also runs Metrobus. We left exactly on time at 1300 and since the Labour government's lifting of the bus cap which had been £2 since COVID the journey cost me £3. The bus initially headed south parallel with the High Street before striking West along a road called Out Westgate. After a short while we took a left called Viney Road and this gave the bus access to the West Suffolk Hospital. We did a circuit of the hospital at 1307 and then headed back down Viney Road turning left at the lights at the bottom.

Part of a mural depicting 1000 years of history at Bury St Edmunds

This meant we were running along the A143 which goes to Haverhill, however after a short time we took the B1066 left signposted Whepstead and Glemsford. We entered Whepstead at 1318.

Typical Suffolk scenery

Bus shelter at Whepstead, plenty of books whilst
you wait!

Beyond Whepstead it continued to be very rural and I was quite surprised to see a sign for Brockley which is initially a hamlet of about 4 or 5 houses and then later a more sizeable village with the church.

On the fringe of field and woodland I could see deer,
but I would have needed to put telephoto lens on
camera to show them here.

St Anthony's church Brockley

Beyond Brockley we reached Hartest with, as at many places since leaving Bury plenty of coloured house with thatched roofs.

Pretty houses in Hartest, there were many others 
but bus was usually too close to get a sensible picture

Then on to Boxted and once through this village we continued running alongside the River Glem before turning right over a bridge onto the B1065 and climbing up this road into Glemsford where the bus stopped outside the former horsehair factory at 1340.

Glemsford

This town is actually quite extensive compared to other settlements we had been through, However, that said leaving the twon down Skateshill the road was not wide enough for the bus to pass any oncoming vehicles. this was not a problem on this bus but was later when I was aboard the No 236 to Sudbury. At the bottom of the hill the bus turned right with Glemsford station straight ahead. This took us onto the A1092 which took us through Cavendish which we entered at 1347 and later to Clare which was reached at 1353.

Cavendish Green

House in Cavendish

Interesting weathered carving on house in Clare 

Bus ready to return back to Bury St Edmunds from Westfield

We passed through the town and stopped at a side road called Westfield where the bus terminated at 1357.

The No 374 disappearing back through Clare

Bridge over River Stour for railway to Cambridge

Good shed with LNER notices and crane

Even some track left in situ

The station with platforms but no track

Clare station now Platform 1 cafe

The bus set off back the way it had come at 1400 and that was the last journey on the No 374 from Clare today! There are two coming the other way after this. I had a walk around Clare as I had an hour to wait for the 1502 to Sudbury. It is a picturesque place made all the more interesting by the railway station which is now a cafe called Platform One and adjacent to the station the Motte of Clare castle.

The remains of Clare castle

I caught the Chambers single decker No 467 on route No 236 to Sudbury at 1502 and this returned through Glemsford but subsequently took a different route to return to the A1092 so as to reach Long Melford and subsequently Sudbury. I arrived at Sudbury at 1540 and the next train was not until 1632 so I went to check the train was running and then to a fish and chip shop and had a very nice steak and kidney pie and a cup of tea. I then caught the train at 1632 which connected well with the 1657 train to Liverpool Street at Marks Tey. I alighted at Stratford and caught an Elizabeth line train the one to stop to Whitechapel and then the 1801 West Croydon London Overground train and arrived home at just before 7PM.

Day 249 Back to Tiverton Parkway; I was going to do a No 373 from Sudbury to Bury St Edmunds but this only runs once a day at 0815. So the Stagecoach Devon version it had to be.

 I booked once again for the 1035 Exeter train and the National rail system advised catching the 0920 to West Croydon then London Overground to Norwood Junction and 0938 from there to Farringdon to connect with the Elizabeth line. I arrived at the station in time to check these plans and found there was a problem with the railway signalling radios nationwide. This meant my first connection was delayed.  My train at Norwood Junction was running 17 minutes late and they were advising people not to use the Elizabeth line. Thus as happened last time I stayed on the Victoria train all the way to Victoria and then used the Victoria line and the Bakerloo line to reach Paddington at 1025. The 1035 was saying preparing and the two previous trains 1030 Weston Super Mare and 1032 to Cheltenham were also preparing. Thus it was quite a scramble when the platform was announced. The five coach train was full and standing as we left Paddington. Luckily I chose the right door to bag a seat, and though I had to give it up at Reading, another behind became vacant at the same time. Unlike last time I was travelling alone and there was no snow falling in the middle of the journey. However, storm Darragh was threatened for later in the day. I reached Tiverton Parkway bang on time and that gave me plenty of time to await the 1309 service to Cullompton.

