Day seven the 15, 16 and 17

To commence the No 15 made for some jiggery-pokery, as it leaves from above the Blackwall Tunnel to Trafalgar Square. I have already travelled a large proportion of this route when I needed to get from the eastern end of the No 8 in Bow to the start of the No 9 at the Aldwych. To arrive at Blackwall it was necessary to take the London Overground to Canada Water and then change to the Jubilee Line to reach Canning Town, whereupon I changed onto the Docklands Light Railway to travel two stops west to Blackwall. It was therefore not until 1115 that I boarded LT402 a Stagecoach London 'Boris Bus'. Progress was quite good and the entire journey only took until 1230.

Sheltered underneath the DLR station at Blackwall from the drizzle 

Arrival at Trafalgar Square

As I had my retirement do to go to that evening, I resolved there was little point avoiding travelling on the underground in Zone 1. Since the No 16 started at Victoria I briskly walked down to Embankment station and took a District Line westbound to Victoria where I arrived at 1242.

No 16s resting outside Victoria station.

I took this picture and then walked to the adjacent boarding point only to find because of all the works going on around Victoria station they actually didn't take passengers from there and I had to go out of the eastern side of the station to wait at the same stop where I had earlier boarded the No 13.

The actual location for boarding the bus

The No 16 approaching

So once again a 'Boris Bus' the No 16

arrives at the stop outside the eastern side of Victoria station. This time it was LT549,  a Metroline owned version that I boarded for the journey NNW along the Edgware Road towards Kilburn and on to Cricklewood at 1250.

The arrival at Cricklewood garage was just under an hour later at 1347.

A selection of most of the bus types operating from  the garage 

As of yet I have not 'officially' travelled on a single deck bus but the only one indicated in these photos is the No 112 so it could be a while yet!

The movement from the end of the No 16 route at Cricklewood Bus Gararge to the start of the No 17 at Archway is a very involved process. It looks close on the map but it took me over an hour. I boarded a No 245 to Golders Green where I could have got a No 210 to Archway but I decided to take the tube by Northern Line to Camden Town and then back north to Archway as that might be a quicker way.

Bus stop R at Archway where the No 17 and the No 43 starts

The No 17 which I boarded at Archway at 1500 was a Volvo Wrightbus Hybrid VWH2004 of Metroline which means after 17 buses I have travelled on only three bus types. Different companies just label their buses slightly differently. I arrived at London Bridge station or really the southern end of London Bridge at 1558 and there my efforts for this day terminated as I needed to be near Heathrow for 1730 for my retirement party.

Turning onto London Bridge at the monument

The solid traffic heading the other way across London Bridge