Day Nine the far off 20 and 21

My departure was somewhat delayed this morning as I didn't get back from Hever Castle until around 1200. Thus it was the 1241 train that I got to Norwood Junction, where I once again changed for the London Overground to Canada Water and then the Jubilee line, this time to Stratford. At Stratford I then took the Central line to Buckhurst Hill with the intention of catching the 167 bus to Debden. However, my bus map was out of date, as since earlier this year the 167 has been curtailed at Loughton station and only the 804 school bus now does that route once a day. I expressly got out at Buckhurst Hill at 1356 to avoid travelling into Zone 6. Thus having taken the 167 bus I had to wait at Loughton station for a No 20 to arrive to take me to the culmination of the route of the No 20 at Debden where I finally arrived two hours after leaving my home station at 1440. There are a fair amount of road works going on where the bus terminated, so I asked the driver where to get on for the return to Walthamstow.

The starting bus stop at Debden

Debden High Street

Wright Eclipse Gemini WVL448

 Therefore it was a very bemused driver who saw me get straight back on WVL448 once it had driven around the corner. He was only the second driver I have spoken to about my odyssey and he thought it was a great idea. Thus at 1445 I was finally on my way to do the No 20. It does a smaller circuit of the Debden housing estate than on the way in, so we got to Loughton station rather more quickly than going the other way at 1505; mind you, we were picking up school kids on our way into Debden. It is quite a leafy journey in through Waltham Forest and traffic was fairly light until we reached Walthamstow itself, which became quite a crawl owing to road works near the stations. There were a number of occasions when the driver was told to wait at various bus stops to regulate the service, I finally finished the No 20 at 1600. So just this one bus took me 3 and a half hours to do.

Waiting in turn to access Walthamstow bus station

Walthamstow bus station

I did the journey that way round as the No 21 starts from Newington Green which I was able to access from Walthamstow by taking the Victoria line to Seven Sisters and then the No 476 bus, and was duly reached at 1633.

Newington Green

The entire route planned to take 75 minutes, optimistic in rush hour

Borismaster LT863 turning to stop behind a No 141

The No 21 duly came at 1638 once again a 'Borismaster' and a newer one being LT863. Indeed, I finally found LT2, which is in a lovely green and cream colour scheme early on in this trip. The route into town was through Hoxton to Old Street which I had very recently travelled when on the No 19. However, from Old Street we then headed south reaching Bank at 1659. The bus crossed London Bridge and then into The Borough before turning left down the Old Kent Road to Peckham, New Cross and finally into Lewisham which was achieved at exactly 1800. I then took the train back to Charing Cross station to go to a theatre visit that evening..

At Lewisham shopping centre bypass where the No 21 ends