Roughly hourly bus service

Awaiting the arrival of the bus

Stagecoach 15257 arriving

Crossing over the A38 after leaving the station

Stagecoach No 15257 arrived within a minute of right time and we set off around the roundabout outside the station and back up the approach road. Going right at the end we followed the route to the A38 and then went right down the B3181 at Waterloo Cross where there seemed to have been a recent fire at a garden centre; it was on 1st November the internet told me. The first spots of rain started to fall now but given the storm coming it was surprisingly dry throughout my period in Devon. We took a minor road to the left heading to Uffculme and then went left at the end of this to enter the village at 1322.

Uffculme village centre

Ostler Inn Uffculme

We went right through the built up area to reach the cemetary, where the bus turned around at Cemetary Corner. This had taken us over the bridge where after recent wet weather the river Culm was already quite high. We also passed where the railway station had been adjacent to the mill. We then headed back the way we had come until we reached the minor road junction where this time we went straight on to intercept with the B3181 once more. At the Four Crossways junction the bus travelled directly across into what I later found is the newer part of Willand. Here as we turned left we joined with not only the X22, which had been with us since Uffculme, but also now the No 1 bus. After doing a run around increasingly newly built estates the bus turned right then left into the old Willand village where the post office was situated at 1337. Returning to the B3181 after the village the bus then crossed the M5 on a high bridge and descended over the main line railway to run into Cullompton.

The meadows housing estate

The next section to be built

Here on the outskirts of the town there were two housing estates under construction: one which had a large soakaway to take some of the excess surface water. At 1347 the bus came to a halt at the final stop in the centre of town. I then alighted having asked driver if this was the final stop. He said he next does a circuit of the town before coming back to here later. 

After arrival Cullompton

Other buses also serve here

I therefore got off the bus, took a quick photo and then paid for the trip to Tiverton. I explained what I was doing and he seemed perfectly happy so I paid and returned to the front seat upstairs. The bus turned right up Tiverton Road and then left onto Langlands Road which took us through a housing estate which the bus serves one way only. The other way is served by the No 350. We stopped for a while around 1354 and then ran back into the town centre from the southwest.

Broadclyst signed to the right at the end of Langlands Road

Beauty House Cullompton

War memorial

Devon Constabulary 1898, clock stopped

Again we dwelt for a slightly longer time with the war memorial ahead of us before setting off back the way I had come at 1359.

Road sign at both ends of road

Uffculme Mill

No 373 coming other way shows narrowness
of roads in Uffculme

M5 roadworks

At 1408 we had passed through Willand old village and at 1413 we were taking the Uffculme road passing the climate action notice board in the village for the third time. Then it was back to Cemetary Corner and return, to leave Uffculme at 1425 and back to Waterloo Cross. From here we crossed the M5 and I noticed only one carriageway was being used, the other having two way traffic. 

Back at Tiverton Parkway, this time heading north

We then retraced our steps to Tiverton Parkway station arriving at 1434, The time on leaving the access road the bus turned left to Sampford Peverell but before we reached the main settlement the bus turned right up Whitage Road to do another reverse just over the Grand Western Canal at Richmond Close.

Rain outside making photography difficult

Crossing Grand Western Canal

Pub at Sampford Peverell

The 373 had been on its own on all the roads it serves from when it turned right after Uffculme but after reaching Halburton we were joined again with the No 1 and X22 buses. It was 1446 as we passed through Halburton and then it took another seven minutes to reach Tiverton Golf Club and Blundells school on the outskirts of Tiverton. 

At Great Western Way the bus took the road into town- Blundells Road then left at Station Road to return to Great Western Way rather than go into town which is probably too small for a double decker bus. The bus ran along Great Western Way and then turned right to terminate at the bus station at exactly 1500.

Entry to Tiverton

Arrival at Tiverton bus station

After some lunch at the adjacent cafe I waited for the 1645 No 373 to return me to Tiverton Parkway station. We were a bit perturbed when it disappeared from the display having watched the countdown to 1 minute and then due. After being concerned for a few minutes that the bus an hour later would not meet my booked train an empty bus pulled up and this morphed into the late running 1645 to Cullompton. I then had almost an hour to wait for the 1806 to Paddington which got me to Paddington at 2030. However, on route everybody's phone made a scary alarm sound. Presumably this still happened in the quiet coach and was a red warning the Met Office had issued for winds in places around the Bristol Channel. At the time were betwixt Castle Cary and Westbury. The Elizabeth line was working fine and I was at Farringdon with 3 minutes to wait for the Horsham train to East Croydon. I walked through the door at 2138 twelve and a half hours after leaving home.

