Day Seventy Seven, a trip first to Ilford for the No 123 and then back to Catford for the No 124

Two Class 315 units at Ilford

Class 315 unit leaving Ilford

This trip required another visit to Stratford, via London Overground and Jubilee line where I caught the TFL Rail train at 1227 to Ilford. This service was comprised of a couple of Class 315s. Once out of the station I had to walk a fair distance along the High Street to reach Hainault Street. On arrival at the bus stop a No 123 arrived immediately and I boarded the bus at 1246, which was DW494 of Arriva.

The Hainault Street bus stop at Ilford

The bus turned right past the station after exiting the High Street and headed towards Gants Hill.

Approaching the A12 Eastern Avenue at Gants Hill

Across the A12 we headed off to the Charlie Brown roundabout where the bus briefly joined the North Circular Road until Waterworks Corner.

The North Circular Road climbing from the River Roding

 From here the bus used Wadham Road, this being the only bus route utilising this road to Walthamstow and then on to Tottenham Hale which we reached at 1340. After leaving Tottenham Hale it was very slow going to turn right onto the A10 where the bus heads towards Bruce Grove.

Bruce Grove Museum

 From there the bus swung northwest and west to Wood Green via Turnpike Lane and it arrived outside Wood Green underground station  at 1412.

Wood Green Underground station in distance

To reach the No 124 from Wood Green necessitated catching the Piccadilly line to Finsbury Park, then Victoria line to Warren Street before switching to a Northern line to Charing Cross. From Charing Cross I quickly boarded the 1445 to Hastings as far as London Bridge and from there I crossed to platform 1 where I boarded the 1501 to Hayes alighting at Catford Bridge. I arrived at about 1520 and walked right after climbing out of the station and under the Catford Loop Line to St Dunstan's College.

Bus stop in middle of triangle

The No 124 bus starts from an island in a triangle outside St Dunstan's College and I had to wait ten minutes for a bus to arrive.

The initial No 124 that arrived

The first bus stopped and then almost immediately another Stagecoach Dart arrived and this was driven by an engineer who swapped with the driver with the other Dart. The second bus was a 2018 example No 37508 which departed at 1533.

The fairly new Stagecoach No 37508

The route was a very convoluted trip around southeast London suburbs of southern Lewisham. At one stage it was running around the last estate that had been comprised of pre-fabs before the bus then moved on to Downham and into Grove Park. From there the bus moved through Mottingham and finally reached Eltham via a large loop around the grounds of Eltham Palace.

Eltham fire station

The bus came to the end of the route at Southend Crescent Eltham at 1637.

The final resting point of today's journeys

To get home I boarded the No 314 from the same bus stop which took nearly an hour to get to Hayes. I changed there for a No 119 but unfortunately had a fifteen minute wait before reaching home at 1900!