Day ninety three the bus No 146 from Bromley to Downe.

This being a Thursday my wife and I played table tennis in Caterham first before driving to a church in Sanderstead where my wife was attending a fashion event. From here I walked from 1240-1255 to Selsdon High Street to catch a No 64 to Addington tram interchange. Once arrived here I changed to a No 353 to Hayes Iceland and then boarded a No 119 at 1336 to Bromley North. As we passed Norman Park we saw a No 146 heading towards Downe and at this stage I assumed I would be nicely in time for the bus following half an hour later.

On arrival at Bromley North I found out the service was but hourly.

However this was not to be as I subsequently found out that the bus service was hourly, the poorest level of service I had encountered hitherto. It was, however, obvious when I used the bus why this was indeed adequate provision.

The driver next to his bus in the distance

Once again at the bus stop where I had
caught the Nos 119 and 138 and stopped when
aboard the No 126

Stagecoach 36325 arriving to convey me to Downe

Like the No 138 this is a bus I had never used before even when I lived only two miles from it, for the first twenty six years of my life. If we went to Downe we either cycled or walked!
The Stagecoach Dart 36325 arrived exactly on time at 1433 and headed down to Bromley High Street where most of the passengers boarded. At 1442 we passed the spot where I had previously seen a No 146 to Downe and when I arrived at the terminus the bus driver informed me the service is run by the 'one engine in steam' principle, so it would have been the same bus I had seen.

The reflection in the windows made taking photographs aboard the bus hopeless-so here we are on Hayes Common

Once through Hayes we were into the countryside of Hayes Common, with its purple heather, by 1446 and then we passed the Keston Fox and its still extant post office in its 'shed.' We passed a No 246 coming the other way which is a half hourly service to Westerham via Biggin Hill and by this time only two persons were being conveyed.

Holwood Farm: this location, was where our milk in Farnborough came from,when I was a child.

The Queens Head Downe which was the site of my first encounter
with alcoholic beverages with the rest of the 1st Farnborough patrol leaders!

The other passenger alighted in Downe High Street which did not show any evidence of shops remaining and the bus terminated at Downe Church at 1454.

When I was a child cycling through Downe, the No 146 was a double deck AEC Regent from Bromley Garage.
The modern replacement has considerably fewer seats. Two people boarded for the return journey.

This was the village pond: the willow tree, the depression and associated growth
 is all that gives that away.

It was whilst walking across this field that I heard the Yellowhammer

The bus had just missed connecting with the No R8 service that could have taken me to Biggin Hill. The next one of those was an hour and a half away. Thus it seemed sensible to walk, and heading for Luxted Lane after the pond I reached a footpath totally crammed with year sixes from a local primary school. Eventually they cleared and I could actually start my cross country ramble.

A path through Oil Seed Rape

This took me through fields of Oil Seed Rape, Wheat and sometimes just grass. It was lovely to hear a Yellowhammer singing its characteristic call.

Spitfire landing over the treetops

I went across the Golf course and up to the airfield boundary fence where I then had to walk around the north of the runway and then SW across a wheat field; the pathway nicely laid out for the most part.

Walking around the north end of the runway towards a crash gate were these poppies on the edge of the wheat field 

On the NW side of the golf course was a number of these Orchids (anacamptis pyramidalis).

I followed the footpath through the wheat unlike a certain ex prime minister. A path I have taken many times over the years.

Looking back from the highest point in the wheat field the city of London was visible, Biggin Hill airfield being 610 feet AMSL near this point.

Once I had walked to the other end of the runway I boarded a No 464 bus to New Addington at 1653 and caught a tram home that was waiting for us when we arrived at 1707.