Day 245 A long wait since the previous bus because the only No 369 I could find runs from Exeter to Morchard Bishop.

 On Tuesday 19th November it was arranged Charmaine and I would visit the Christmas market in the Cathedral Close and then I would go to Sidwell Street to catch the Dartline operated two hourly service to Morchard Bishop. We left Waddon station on the 0920 to Victoria and then via Victoria and Bakerloo lines made the 1035 semi fast to Exeter which was located as far away as could be on platform 14! It was expected to be a cold day and once we had left Newbury snow started to fall outside and at the Hungerford stop there were some fairly large flakes. The snow continued as we climbed to the Crofton beam engine and then faded to rain as we stopped at and then passed beyond Pewsey. The train arrived just about on time at Exeter at 1307 which meant I missed as expected that No 369 and had to wait for almost two hours for the 1510 departure. This gave us time to visit the Christmas market together properly, purchasing a few products to eat there and then, and also for purchase of Christmas presents.

Charmaine in front of nativity scene at Exeter Cathedral

So at 1445 we separated I walked to where I expected to be able to catch the bus but found the No 360 indicated but not the No 369. I was starting to wonder if it had been discontinued, so since the bus station was nearby I went to find some evidence it still existed after my experience with the 351 and 357. I found the Mid Devon bus guide which showed it and I then realised I hadn't walked far enough up the 'High Street' and found there was a coach and two buses waiting at bus stop No 40.

The No 366 has one service each day whereas the
No 369 is at least 2 hourly and takes just under an hour

Three buses which only run once
a week

Lots of route options but not many are regularly
operated

The bus stop is utilised by a good many services but looking at the timetables for these buses quite a number were one service on one day a week. Thus they were so that people could get to Exeter from the villages surrounding rather than being able to get to the villages from Exeter and return later the same day!

Dartline YJ18DLO approaching with an older Stagecoach operated
Optare Solo parked.

The bus arrived at exactly the appointed time and was comprised of Optare Solo YJ18DLO of Dartline. This company is a subsidiary now of the Go Ahead group Southwest area. We quickly did a circuit of the old bus and coach stations, now rubble to face across the 'high street' so as to take the bypass route towards St David's. Photography was difficult because all the windows were covered in mud. I was later to find out why!

Rubble where coach and bus station used to be.

 14 passengers boarded at this stop, I had been alone from the first stop until then. We picked up another person at the side entrance of Exeter Central and then ran past the prison to the equestrian Buller statue. Here we didn't continue straight over to St David's station but turned right and headed down New North Road. Here three more passengers joined next to the Weatherspoon called The Imperial. At the bottom of the hill as we approached the Exeter station Riverside fiddle yard two students alighted presumably as there was student accommodation there.

On the way to Newton St Cyres

Newton St Cyres

After joining the A377 the bus turns left with the road over the railway and two rivers the River Exe and the River Creedy. After passing through Cowley we reached a settlement called Half Moon and then entered Newton St Cyres. The station was 1/2 mile to the right as we continued on the A377 and entered the parish of Crediton at 1531. The bus then turned off the main road into a trading estate with Tesco and Mole Avon Country Stores, which enabled the bus to reach Crediton station. These were right on the edge of Crediton and we then pushed on upwards into the town which was reached at school closing time. At 1538 5 people left the bus and 3 joined as we reached the town centre.

Driving past Crediton station

Stopped by the church as myriad schoolchildren
cross in front of us

Beyond the town centre we passed from the High Street into Western Road and just before we left the town we turned sharp right and started to climb Alexandra Road. This gave tremendous views of the valley of the tributaries of the river Yeo.

View into Yeo valley as we climbed Alexandra Road

Turning right at the top into Higher Road we soon reached a crossroads where the bus turned sharp left and headed towards Sandford. We passed Creedy park and entered Sandford village at 1547. One person alighted as we entered the village and two more after taking the left turn signposted 5 1/2 miles to Morchard Bishop. The road after this became very narrow with hedges brushing both sides of the bus as we went along and there was grass down the middle of the road. Eventually we met a Mini coming the other way and it had to reverse out of our way.

