Day 292 Two buses around Dartford the No 428 and No 429, the first TFL the second operated by GoCoach of Swanley.

The trip began with the 1005 train to London Bridge which, having arrived just before 1030, gave me sufficient time to reach Platform 1 and the train from Cannon Street to Dartford via Blackheath and Woolwich at 1036. Arrival at Erith station was at 1113 and I then had to find the bus stop outside the Riverside Centre to catch the No 428 to Bluewater.     

Arriva's DW502 loading up in Erith

I left the station and followed the patway and as I rounded the corner I saaw there was a No 428 at the stop already embarking passengers.So at 1118 I was off aboard Arriva London's DW502. This is only bus that turns left onto the A206 so we were on our own for while along this roda before we were joined by the Nos 89 and 99 for the route to Slade Green station. After stopping for the station the bus continued in an arc to rejoin the A206 at a roundabout.

The access to Slade Green railway station

Here the bus again ran along the A206 for a while but then turned right at a roundabout and forged on alone towards Crayford (B2186). Passing signs to the Geoffrey Whitworth Theatre we crossed Maiden Lane and continued toward Crayford crossing the River Cray and passing the Lindy Lou vintage tea room by the river.

Brown sign for Geoffrey Whitworth Theatre

River Cray quite swollen after 7 inches of rain
in just over a month

Lindy Lou tea room with river beyond

The bus turned right onto the one way system and then remained on what was the original A2 Watling Street towards Dartford now with the Nos 96 and 492 for company.

Crayford High Street

At 1145 we reached the top of West Hill and began our descent into Dartford. We went left as all traffic has too towards the Home Gardens stop and after crossing the River Darent and the parish church we turned left and up Temple hill.

Starting descent into Dartford

Parish church with River Darent in foreground

St Anthony's URC with very thin spire

After crosing the throat of the Dartford tunnel on the B255, and subsquently went into the Darent Valley hospital circulation area which was reached at 1158. We then returned to the B255 and descended with Bluewater to our left before rising up to a roundabout which was a very convoluted way of accessing the quarry Bluewater is situated in. We terminated in the bus station  at 1206.

Part of the convoluted trip into
Bluewater going south to go north

Bluewater in quarry from over the A2

Entrance to the shopping complex

DW502 at journey's end.

A brookline bus on route No 479 in Darent valley hospital car park

I took a No 96 back towards Dartford and arrived back in Home gardens at 1224. My next bus I expected to start on the other side of the road and I saw two Go coach yellow and purple buses as I was crossing the bridge over the road. I made it in time to catch the 1230 No 429 to West Kingsdown via Swanley.

GoCoach on No 429 service in Home gardens 

The bus thentookme back to the churchalong Home Gardens but then went around the other side of the one way systempast thelibrary and out of town along the A225.Once across the 'second A2' the bus went right into Oakfield Lane.Here we climbed upto NW Kent college and across the present A2.

Summerhouse Fish and Chips

W were thus heading for Bexlwy and having not gone through Wilmington I expected the bus to take Leyton Cross Road but instead we passed the remains of Bexley hopsital and down the hill towards Bexley itself. However, at Baldwyn Park at the bottom of the dip the bus went left accompanied by the B12 bus. We followed the same bus route through the estate taking the left into Tile Kiln Lane the right Summerhouse Drive.

Looking towards back of Hook Green lane where
Charmaine's family live

Birchwood Road sign

Continuing, this brought us to Birchwood Road rwe went right towards the old Bull at Swanley. Before we reached that part of the road though, the bus did a left into Leyton Hatch lane, then right into Russet Way and worked its way back to the old A20 that runs into Swanley. We didn't go the quick way left into Swanley but went right and then left following through an estate starting at Brook Road, then Lavender Hill, Cherry Aveneue and finally St Mary's Road which brought us back to the old A20 just north of the ASDA store. This was the old No 423 route whih Arriva dropped some while ago. We ran around the east side of the store and just south of it took the 'recent' addition of Godsel Road. (The road network was different here when I was a kid and caught the No 477 from Orpington station to Swanley for my swimming lessons.)  This road leads to Crockenhill but we took the right turn into Azalea drive arriving at the station stop at 1304.

The roundabout south of ASDA in Swanley

After a brief stop we returned back the way we had come along Goldsel Road but then turned right away from ASDA, down the hill asnd so past the GoCoach garage which was the Country area London Transport garage before 1970. 

Crossing the now M20 with M25 on bridge above

At the M25 junction we took the A20 which at this stage reverts to aless busy road being largely repalced by the M20. Here a sign said West kingsdown 5 miles and Farningham 1 /2 miles. So at the next roundabout we turned right and went into Farningham village.

