Day 96 two local buses, the No 151 and No 152.

Charmaine waiting to board DOE 1 outside
of the Shotfield Medical Centre

Charmaine eager to utilise her over 60
bus pass on our first trip after she achieved
the big six oh. 

Aboard DOE 1

Owing to family strife there has been rather a hiatus in my travelling but today with my mum out of hospital I have resumed. There was a need for my wife to have a blood test and since the No 151 starts from outside Shotfield Medical Centre it was an obvious combination, particularly as it would be the first bus she could accompany me with her over 60 bus pass. However, on arrival at the medical centre we were told blood tests are only done in the morning and this was two forty five in the afternoon.

No matter, the No 151 passes St Helier Hospital where she could also have a blood test, and we had been informed their centre is open until 4PM. So we boarded London General's DOE 1 at 1511 and the bus subsequently left at 1515.

 The route visits Wallington station and runs down to Hackbridge station where the bus heads west along Nightingale Avenue, then north up Green Wrythe lane.

The Grange, the garden of which, Charmaine took part in a Midsummer Night's Dream last year

 Thus it is a very wriggly journey as the bus turns west again along Thornton Road to St Helier Hospital. Here we alighted at 1536 and were seen very quickly in the green portacabin, that now provides the blood test area.

Our MP since 1997

Arrival at St Helier Hospital in DOE 1

Awaiting the next No 151 turning out of Thornton Road
with new minibus operated by London General at bus stop

The next No 151 bus, DOE 9 picked us up at 1550 and by 1600 we had turned left at the Rose Hill Roundabout and were in the north part of Sutton High Street. The bus from here runs up to meet the A232 at Sutton police station and then it heads west to Cheam and finally north to Worcester Park.

The building that was the local theatre
named the Secombe centre

Charmaine has disembarked at North Cheam

My wife disembarked at North Cheam to visit a shop she had seen earlier in the year and I then continued to Worcester Park and reached Worcester Park station at 1628.

As usual long lines of traffic in Worcester Park High Street

The No 151s at Worcester Park railway
station

I crossed the road and boarded a No 213 at 1631 to New Malden, although many of these buses were DOEs this bus was London General VE3.

London General's SOE30 which left before I could catch it 

The actual bus stop the opposite side of
the roundabout to the picture to the right

SOE 10 approaching the Walton Avenue bus stop

At New Malden I crossed the road to catch the No 152 but where the buses layover was not the same side of the roundabout as the first stop and I missed SOE30 as it passed me on the roundabout. So I had to wait until 1655 for another London General bus, SOE10 to take me to Pollards Hill. I had used this route before when going from Shannon Corner to Merton Park tram stop, and as before traffic was very slow to the lights where Bushey Road meets Grand Drive. At these lights the bus turns left to Raynes Park station and then runs along Kingston Road where the No 157 used to terminate before it was cut back to Morden tube station.

The original entry to the Nelson Hospital

 After this the bus ran past the remains of the Nelson Hospital which is  now the Nelson Health Centre. At 1718 the bus had reached South Wimbledon tube but traffic was quite heavy and we didn't reach Mitcham Fair Green until 1742. As is often the case in my experience there was once again roadworks on Western Road which held the bus up on this road which is the only service along Western Road apart from a school bus service.

In the Western road  roadworks, sign says all pedestrians must use the pavement!!!

There seemed to be some re-vamping of the roundabout at Locks Lane but this did not hold up the bus for long and we quickly ran to Mitcham Eastfields station. Then after a little trip around Woodstock Way and Meopham Road we reached Rowan Road which runs straight into the centre of Pollards Hill. The bus terminated at the next stop after the library at 1758 called South Lodge Avenue.

Arrival at the terminating spot with No 463 in front

 To return home I caught the No 463 from here to the Asda in Beddington Lane and then walked home from there.