Day 36 the nearby No 64

I left the house at 1458 and walked to Purley Way to catch a No 289 to Thornton Heath Pond. This bus came at 1512 but travel was rather slow as we reached the Lombard Roundabout  and it was not until 1532 that I was able to leave the bus and go and top up my Oystercard.

 There was a No 64 already waiting at the layover point and as I went to re-charge my Oystercard it moved to the bus stop so hence I did not get a photo before boarding but took one from the the top deck front seat as we departed towards Croydon at 1535.

Heading towards Croydon along London Road Broad Green

Brand new bus YG18CVS
at East Croydon station

Turning into Croham Road with bridge in distance which provided
the rail link from Bingham Road to Sanderstead until 1983

The bus Arriva London T22 took 25 minutes to reach East Croydon railway station as it was quite a slow progress. From here onwards though the bus accelerated and the run towards Selsdon was quite rapid.













At Selsdon High Street we picked up a huge amount of school children with which we travelled down towards the base of Gravel Hill and on to the Addington Tram Interchange.

Close up behind a No 130 which used to be the main route from Croydon to New Addington prior to the arrival of the trams at Addington Interchange

We entered the New Addington Estate around 1620 but did a great many loops before finally reaching the end point at Vulcan Way at 1652.

Approaching the final stop with a
large industrial estate to the east

T22 at the final stop in Vulcan Way

To get home from here I walked back up Vulcan Way to a bus stop where I could catch a No 464 to Biggin Hill which came at 1713 and deposited me at the top of Salt Box Hill at 1718. From here I walked along the Runway 03 threshold to reach the Look Out Cafe where my daughter was waiting with the car to take me home.

Day thirtyfive a run up to London on the No 63.

After a busy morning I thought I could just fit in the No 63 in the afternoon, so caught the No 410 at 1349 to Crystal Palace and there boarded a No 363 an hour later to Honor Oak where the No 63 terminates next to Camberwell Cemetary.

The final stop heading south

Empty bus turns around at this
point

MHV49 broadside on as it turns

MHV49 of London General coming
to its resting place

I took a selection of shots of the bus I was expecting to be using MHV49, as it turns around at the next junction and came to rest at the bus stand. However, then another bus that had terminated afterwards took the next service out.  So as a result it was not MHV49 of London General I boarded but their MHV27  at 1513.

The  route picked up many schoolkids, as it was that time of day just we joined forces with the routes No 12 and 197 and headed into Peckham. It was then a steady run, which at times was following the remains of the Surrey Canal towards Bricklayers Arms and on to Elephant and Castle.

Approaching the Elephant and Castle

The river Thames was very high as indicated by the boat here just scraping under the revamped Blackfriars railway bridge

 The route then follows one I cycled many times, in reverse from Clerkenwell after night shifts, along Farringdon Road and on to Kings Cross where we arrived at 1617.

The facade of Kings Cross railway station 

MHV27 Leaving the last stop on York Way to
 layover for its return to Honor Oak

I then took the Thameslink service back to East Croydon and caught a No 410 back to my starting point.

Day 34 a real trek all the way to Mark Gate from Barking on the No 62

This started as an idea to accompany wife to a theatre in London and then head off to do the No 62 and return from Kings Cross via the No 63 to Peckham. However, again it was not to be. We departed the railway station on the 1302  train arriving at Victoria at half past one where we boarded the No 38. This 'Borismaster' took us to Shaftesbury Avenue where my wife alighted to see the play 'Everyone's Talking About Jamie' at the Apollo. I continued to  the stop prior to Southampton Row where I walked to Holborn Kingsway tube station and caught the Central Line to Mile End. Here I crossed the platform to catch the District Line to Barking arriving there at 1445.
The No 62 runs from Gascoigne Estate in Barking and the only way to get there was to catch a No 62 from the railway station to the end of the route (Stagecoach 10330 at 1503) so as then to be able to return from the starting point.