At 't' junction in Farningham village

 Here we went left at the 't' junction and over the River Darent with its historic remains and back briefly to the A225. To continue to West Kigssdown one can't now turn right onto the A20 so had to go left back to the roundabout and then on up the hill onto the down and evntually to Brands Hatch which was reached at 1317 at a fair rate of knots as no habitation here necessitating a bus stop!

Typical countryside as we climb on the A20

Not much further we enterred West Kingsdown and what struck me as we turned into it was the name Hever road. 

Hever Avenue

Hever Road shops

Hever Road

Brands Hatch

Our daughter worked at Hever Castle for seven years and we then passed Astor and Penshurst references and Hever Avenue and Hever Wood Lane. Exitting from Hever Avenue back onto the main road we reached the Portobello Inn and the bus terminated at 1324.

The Portobello Inn

Timetable shows only 4 buses
 reach West kingsdown a day

Looking back from returning
 bus stop at bus terminal point

The Wrotham mast a view point
from roof of London Weather centre
37KM

Three tickets, each of three pounds

I walked across the road and caught the same bus back to Swanley at 1330. I hoped to get the No 477 to Orpington but on the bus stop there was no indication the buses went any further than Swanley station. On the website though there appeared to be an hourly bus service operated by Kent Country, the long standing operator Arriva SE having pulled out last year owing to GoCoach competition. My bus did come exactly as predicted on the website at 1411 and it took me to the station and then on through Crockenhill, Kevington and St Mary Cray to Orpington. Here I boarded a No 353 to Addngton tram stop but there are no trams this week so had to await a tram replacement bus. A bus of the identical class to that I had ridden on the No 428. This droppedme at East Croydon and i then caught a No 410 home arriving at 5pm. Thus it took me 3 and a half hours to get from West Kingsdown to Beddington. Had I driven by car it would not have been much more than an hour, even with the traffic!

Day 291 A bus that basically does the bulk of its journey on one road the A4020 Uxbridge Road the No 427.

 This journey started with the 1035 to London Bridge and then the Jubilee line to Finchley Road where I swapped at 1127 for the Metropolitan line to Uxbridge. On arrival at 1201 I found there was a short cut to bus stop W down the eastern side of Uxbridge bus garage and was quite smartly waiting at this bus stop as ano 427 went by. However since it was the wrong time for the bus i assumed it was not actually in service.

Only three TFL busese serve this stop

Bus every 8 minutes taking about half an hour

Carousel buses No 102 to High Wycombe 4 a day

This bus stop is served by many more non tfl services than the tfl ones. There are the Carousel bus services to places like Amersham and High Wycombe or Langley. I saw a first Berkshire bus and there are two Arriva Hertfordshire bus services as well.  

Bus laying over in far distance

My No 427 arriving Transport UK 2013

At 1217 Transport UK No 2013 arrived to form my No 427 to Southall and the bus had to do acircuit of the pedestrianised area taking Vine street back into the town where buses were allowed, although the U buses and the no 427 apparently do this. 

Nearest stop to east of pedestrianised Uxbridge
High street

New development on site of RAF Uxbridge with RAF badge atop gates

At the end of the road we reached a roundabout and this indicated the previous existence of RAF Uxbridge at this point. We here took the A4020 and were to remain on this road for the remainder of the journey. This took us across the River and up the hill to Hillingdon cemetary. Beyond this point all the other bus routes deserted us although the SL8 came this way but didn't stop.

Brown sign indicating Uxbridge Battle of
Britain bunker

The Uxbridge Road dual carriageway most
of the way

On arrival at Crescent Parade I found the no 278 had joined us and we then gradually picked up other routes as we headed further east along the A4020. By the time we reached Uxbridge County Court there were now 7 bus routes following us, one of which was the SL8 for which this was the first stop after leaving Uxbridge. By this time it was 1243 and most of the routes had split away from the main road by the time we reached the Craven Close stop just before reaching the Ossie Garvin roundabout above the A312 at 1255.

Roadworks impeding progress by
Coldharbour Road

Crosing canal and into Southall

At this point the No 207 joined us for the run into Southall whch was enterred just after crossing the canal at 1300. There had been roadworks just before the Ossie Gravin roundabout and then again the were substantial roadworks in the centre of Southall and the driver advised us he would not be going any further once we approached the Broadway Southall. I alighted at 1305.

Very slow traffic in Southall Broadway

Final stop for the No 427 today

I then turned right and walked down to the railway station taking time to walk alongside the various wagons in the Southall railway yard. I caught the 1410 Elzabeth line train to Bond Street, then the Jubilee line to London Bridge and finally the 1455 Epsom train home.

