Day 30 The No 55 and No 56, an almost ideal combination

I caught the 1211 to Victoria and then took the Victoria line two stops to Oxford Circus where I arrived at 1305. It was a short walk across Oxford Circus to Cavendish Square and to Holles Street where I waited in the rain for the No 55 which would take me to Bakers Arms at Leyton.

The bus Stop in Holles Street
where the No 55 starts

LT366 of Stagecoach arriving to convey me to Leyton

The No 55 that left at 1315 was a 'Borismaster' LT366 of Stagecoach (London) which took almost ten minutes because of the traffic to reach Oxford Circus. Progress was steady after this for much of the route, although some temporary traffic lights at Clapton caused some delay. Indeed, we were still to reach Clapton Pond at 1424. Eventually though, after a slow crawl along the Lea Bridge Road we reached the Bakers Arms bus stop at Leyton. It was then a little surprising to find this wasn't the final stop. The last stop is actually called Leyton Green which was around the corner, where I arrived at 1457, a journey of almost 1 3/4 hours.

Disembarkation at Leyton Green

The Bakers Arms, now a betting shop

The No 56 waiting to return to the City

To get to Whips Cross roundabout where the No 56 starts, the easiest way was to catch a No 56 from Bakers Arms to Whipps Cross roundabout.

















This came quite quickly and the journey only took 5 minutes. After a short layover it was a rather bemused bus driver of 

Stagecoach AD E400H No 12141 awaits its return
to the City.

Stagecoach hybrid 12141 who saw me again place my Oyster card on the reader to board for my journey to St Bartholemew's Hospital at 1512.

The route mirrors the No 55 back as far as Clapton Pond, but progress along Lea Bridge Road was much swifter in a westerly direction. We turned right at Clapton Pond and then covered a road only used by the No 56, Cricketfield Road. Apart from this both journeys had been repeats of various others. Mostly the Nos 30, 38 or 48, but with also parts of the No 20 at first and No 4 later on. We encountered the No 4 at The Angel Islington at 1559 and reached St Bartholemew's Hospital at 1613.

Turning right at the Old Bailey now mostly in sunshine so front window clear to take photos

Nos 46 and 56 await their departure to respective
destinations

Stagecoach 12141 at the terminus

Stagecoach 12141 at St Bartholomew's Hospital

Day Twenty nine the No 53 and then quite convenient No 54

I had intended to get the 0941 train to London but actually only managed the 1002 which took me to Clapham Junction where I changed for Waterloo. After a brief visit to the Ian Allan shop in Lower Marsh I walked across Hungerford Bridge to Whitehall from where the No 53 departs.

Looking north along Whitehall
towards Trafalgar Square

 There appeared to be two bus types on this service but the bus that came along was of similar type to the No 47 route Stagecoach No 13071 based at Plumstead rather than Catford.

Stagecoach 13071 approaching the first bus stop of the No 53

My bus left at 1112 heading towards Parliament Square but turned left over Westminster bridge where I could view all the scaffolding around the Elizabeth tower of the Houses of Parliament.

Crossing Westminster Bridge

Beyond the bridge we headed for the Elephant and Castle

The general melee that is the Elephant and Castle roundabout

and then east to the Bricklayers Arms roundabout. Here for the first time I crossed the flyover over the roundabout before passing onwards to New Cross and via the A2 to Deptford and Blackheath. Travel was only slow on this route until we started across the heath but very quickly we swung NE towards Charlton House, Woolwich Barracks and then down into the town of Woolwich. This would have been a convenient place to alight to catch the No 54 but the No 53 continues through Woolwich.  It then mirrors the route of the No 51 until Plumstead Common

Descending from Plumstead Common towards the river Thames with another No 53 heading up the hill.

The actual railway station is
just around the corner.

before then diving back towards the river and finally coming to rest at Plumstead station at 1225.

Disembarking from Stagecoach 13071
at the final stop

In order to reach the start of the No 54 I had to get back to Woolwich,  which meant I needed to cross to the main road the other side of the railway station and pick up a No 96 or No 99. This was because I wanted to get back quicker to Woolwich than the rather windy No 53 would have afforded me. Two buses came one of each and I chose the second one only to find as we were adjacent to Plumstead garage they were going to change drivers.
Despite this we arrived quite quickly at the start point of the No 54. There were two buses at the layover point, and as I knew I now had negative credit on my Oyster card I quickly scanned for a recharging shop. I saw one and exchanged £2.20 as quickly as I could but the bus was already at the stop as I returned. Hence I do not have a picture of the starting point of the bus, which was at 1235 but one as it turned south towards Woolwich Arsenal railway station. This bus route is also operated by Stagecoach, but this time from Catford garage No 12291.