Grass down middle of rain ahead of us
with hedges both side just wide
enough for a Solo.

View of Dartmoor in distance 

We were getting higher and higher and could see Dartmoor in the clouds in the distance. Further negotiation was required as we met other vehicles coming the other way as we continued through West Sandford and then New Buildings. By now only three people and I remained on the bus and at 1558 we set off for Morchard Bishop. Finally as we entered that village the other three people left the bus and just the driver and I continued on to The Greenway where the bus reverses next to the surgery. 

Morchard Bishop surgery

The Greenway Morchard Bishop

We arrived at 1605, which is the time the bus was due to start back for Exeter, so I asked if I had time to take photos and the driver suggested taking the surgery which would prove my arrival at the village.

We picked up two people in Morchard Bishop as we headed back and gradually the light was lost. Four other persons used the bus for various journeys and five of us got out at the equestrian statue at 1700. I then found Charmaine and we caught the 1751 back to Paddington , the Elizabeth line to Farringdon and then Thameslink to East Croydon, finally getting home on the No 410 bus at 2145.

Day 244 Another trip to the Barking area this time to do the No 368.

 I made sure Charmaine reached the 1205 to Market Harborough at St Pancras and then took a Metropolitan train to Barking. I arrived at the station at 1249 and resolved to walk to the starting point in the Hart Estate bus as I was walking towards North Street a No 368 arrived. I thus boarded that to the start of the journey.

Bus stand in the Harts Lane Estate

Timetable suggests a journey of 32 minutes.

London General's Wright Hybrid Volvo No 70

The bus driver having made himself comfortable I reboarded London General's WHV70 five minutes after alighting at 1309 and we set off briskly back the way I had recently travelled. This part of the journey to the roundabout was only covered by the No 368 route.

One of a number of ex public houses seen, in
some places only the sign remained, this is North Street

We turned left to cross over the throat of Barking station which took us to the roundabout to the north of Barking station. We reached the station at 1314 and after that took the diversionary route around the back of the High Street to intercept North Street at near Barking Abbey. 

Church on site of Barking Abbey

From here we continued to run around the outside of the town centre in an anti-clockwise direction and thereby reached Ripple Road.  A little way along this road roadworks caused quite a hold up the Barking side of the Movers Lane junction. Beyond this though progress was quite quick to Rippleside Cemetery which was reached at 1330. 

The end of Ripple Road where it meets the A13

At the junction with A13 flyover we bore left along the A1153 (Lodge Avenue) accompanied by the No 62. However, after the Roundhouse this bus route is alone and continued thus along Lodge Avenue until we reached the Bennetts Castle Lane stop where the bus driver announced the bus would terminate. The hybrid bus had been making strange grinding noises each time it tried to pull off in electric mode so I guess this was why. It was 1344 when we got off and the bus service is every 11-13 minutes.

St Cedd's church Lodge Avenue

The bus in front was going all the way but departed as we stopped

WHV70 at terminal stop

Journey left only five minutes

Our saviour WHV113 arriving

With perfect timing WHV113 hove into sight at 1357 and we quickly turned left now joined by the recently covered No 364. We separated from that route at the end of Bennetts Castle Lane joining the Nos 128 and 150 as we turned right as far as Valence lane where those buses go straight on and we turned left again accompanied once more with the No 62. We then passed over the railway at Chadwell Heath station and terminated in the one way section at the stop call Wangey Road at 1403. The billed 32 minute journey had taken 54 in total. To get home I took the Elizabeth line at Chadwell Heath to Farringdon and then the Thameslink to East Croydon, a tram and finally a local bus which took two hours.

Final Arrival

WHV113 starting its return journey

Day 243 Two buses one miles away and the other nearby, the No 366 and No 367.

 After dropping some items at the Croydon dump I caught a bus to East Croydon and boarded the late running 1045 to Peterborough as far as Farringdon. Here I switched to an eastbound Elizabeth line to Stratford arriving at 1155. After only a four minute wait I was on the last train-the Central line to Redbridge. Emerging from the station I found there was a No 366 right outside but this is not where the route starts from, so I walked along Roding Lane South with the Roding valley park on my right as far as Falmouth Gardens.

