Day sixty five Once more unto Heathrow I go! This time on the No 105 from Greenford.

The journey to the starting point of the No 105 took three hours. I left home at 1045 and after taking a southern train to Clapham Junction and then London Overground service to West Brompton I arrived by District line and Piccadilly line to reach Park Royal station at 1222. From here I walked along the A40 to Hanger Lane Central line and took this train two stops to Greenford where I arrived at 1242.

Waiting on Hanger Lane Central line station

RATP 45264 a 2018 registered Volvo Hybrid
at Rockware Avenue Greenford 

Boarding the bus with a No 92 ahead of it and an E6 behind.

Since I worked at Heathrow the No 105 has changed from Metroline operation to London United or RATP and therefore a collection of quite new buses fulfil the service.

The bus departed from Rockware Avenue at 1249 and followed the same route as the Nos 92 and
95 down Greenford Road to the Ruislip Road crossroads. Here the No 105 turns right following the No 95 route and indeed we were close behind a No 95 all through the twists and turns amongst the suburbs to the north of Southall. From Southall town hall I finally was on a road I hadn't previously used, as we crossed the GWR mainline and later the Grand Union canal before reaching the M4 and finally the A4. From the A4 we accessed the airport through the tunnel and reached the central terminal area at exactly 1400.

Emerging from the tunnel under the north runway

Approaching the central bus station at Heathrow

From here I made my way on foot to terminal 3 to meet a previous colleague at the airport for a coffee. After a nice catch up for an hour and 20 mins or so we returned on the 'staff bus'  to the Compass Centre and went our separate ways. After a time spent watching planes and the pods that run to Terminal Five from the car park I went home via the No 423 bus to Hatton Cross and then Piccadilly line to Earl's Court. I had hoped to get a District line to West Brompton but the hoards of Chelsea fans meant I was likely to have a very long wait, so when happily an Olympia bound train came in on the adjacent platform I was able to change there for the London Overground to Clapham Junction and got home at 1935. A three hour journey on the way home too, as if I needed any more reminding how long my commute used to take!

Day 64 the No 104 with Tim and Charmaine

After a trip to a bus enthusiast event at Theydon Bois village hall it was decided there was time to fit in the next bus route since it was located similarly in Northeast London.

The bus leaves from stand D
in the background

Therefore at 1350 we found ourselves once again at the Stratford Interchange where there seemed a great many gathering for the No 104 bus.

Very difficult because of the passenger
density to get a clear picture of
Stagecoach 17990 on the No 104
at Stratford Interchange.

One of the last remaining Stagecoach Dennis Tridents, still used in general service, No 17990 arrived and we departed at 1358.

We turned right away from Stratford High Street down West Ham Lane for a time before turning left into Portway which morphed after a while into Plashet Road.

Approaching Upton Park tube

      As we reached Green Street we turned right towards Upton Park underground station.

Passing a No 104 formed of a newer bus type
near Upton Park underground station

Onwards again we passed The Boleyn Tavern
but crossed almost straight over and from this point became the only bus route that follows Central Park Road and then down Hatherley Road to Lonsdale Avenue which seemed a very narrow road to support a bus route. At the end of Lonsdale Avenue we joined the No 101 bus route back towards East Ham High Street where Charmaine disembarked to visit the market. Tim and I continued due north past East Ham underground station and on to Manor Park railway station. At this station the bus turned abruptly left into Whitta Road and then quickly north into Gladdings Road which was an extremely tight squeeze between parked cars. We arrived at the bus stand right next to Wanstead flats at 1500.

Arrival at Gladdings road with clean looking fifteen year old Stagecoach 17990

We then walked around the corner and caught the same bus back to East Ham for a beveridge whilst Charmaine finished shopping. This done it was then decided Charmaine had seen some interesting shops in Green Street so we caught the District Line one stop to Upton Park. Tim and I decamped to a coffee shop whilst shopping was done and had further chinwags. Subsequently we returned home via West Ham Jubilee line to Canada Water and the London Overground to West Croydon arriving at the same time as the preceding day.

Day sixty three To the far east at Rainham to catch the No 103

The day being October 12th it was the 103rd anniversary of the shooting of nurse Edith Cavell during the first World war and it was suggested we went to the commemoration at her memorial at St Martins Place. This event took place between 1045 and 1100.

Awaiting the event at St Martins Place

Wreaths having been laid at the foot of Edith's memorial

Wreaths at memorial

Two nurses from the Royal London hospital were amongst those
leaving wreaths 

The next destination was to take the Underground from Leicester Square to South Kensington to drop off some books at the library of the French Institute. At South Kensington we took the District line train to Barking and then swapped to platform 7 to catch the 1309 train to Rainham.

The next No 103 to leave when we arrived with Charmaine outside the library.

Arriva DW277 leaving the layover stand
to pick us up

At Rainham we had a little wander around Rainham town including the library before catching the No 103 operated by Arriva DW277 to Romford and onward to Chase Cross. At 1346 we left Rainham interchange and headed toward Dagenham and Becontree. At 1427 we reached Romford Market and Charmaine dis-embarked. However, I remained on the bus which ran past the North Street depot and on to the A12 for a short spell. We turned left after this and ran into the Chase Cross estate where the bus terminated at 1440.

Arrival at Chase Cross where the bus's wait
was very brief.

I returned to Romford on the No 103 that followed, as the first bus I used had arrived late and it shot off quickly back to Rainham. Once I had met up with Charmaine we caught the train from Romford to Stratford, then the Jubilee line to Canada Water and the London Overground to West Croydon where we arrived at 1800.