The day began with catching the 1105 train to London Bridge and as we were waiting an announcement was made that signal problems at Brockley might make for delays after Norwood Junction. The train was two minutes late to begin with but there was no significant delay noticeable before we reached London Bridge at 1130. From here I boarded a Northern line train to King's Cross and St Pancras after only a very short wait where I changed to a Piccadilly line train to Turnpike Lane which was in the platform when I arrived. Thus it was at 1205 that I reached my destination station and 1211 was when I boarded Arriva's ENL33.
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| Turnpike Lane bus station |
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| Arriva's ENL33 which operated my route No 184 |
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| Wood Green Blue House Yard |
The bus travelling through Wood Green Shopping City took ten minutes to reach Wood Green garage where the bus turned left and stopped to exchange drivers at this point.
This exchange was much quicker than many I have experienced and I was underway by 1224 heading to Alexandra Palace. As we moved we passed Blue House Yard where there is a bus cafe. This is Ex Nottingham city 490 which became an Arriva bus in Staffordshire prior to its arrival behind Wood Green bus depot.
There was a short hold up where work was being done on the bridge over the New River just before we reached Alexandra Park railway station. The bus crossed the LNER mainline and entered a Hail and Ride section from Palace Gates Road to Alexandra Park Road. This section ended as the bus turned right into Albert Road which runs into Durnsford Road and re-crossed back across the LNER mainline as it enters a tunnel. This road took me back to the route of the Piccadilly line at Bounds Green station and then the bus took Brownlow Road where we entered the London Borough of Enfield. The bus then turned left along the North Circular Road at 1237 before heading right towards Arnos Grove passing Bowes Road library as we did so. At Betstyle Cross the bus turned through 270 degrees to run down the slope that is Betstyle Road towards a brook.
After crossing under the Piccadilly line the bus turned left and went back under the bridge along Hampden Way which took us into the London Borough of Barnet. After reaching Hampden Square shops the bus turned left towards Ossige library before subsequently heading right along Church Hill Road. This took the bus to East Barnet where the bus was asked to wait for two minutes to even out the flow at 1254.
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| Confirmation of entering New Barnet |
We then left at 1256 and headed for New Barnet. However, instead of carrying on towards Barnet as the No 84 does the bus turned right down Plantagenet Road which become Potter's Road. This area is apparently known as Barnet Vale according to the sign on the church we passed. Many roads around here had references to the 1400s, with a sign I passed suggested the walking route to Bosworth Road, for example. The bus climbed up Meadway to High Barnet station which was reached at 1305. The bus turned right along Barnet High Street and then left past the Barnet Church and Barnet College. From just after here the bus turned left and headed downhill on Manor Road. The bus turned right at the bottom of the slope along Leeside which after two stops led to us turning right into Chesterfield Road. The bus terminated at the second stop along this road adjacent to a now disused church at 1312.
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| Interesting plaque in Chesterfield Road |
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| Journeys end |
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| Terminal bus stand for the No 184 |
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My mount from across the street before boarding bus back to
High Barnet station |
In order to get to my next bus I quickly crossed the road and caught another Arriva ENL operated No 184 to retrace my steps to High Barnet station at 1314. I then caught the Northern line to Euston and there the Victoria line to Victoria.
The No 185 starts on the opposite side of the Apollo Victoria theatre from Victoria railway station and as I was approaching a bus it departed. However, the driver saw me and kindly stopped for me. The bus was Go Ahead London's EH220 which I was able to board at 1416.
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| No time to snap bus before boarding so this will have to do! |
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| Strange bow in building viewed from Vauxhall bus station |
The route took me straight down Vauxhall Bridge Road and across the bridge to circulate around the Vauxhall bus station. The bus went briefly down Kennington Lane before turning down Durham Street past Water Aid's headquarters before taking Harleyford Road to the Oval.
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I had the telephoto lens on camera so this was all I
could get of the school as we passed |
Opposite to the Oval cricket ground Archbishop Tenison school is located where a sign stated it was endowed in 1685. The bus then passed the Oval tube station and ran along Camberwell New Road. As the bus passed along this road the signs flagged up that Peckham High Street was shut owing to an accident. We despite this were not expected to go that way and hoped that it wouldn't have knock on effects to my journey. Indeed at Camberwell Green the bus turned right into Denmark Hill which followed the routes of the No 40 and No 176 from here on to Dulwich via Dog Kennel Hill and Lordship Lane. Just around the corner from Denmark Hill station, however, the bus driver was told to wait at 1444 for three minutes.
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| Passing Dog Kennel Hill school |
One of the bus stops along the way was called Crystal Palace Road but this road was located on the northeast side of Lordship Lane with no view of Crystal Palace, so an intriguing use of the name.
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| Announcement for accident at Peckham High Street, but this time on the South Circular Road |
By 1500 the bus was nearing the South Circular Road and this time my mount persisted with the South Circular all the way through Forest Hill to Catford. Again the bus was asked to wait for a few minutes at Fermor Road on the way to Catford. At Catford at 1522 the bus took the A21 northwards to run into Lewisham town centre and then terminate at Lewisham railway station at 1537.
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Go Ahead London EH220 making its way to the bus
stand on the other side of the railway line |
This arrival time was perfect as there was a train to Hayes at 1543 which afforded me the opportunity to purchase a latte at the Costa on the station. I alighted at 1558 at Elmers End and then at 1608 was aboard a tram heading for Wandle Park from where I walked home to arrive by 1645 when I was expecting the 'Fish man'.
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