Day one hundred and one, three buses John knew well the Nos 160, 161 and 162

The first trip of October 2019 saw me aboard a No 410 to Centrale where I changed to an Elmers End bound tram. At Elmers End I caught a Networker at 1154, having arrived at platform one on the tram at 1149. This train took ten minutes to reach Catford Bridge where I alighted and walked towards bus stop Q which is down a side road from the South Circular and located behind the Catford shopping centre.

No160 & No320 buses laying over

Arriva T298 arriving at Bus Stop Q on route No 160

There was already a bus laying over and at 1208 T298 of Arriva came to stand next me. After turning left onto the South Circular the bus follows the route of the No 124 I did earlier this year until we reached Torridon Road.

Evidence we are initially on the South Circular

Corbett community library  Torridon Road

Here the No 160 goes straight on along Sandhurst Road and down to Verdant Lane. After turning left at Verdant Lane the bus rejoins the South Circular by turning right and going under the railway bridge south of Hither Green railway station. Once the bus had reached Baring Road we were advised the bus would wait a while in order to regulate the service. The wait was actually only from 1224-1226 and then we were back running along the South Circular; the No 160, the only route at this point bar a school service.

Back along the South Circular Road

 We continued straight on to reach the Yorkshire Grey where we lingered for a couple of minutes before we ran almost fully around the roundabout to head down Middle Park Avenue at 1232.

No 124 approaching from east
as we turn north at Newmarket Green

As we turned left at Newmarket Green we rejoined the route of the No 124 for its run into Eltham. Just beyond here the inconsiderate parking of various cars meant we had to wait as a No 160 and a No 124 came the other way before we could proceed. At the end of the road near what was obviously a cinema of old we turned right and set off to Eltham High Street.

Parked cars making life difficult for bus operations

Bus stop for No 162 in Eltham High Street to be used after doing the No 161

After passing past the shops the bus turned right down Southend Crescent where I had previously alighted from the terminal stop of the No 124. The bus then continued along Foots Cray Road to New Eltham station where I arrived at 1253.

Looking down onto New Eltham railway station

No 162 approaching us in Southwood Road New Eltham

 At this point the bus turned right towards the A20 and then continuing down Green Lane crossed from the Borough of Greenwich into that of Bromley. A little further along the bus did a turn to the left and we drove the length of Edgebury where one of my closest friends at St Olave's used to live. At the end of this road the bus turned right into Belmont Lane and on to the Chislehurst Gordon Arms. From here the bus follows the route of the No 61 and indeed this route replaced the No 61 from Eltham Well Hall to Chislehurst in about 1979.

Approaching Chislehurst War Memorial with all three buses I
hope to do today: the No 161 located beyond the tree.

By 1306 we had reached the Chislehurst War Memorial to where I had to return to catch the No 161 to North Greenwich but for now I stayed on the bus as it turned left and made for Sidcup.

Turning around at Sidcup railway station

Finally disembarked at terminal of No 160

I eventually reached Sidcup station at 1316. The bus driver actually didn't think anyone was left on the bus so didn't stop at the terminal stop but carried on after some manoevering to the layover point. When the driver discovered I was trying to get off she recalled I had boarded at Catford and we discussed what I was doing.

The layover point at Chislehurst War Memorial. The next bus out Stagecoach's 12435.

I then walked through the housing estate opposite and made my way to a bus stop where I could return to the Chislehurst War Memorial. This was effected by boarding another No 160 T331 at 1327 and I reached the war memorial just in time to catch a No 161 which was rapidly filling up with schoolkids.

The No 161 is run by Stagecoach and No 12435 another hybrid awaited to transport me back to Chislehurst and onward via Eltham and Woolwich to the erstwhile Millenium Dome. The bus left at 1337 and after a little jiggery-pokery owing to a rapid police vehicle approaching we made it away before the lights changed. The bus route is quite straight through Chislehurst into Mottingham with good panoramic views over London atop Red Hill and down Whitehorse Hill.

A nice view of London through a messy front window.

 At Mottingham the bus turns right and takes one to Eltham which was reached at 1357. By 1402 I was passing Eltham station where I would later stop to board the No 162 and was back running along the South Circular Road once we had passed the Well Hall Roundabout.

Crossroads at Eltham church with High Street to the right. 

At Shooters Hill the bus turned left at what was the Brook Hospital before taking a right down Baker Road to reach the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Woolwich at 1412. At 1423 the bus was in Woolwich town centre where there were large quantities of school children, but most that were on my bus disembarked here.

Once again on the South Circular heading for Woolwich

The original Woolwich Equitable building.

 The bus had to reach the A206 to head west to Charlton and so it took a right turn then left and left again around Woolwich Arsenal railway station.  The bus having reached the Blackwall Tunnel Approach Road turned right and headed to the North Greenwich Interchange where we arrived at 1446.

Arrival at North Greenwich bus and tube Interchange

Here I made a brief comfort stop and bought a coffee before boarding a No 132 back to Eltham at 1453.

Metrobus Dart No 177

This bus got to the Eltham bus and rail interchange just as a No 162 started up and therefore I had to hurry to reach the bus before it left at 1518. The bus route is operated by Metrobus and was a small Dart numbered 177.

Overtaking a No 161

The bus took me back to Eltham High street overtaking a No 161 as it did so.


In the High Street the bus passed a No 160 which was being driven by the same lady with whom I travelled from Catford to Sidcup earlier in the day. On this bus the route follows straight past the end of Southend Crescent, which meant I was following the No 132 I had used from North Greenwich. The bus finally turned away to the southwest when we reached Avery Hill and headed down Avery Hill Road. This eventually took me back to New Eltham station which was reached at 1531.

New Eltham station now on the No 162

From here the bus route followed that of the No 160 as far as Edgebury. However, as soon as the bus had entered Edgebury it turned abruptly left into Domonic Drive. We arrived in this road at the same time as the refuse lorry which caused some grief owing to parked cars making progress difficult until the road straightened out. The bus runs towards the A20 dual carriageway but turns right into Molescroft which morfs into Imperial Way at the Greenwich/ Bromley Borough boundary. In this road there were again a multitude of parked cars and around a blind bend a car suddenly appeared in the way. The driver of this car was not very good at reversing but eventually we were able to get past and then ran by Edgebury primary school and then on to the Gordon Arms once again at Chislehurst which was achieved at 1548. The journey has thus far taken 1/2 hour to get from Eltham to Chislehurst. The next part of the route to Bromley was the No 227 route when I was a kid but this has now been cut back to Bromley North. The No 162 initially replaced the southernmost part of the 161A in 1994, but this was switched from starting at Petts Wood to Eltham to replace the No 228 and then the No 273 from the war memorial to Petts Wood. The bus turns right at the memorial and heads to Bromley via Chislehurst station and onward to reach Kentish Way at 1604.  The bus headed down the High Street and then turned right along Westmoreland Road to reach Hayes Lane. We then turned right at the Chinese garage and passed Kelsey Park to Beckenham passing a stop just before Bromley Road called Chancery Lane at 1623. The bus reached Beckenham Junction station at 1627.

Arrival at Beckenham Junction railway station

Tram 2534 my mount back to Wandle park

I next caught a tram to Wandle Park for which I only had to wait 5 minutes.  I reached home at 1720.