The first of a train of eighteen JNA Bogie Box wagons

 

Day 290 (December 29th 2025) the longest journey yet undertaken to a bus the No 426 from Hereford to Bodenham!

The journey started with Charmaine and I catching the 0805 train to London Bridge and from there the Jubilee and Bakerloo lines to Paddington. There was a direct train at 0949 to Hereford but this would not arrive in Hereford until 1245, so to arrive quicker we booked the 0946 Carmarthen train and alighted at Newport. Here we took the 1137 Transport for Wales train headed for Holyhead or Caergybi. This reached Hereford rather later than the booked 1230 arrival but still prior to the arrival time of the booked direct service. We seperated outside the station and I hurried off to find Shire Hall where the bus was expected to leavae at 1300. I tried to follow my map app but the largely pedestrianised are was not represented well and I saw signposts saying city bus station which I wrongly supposed wss the right place. After asking many locals desperately I arrived at the bus stop at 1303 knowing full well if I had missed the bus then it was a two hour wait for the next one.

Only the No 426 stops here

Another companies bus DRM on the No 476

Only four buses a day

I hung around at the bus stop for fifteen minutes and then admitted defeat  and walked back into town for some lunch. I paid some money in cheque form for church at the HSBC there and then had an orange juice and cheees croisant followed by a pain au chocolat. I had passed the country bus station which was close to the railway ststion so investigated the bus services there are ther are a number of 400s that are missing in the tfl list and it would be useful to check if they were possible substitutes. Some were some definitely were not running only once a week for example early in the morning. 

St Peter's church

Signpost I missed when initially running into town

Typical black and white building of the region

Kerry club with large size of decorations

Typical bus of the region this one
 operated by Yeoman

The free route Z bus called the Zipper

After purchasing some valve oil for Richard's trumpet at the local music shop I walked back to Shire Hall and awaited the 1500 bus. This arrived back from its previous trip about 1445 and the driver went off for his break.

The bus having arrived from previous trip

Now ready to return to Bodenham

Offa House and the memorial central Hereford

At 1458 I was aboard Yeomans YX23OYB and I then confirmed this bus trip was an out and back as some I had seen were only one way, presumably the bus then went off on a different route and if I missed the potential connection I would then miss our train home. At 1500 we took off down St Owen street and then turned left around the city centre to reach Corporation road and thereby headed back past the Country Bus station and the railway station and uphill out of the city. 

Hereford music shop

Looking NE towards the Malvern Hills

This meant we climbed out of the Wye valley and at the top began to descend into the Lugg valley. Nearing the valley bottom we reached the A4103 which we crossed at a roundabout and then embarked on a journey of only 'c' roads.First we went under the Hereford to Worcester railway and then ran parallel with the Welsh Marches line for a while before crossing the river Lugg in a northeasterly direction and we entered Sutton St Nicholas. Here we stopped at Woodville Grove and then set off up hill dropping a few more people off as we went.

Marden Community Shop

Losing the light near Litmarsh

There was a sharp left turn to take us in the direction of Marden and once past the community shop there was another sharp right (OrchardGreen) and the stops here meant all but one passenger other than myself alighted. There was one road here signposted Wellington which had a sign saying road closed due flooding; there had recently been heavy rainfall in the Welsh Marches prior to Christmas.   Once past Litmarsh there was quite a sharp drop and then we turned left and headed along a anrrow road which led by turning left aat a 't' junction to Bodenham primary school. At this terminal point the other passenger alighted.

Roads used were mostly of this size

Bodenham primary school

This was 1535 and the bus reversed and went back the way it had come to the't' junction but this time went past it and on to a settlement called Bodenham Marsh which seemed to be much more recent. After turning right at the end of this road we picked up our first passenger of the return journey. From here we got caught behind a slow moving hi liftcrane which only slowly creeped up the hill from the valley bottom. We left from the painfulness of trailing this vehicle as we went right down from very narrow roads throughVauld back to Litmarsh where we rejoined our outward route andfollowed it all the way back to Hereford which was reached precisely on time at 1615.

AT01 153307 of Transport for Wales at Newport

There was now 35minutes until our trainback to Newport and we slowly met up and caught the train and then had to wait just over an hour for our booked train to Paddington. The Elizabeth train was taken from here to Farringdon and then Thameslink to Norwood Junction where we had four miuntes to wait for oiur tarin home. A tiring but ultimately successful day.

Train and bus ticket, bus ticket £8.50 return