Woolwich Arsenal railway and DLR station

From here we retraced the route of the No 53 back towards Blackheath before diverging South towards the Blackheath village and on towards Lewisham. Once again, presumably because I was in a hurry to meet my wife for lunch, the bus drivers were changed at Catford garage. From here the bus heads to Downham before turning right to Beckenham and eventually to Elmers End which was reached at 1348.

The final stop at Elmers End interchange
with tram just visible in far platform

Stagecoach 12291 turning to await its return to Woolwich

 Prior to the Croydon tramlink development the No 54 used to run to Croydon but the route  now ceases at the Elmers End interchange where I caught a tram to Sandilands. Here I changed to a New Addington destined tram, but only travelled just the one stop to Lloyd Park and walked to the Beefeater at Coombe Lodge for lunch.

Day 28 the No 52

After visiting the Metropolitan Archives for a talk and then taking my wife to the Duke of York's theatre I took a Bakerloo tube train to Baker Street and then crossed through the tunnel to platform 10 to catch a Jubilee line train to Willesden Green. It was then quite a long walk from here to Willesden bus garage.

Bus stop outside Willesden bus garage

The No 52 lays over in the yard on the Southwest side of the bus garage and the starting bus stop for the route is exactly the same bus stop at which I had alighted from the No 6 in the autumn.

A succession of buses laying over for route No 52

The No 52 I caught left this bus stop at 1654 and was a very recently introduced Metroline number VWH2402.

VWH2402 approaching the bus stop

The route is a mirror image of the No 6 at first before joining that route southeast of Willesden towards Kensal Rise. Heading south through Ladbroke Grove the routes part company with the No 52 continuing south through Notting Hill Gate and on to Kensington High Street. Beyond this it turns left to run towards the Royal Albert Hall and then to Knightsbridge, Hyde Park Corner and finally to Victoria railway station where the bus arrived at 1752. This was quite a quick journey given the time of day in Central London.

Atop the No 52 on Buckingham Palace Road approaching Victoria station

Day twenty seven, after finally doing a bus route near my home last time, I now do the first route that does run near to where I was born, the No 51. It also runs through Blackfen which for a number of years was where John used to live prior to, and after marriage to Debbie.

In order to ride the No 51 it was necessary to get to Woolwich. This required another run with the London Overground to Canada Water and a change to the Jubilee Line to North Greenwich. From here I took a No 472 headed towards Thamesmead and alighted at Woolwich Powis Street. I then walked towards the ferry roundabout and turned right crossing Hare Street to Woolwich High Street.

Bus Stop C looking towards the west and
the Woolwich Ferry roundabout 

Stagecoach 13008 arriving at Woolwich High Street

The No 51 starts from bus stop C and is run by Stagecoach and their No 13008 duly arrived at 1610. It was a wet journey throughout and for the whole run I had to frequently rub the condensation off the front window and thus no useful photographs could be obtained whilst actually 'riding the route'. Given it was a trip being taken in the near rush hour I was expecting some hold ups but there were two parts of the journey where it was extremely slow progress. The first Hold-up was Westwood Lane in Welling heading towards the lights at Blackfen. The second was when once through Blackfen as we turned left from Willesley Avenue in the direction of Sidcup. Thus the journey had taken until 1744 to reach Sidcup High Street. The bus driver then informed us that the bus would terminate at Crittalls Corner at Foots Cray.

Stagecoach 13008 discharging its passengers at Crittalls Corner

We arrived at 1756 at this site of abbreviated travel; we were not delayed long, however, as two minutes later Stagecoach No 12345 (!) arrived to take us onward to Orpington and eventually to Orpington station. The final stop was reached at 1824, 2 hours and 14 minutes after leaving Woolwich High Street. I asked the driver when I alighted how long it should take in the rush hour and he suggested it should be 1 hour and 20 minutes; quite a difference.

Stagecoach 12345 at Orpington railway station about to enter bus station to layover before its return northward to the Thames

Since I needed to help my mum that evening with her ablutions this was a convenient way to reach her and my childhood home in Orpington, despite the rain. Later I caught the No 353 to Addington interchange and then by tram to Wandle Park.