Aboard Stagecoach 10330 on way to start journey

Arrival behind Stagecoach 10310
at the terminal/start point in the Gascoigne Estate

The penultimate stop in Barking

The bus came up behind another of similar type; Stagecoach 10310 at 1515. This bus moved off at 1518 and arrived back at Barking railway station at 1533

I was not aware that Barking had an Abbey but that is what the stop is called

before wending it way north then south past Upney station to the A13. The bus then returns north to reach Chadwell Heath before heading up Whalebone lane to reach the A12 at the Moby Dick and finally having transited Mark Gate to reach the local version of City limits at 1632.

I had passed through the centre of Mark Gate and reached
Bisset Road which was evidently Essex countryside

A No 62 returning down Bisset road
from the terminal point near City Limits

I snapped this whilst the driver was
turning the destination board. The No 62
does not go to Beckton!

A very rural outlook from which I set off  for home

To return I caught the No 362 to Chadwell Heath, then walked to the railway station where I caught, for the first time, an Elizabeth line class 345 unit to Stratford. From there I took the Jubilee line to Canada Water and then the London Overground to Sydenham as the next West Croydon train was not for over ten minutes. Eventually at West Croydon I caught the 1829 train home, so a whole 6 hours to do one bus route!

Day thirty three the opportunity arose to do the No 61 as Richard was going to the dentist

Despite living in the Croydon area since 1986 we have maintained our Orpington dentist since my first visit in 1965. Thus this afforded the opportunity to catch the No 61. I had hoped to take the No 119 to Bromley North and thereby start the No 61 to Chislehurst via Orpington that way. However, it was not to be and we had to change to the No 353 on Kent Gateway so as to make our son's appointment. Post appointment it seemed sensible to catch the No 61 to the Chislehurst end of the route and then catch the bus back to cover the entire route to Bromley North.

My travel from Orpington to Chislehurst was aboard Stagecoach
number 19131, one of ten originally bought for the route.

AD Trident AD Enviro 400

The bus starts from a stop called Chislehurst Gordon Arms. This used to be an occasional end point when the bus started at Eltham Well Hall when I was a kid. It was amongst one of the first routes to be privatised with Metrobus blue and yellow Daimler Fleetlines in the mid 1980s and at the same time was truncated at Chislehurst. Departure was at 1620 from Chislehurst having arrived at 1610
on the same bus AD Trident with AD Enviro 400 bodywork.

Indicating the rural nature of parts of the route; at this point I was passing through the National Trust woodland of Petts Wood 

The 1920s facade of Bromley North's two platform
terminus station

The bus driver was changed at Bromley Garage and this delayed progress for a few minutes but we were soon underway again and reached
Bromley North station at 1716.

Final stop on the route at Bromley North

From here I returned the way I had hoped to arrive, by utilising the No 119 back to Croydon.

Day thirty one The supposedly near No 57

As I had an afternoon spare I thought 'let's dash off the No 57'. After all it starts in Kingston which is not too far away. So at 1445 after recharging my Oyster card I boarded a No 407 from Beddington and headed to Wallington Green to catch the No X26 to Kingston. This arrived in town at the same time as a No 57 was leaving so I ended up waiting for nearly 15 minutes for the next No 57 at the Fairfield bus station which departed at 1617.

Fairfield bus station stop

The bus arriving that was to
 provide my stead to Clapham Park

To prove we are on the edge of TFL
 territory Stagecoach South 35213
a Dart on the No 715 to Guildford

My No 57 E121 waiting before departure

 The bus was London General E400 E121. After a run through Kingston we headed through Norbiton up the hill towards Kingston Hospital. However, at the lights where we were to turn right the police had closed the road on which we wished to continue. Thus all the traffic was funnelled past the hospital and then turned left towards Raynes Park before it could rejoin the A3  at the Beverley junction. The bus continued at this point to Raynes Park and Wimbledon. Road works in Merton High Street caused some slow traffic from the Polka theatre until Merton bus garage but after this traffic was fairly light. Even the travel through Tooting and on to Streatham was steady. It was at 1756 that we arrived at the same terminal spot that I had reached on the No 45, Atkins Road, which is on the South Circular.

Arrival at Atkins Road on the South Circular once again

At the terminus at Atkins Road stop at 17:56

Then to get home I walked to Brixton garage where I caught a No 250 as far as Thornton Heath garage where I changed to a No 289 to Purley Way. I then arrived home at 1915, almost 5 hours to do one bus route!