A No 336 waiting at Falmouth Gardens

As I approached a bus that was waiting at the starting point took off for Ilford at 1210. The service was every 8-10 minutes so it was 1226 when I boarded London Generals' Byd electric single decker See217 and headed straight back the way I had walked to Redbridge station.

Falmouth Gardens bus stop

Regularity of service which should take just under
an hour

Awaiting departure

Roding valley allotments

Beyond the station the bus took the A12 briefly before heading off right down The Drive with the No 145 for company. This road passed Cranbrook Primary school and on to Cranbrook Road which took us into the town centre of Ilford. The station passed at 1240 the bus went left and left again to pass the central library and back past where I quite recently was awaiting the No 364. Out to the east of Ilford the bus briefly took the A118 but soon swung south down Sunnyside Road as the only bus covering the road turning left at Eton Road. The bus joined with another on South Park Road before heading back east along Loxford Lane past Loxford Park, again alone.

Sunnyside Road

Passing Loxford Park

At the 'T' junction at the end the bus headed left and ran into Barking town centre. At 1304 we were at Barking station and at Barking Green the bus stopped to change drivers 1306 to 1308. After this we travelled into an industrial are following a No 325 down roads with some bus gates before reaching the B ecton triangle retail park. The bus retraced it steps back to where it crossed the North Circular and then took this south as far as Armada Way where it went left into Gallions Reach shopping centre ar 1322. The bus took Armada Way around the DLR depot and then to Gallions station. We took the A117 at the Gallions roundabout then left down Ferndale Street and then Woolwich Manor Way after running past Cyprus station to pull into Beckton bus station at 1338.

Gallions shopping centre

Arrival at Beckton bus station

At Beckton DLR station I took a train headed for Canning Town but I got off briefly at Royal Albert to look at what was residing at London City Airport. 

Embraer Emb-190 of Cityflyer at London City

I then reboarded a Canning Town destined train and  changed for one to Poplar. At Poplar I boarded a Canary Wharf train and here a Lewisham train arrived as we pulled up. Thus I arrived at Lewisham about 1500 and found there was a Sevenoaks train at 1516 which led to me getting the branch line train at Grove Park at 1532 to Bromley North.

Bus turning area at Bromley North

Networker at Bromley North

Waiting for the fourth item on the list

Bus number 8 on the list

A No 367 going down to the end to turn around

Abellio 8202 arriving

At 1556 I boarded Abellio 8202 at Bromley North setting off briskly down Kentish Way thence by Elmfield Road to Bromley High Street. Beyond this the bus took Westmoreland Road and then went right at Cumberland Road.

Heading for Bromley High Street

The first stop along Cumberland Road

Descending Kingsdown Road with the
 central Library on the hill in the background

This road becomes St Mary's Avenue and the bus, beyond the church, headed north downhill along Kingswood Road. Going left at Valley Road the bus went left again at Shortlands railway station joined the No 358 briefly before heading right along Beckenham Grove. The bus then wriggles alone through Shortlands before emerging from Oakwood Avenue into Bromley Road and running into Beckenham beside St George's church. 

St George's church Beckenham

Pillar box cover of a spider for halloween

At 1619 the bus then went left down hill so as to take Beckenham High Street and then joined the No 352 to head along Village Way. The bus goes it alone again at the traffic lights to reach Elmers End via Eden Park Avenue. After passing Tescos and crossing the Hayes railway line we entered the London Borough of Croydon.  The bus then took a long road called the Glade which lead to Orchard Avenue and eventually Shirley shopping centre. 

Sweeping past Shirley library

Shirley Coop

From here the bus did a circuit of the Shirley oaks estate between 1641 and 1645 before running down to Ashburton park and then left along Addiscombe High street. Finally going left up Cherry Orchard Road the bus reached East Croydon and subsequently taking Wellesley Road it terminated outside Delta Point at 1705.

Croydon transmitter on hill from Shirley Oaks

Final stop outside the Old BT building Delta Point

I walked around to West Croydon bus station and caught a bus home.