Day 102 two nearby routes, the Nos 163 and 164.

I left home at 11am and walked to Wandle Park tram stop where I boarded a tram for Wimbledon at 1125. The arrival at Wimbledon was at 1150 and by 1157 I was aboard SE 275 of London General heading for Morden from Worple Road.

Worple Road Wimbledon with a No 163, 201, and 164 waiting
their next journey; my mount London General's SE275 in front

No 164 and 163 going opposite way in Hartfield Road

 These buses follow each other around the bus station and down the Victorian terraces of Hartfield Road to turn right over the level crossing. Gradually as one gets further from Wimbledon the ages of the buildings lessens and there were two buildings one with 1902 inscribed upon and another with 1903, on it as we passed by the remains of the Nelson Hospital on the opposing side.

Date on building 1903 opposite remains of the Nelson Hospital

The railway station we next reach is Wimbledon Chase which was opened in the 1930s with the line from Wimbledon to Sutton. Once past this railway station the bus turns right up Kingston Road and takes us to Raynes Park railway station before swinging round to head south towards Westway and then Grand Drive. After the parade of shops the bus takes Tudor Drive at the roundabout at the 'Beverley' pub which is now called the Morden Brook.

Typical interwar semis in Morden in Hillcross Avenue

Tudor Drive runs into Hillcross Avenue as we ran down the northern side of Morden Park to reach Links Avenue and turned right to terminate at Morden tube and bus station at 1230.

Disembarkation point at Morden station

The logical step now was to take a bus to Sutton in order to return on a No 164 back to Wimbledon. I chose to cross the road and catch a No 80 at 1236 which ran me to Sutton railway station. It was getting increasingly moist by the time we reached Sutton, a legacy probably of Hurricane Lorenzo now downgraded to storm Lorenzo by Met Eireann.

The No 164 starts in The Quadrant which was across the tracks of the trains to Epsom Downs and then down some steps and here I found SOE2 already waiting to return me to Wimbledon.

SOE2 and a Go Sutton minibus at stop Q in the Quadrant 

 Thus a quick photograph was taken in the drizzly rain before boarding at 1307 and the bus then went around the triangle and turned right into the High Street and back past the front of the railway station.

Becoming increasingly wet through the day made it difficult to take any photographs from within the bus.

There are lots of traffic lights which hindered progress such that it was 1315 before I had left the High Street and was heading up Angel Hill towards the roundabout at Rose Hill which was achieved at 1321. The bus route passes straight over at the roundabout and down St Helier Avenue to Modern Hall Park. Once we had turned right into Morden High Street it was announced that bus drivers would be exchanged and thus we waited for three minutes whilst this took place. From Morden the bus initially drives along Links Avenue but unlike the No 163 heads up Martin Way to South Merton railway station.
Throughout the journey the bus had been bleeping and when the drivers changed over I heard them mentioning that it had been reported and should be fixable remotely.
The bus continued in a straight line down to Bushey Way where the bus turned right and rejoined the No 163 route past Wimbledon Chase station at 1340 and drove back to Wimbledon town itself. The terminal stop reached at 1350 was exactly where I had got on the No 163 almost two hours earlier.

Arrival back in Worple Road on London General's SOE2

I then  walked to Wimbledon theatre to get some tickets for the 'Dennis the Menace' musical and then boarded a No 93 to Morden Road tramstop. The industrial estate here I hoped would be a likely place to source a part for Richard's camera but both electrical wholesalers here could not furnish me with what was required. So I went back to the tramstop and caught a tram to Therapia Lane and from there I walked home arriving at 1600. Five hours to do two local buses!