Day 248 Another foray to the far east of London to ride the No 372 from Hornchurch to Lakeside.

 The day began with the 1030 train to Battersea Park. This was to carry two bags of books for the Rose Community centre library that Charmaine was donating. At 1105 I was walking to the Battersea Power Station Underground station to take the Northern line to Tottenham Court Road. Unfortunately I missed Tottenham Court Road station catching sight of the sign only as we accelerating northwards. I had been deeply ensconced in reading about the Jersey tornado of November 2023 in the latest Royal Meteorological Society magazine. Thus it was after changing at Goodge Street at 1143 I was waiting for an Elizabeth line train to take me to Whitechapel. Here I only had to wait two minutes and at Whitechapel only one minute for an Upminster train to take me to Hornchurch. Here though my luck would run out, and having expedited my arrival at the town centre by catching a No 252 bus from the station I found the real time bus display on the bus shelter was not showing a No 372 any time soon. I arrived at 1240 and when the time got to 1245 and the bus route was still was not being indicated by the bus shelter I turned to the TFL bus app. This initially was blank but quite quickly showed me the next bus was in 29 minutes. It wasn't wrong, the bus arrived at 1315.

They were repairing the pavement around the bus 
stop so couldn't read the timetable

The last of six buses to use this stop

A very busy bus stop

This was Stagecoach's 11076 based at Rainham and initially it set off in totally the wrong direction heading west along Hornchurch High Street, whereas the No 370 I had been on recently sensibly headed east from Hornchurch. At the end of the High Street the bus turned left down Abbs Cross lane with both the No 365 and No 165 and these buses continued to accompany us as we followed down Elm Park Avenue. 

In Elm Park

Mungo Park Road

We then followed the same route I had recently covered on the No 365 using Rosewood Avenue, Mungo Park Road, Southend Road and finally Cherry Tree Lane. Here the No 365 peels away for the Orchard Estate but as soon as we had turned left at the end into New Road the No 287 joined us. This then accompanied us for the run to Dover's Corner and the roundabout where we turned right to access Rainham Tesco's.

St Helen and St Giles Rainham from Tesco's

Sweeping past Rainham station

Once through Rainham at 1347, pausing briefly at the railway station we join Wennington Road; this leads to a settlement made infamous a couple of years ago when a wildfire in the long hot summer caused houses to be burnt. From Rainham station onward the bus route is the only one serving the road. 

The rural nature of Wennington

The Top House Aveley, next to site of library

Despite the settlement of Wennington being in the London Borough of Havering it is quite sparse of housing and where we join the A1306 there is a Premier Inn. Who is it for? Turning right here and then left into Sandy Lane we leave the Greater London area and enter Thurrock. This road headed uphill to Aveley where at the roundabout we joined with a number of Ensignbus company routes which meet us from the direction of Ockenden. Taking Mill Road we turned left into Purfleet Road to stop at a stop called Aveley library. I assumed this was down a side street but having returned on the No 372 to Rainham I noticed a space between the pub and the garage. Consulting my map at home that gap was where the library was. I wonder how long the bus stop will remain called that. Experience with Croydon airport would suggest at least twenty years!

Love Lane Aveley with viaduct in distance for Dartford Bridge

We then continued left down Love Lane again as the only bus which then turned left into Hall Road across the A13 and then to the roundabout under the M25. From here it was a short run along Arterial Road and then left at the roundabout to descend under the same road and access the bus station where we arrived at 1410.

Going under the M25

Journey's End

A class 357 arriving at Rainham station

I briefly went into the shopping centre but when I saw the queues at the M&S cafe I decided to return and get the next No 372 back to Rainham. This I did and arrived at Rainham at 1458 with 23 minutes to wait for the next train to West Ham. There was a nasty cold wind whilst I was standing on the bridge over the tracks but it afforded a view of HS1 and I saw one Eurostar heading into Europe and a couple of Southeastern Javelins, one each way in the 20 minutes waiting for my Fenchurch Street train. I changed at West Ham onto the Jubilee line and then got the newly named 'Windrush' Overground at Canada Water to West Croydon and was home at 5 PM.