Day 128 On John's birthday the No 202 from Crystal Palace to Blackheath Royal Standard.

My wife had been wanting to see our friend Tim's new workplace situation for  a number of years. He told us he has now been there for five years so it really was time to get to Woolwich Arsenal. It seemed a good opportunity to catch the No 202 bus to Blackheath. We thus caught the 1300 train to West Croydon and then changed to the 1321 train from there to Crystal Place. Climbing Anerley Hill we were astonished to see a young adult on a skate board hurtling down this steep slope in the middle of the road with one leg in the air. He seemed totally oblivious to his own personal danger or that he might cause to others!

Anerley Hill looking ESE, skate boarder by this time
around corner at bottom

Crystal Palace bus station with Arriva's HT9
ready to depart on the No 202

At bus stop awaiting our mount to Blackheath

The bus station that I have now used a  number of times is just around the corner at the top of the hill and we could see there was already a No 202 waiting. However, the bus doesn't pick up in the bus station but as with the No 3 I took 4 years previously it starts from bus stop B on the other side of Crystal Palace Parade.

Charmaine boarding HT9 at bus stop B

At 1352 we were aboard and were heading north past the transmitter mast and at the end of the Parade took the left along Sydenham Hill. There was an abrupt turn to the right down Wells Park Road and before I realised it we were passing the station building for Upper Sydenham station which closed in 1954, hence the blurry picture. 

Now a private dwelling, Upper Sydenham Station building

This road took us through the Sydenham Hill estate and at the end of the road we turned right into Kirkdale. At the end of this road we entered Sydenham High Street and I was sad to see the cake shop where I bought my wife's 60th birthday cake was no longer there. Further along we passed a presumably reproduction Tudor type house which had what looked like a Magnolia tree coming into bud!

Looking back across Sydenham Hill Estate with
invading Altocumulus

Sydenham Road, extension of High Street

As we reached Bell Green I was reminded that the Bell Green shopping area was where I ended my last trip before the first lock down on the No 194. This bus doesn't enter the shopping 'village' but heads past up Perry Hill and then down the other side into Catford Hill where we joined with route No 75 at 1415. This then meant we joined the South Circular Road through Catford and once around the one way system we remained on this road as it became Brown Hill Road, where I noted many of the Victorian villas had names of West Country locations carved above their doorways. As we approached the bridge under the main Southeastern railway near Hither Green the traffic suddenly became much slower for some reason. We managed to pick up speed though once we had turned left down Burnt Ash Hill towards Lee.

Travelling up the South Circular road. Every side
road on the left had the new ULEZ signs

View towards London from Burnt Ash Hill

Once past Lee Green station we crossed straight over the A20 and climbed towards Blackheath with the private Cator estate to our right hand side.  Reaching Blackheath village the bus goes down and up  towards the Heath and then crosses the Heath itself as the Royal Standard is actually nowhere near the village, being almost at Charlton House. We arrived at 1448 just under an hour's journey from Crystal Palace. 

Approaching North side of Blackheath 'heath.' 

Arriva's HT16 making a return journey

Journey's end the Royal Standard turn around.

Moving on we caught a No 54 to Woolwich arriving at Tim's workplace for half past three for tea and choccy biccies. Getting home was much easier taking a train to London Bridge and then the fast train to Epsom home from there, arriving around 6PM.

Day 127 the opportunity arose after a short trip to Central London to do the No 201 on the return.

 After a trip to the Charterhouse for the Christmas fair we went to Leather Lane which appears no longer to be a leather market and also tried to visit the Museum of London which is now closed Monday and Tuesday. Therefore we arrived at City Thameslink just in time for a train to Herne Hill; the 1249 to Sutton. I left Charmaine at City Thameslink for her to get a train home, whilst I caught this train and arrived at Herne Hill at 1302. However, by the time I had walked through the pedestrianised section to the main road I was in time to see a No 201 just leaving.

Herne Hill railway station bus stop

The next No 201 awaiting its
departure

There was, however, an Abellio single decker waiting in the distance by Brockwell Park and this did a 'U' turn and arrived at the first stop at 1317. It was Abellio's No 8822 an AD E20D -AD Enviro200 based at Beddington Cross.

Abellio 8822 arrives to take me to Morden

The bus initially headed South parallel with the Herne Hill to Tulse Hill railway but soon burrowed left under the railway along Croxted Road which I had also used 4 years ago on the No 3. There were numerous banners outside houses complaining about road closures and the effect this would have on air quality in Croxted Road.

Croxted Road with a No3 in distance

Croxted Road, sign above grey car says stop road
closures

When the bus reached the South Circular it turned right and headed for Tulse Hill station. At this point instead of following the South Circular it took the parallel road to the north called Tulse Hill until we reached Upper Tulse Hill where the bus turned left and entered St Martins Estate. Here we passed the Royal Military Police HQ before taking a left into Roupell Road where the bus was asked to wait to regulate the flow from 1331-1334.

The sign on the post in Roupell Road is a new sign signifying the Ultra Low Emissions Zone starts there since we were just north of the South Circular Road.

From here the bus regained the South Circular as far as the A23 where we turned left and followed down Streatham High Road. This is now the sixth bus I have covered this road on. However, when we reached St Leonard's church at 1348 the bus went straight on into Mitcham Lane unlike 4 of the other buses, a road though nevertheless I had already covered as it was duplicated by the No 57.

Mitcham Lane two churches side by side,
St James West Streatham and Mitcham Lane Baptist Church

This road is Mitcham Lane until we reached the River Graveney where we changed boroughs and it became Streatham Road. This took us down to Figges Marsh and on into Mitcham where we reached the Fair Green, once again, at 1405. The bus then took London Road down to Mitcham station, or tramstop as it is called now whereupon it turned right into Morden Road and Morden Hall Road to terminate in the High Street opposite the Underground station at 1417. This meant the journey took two minutes longer than stated, not bad given the convoluted route switching between surburban and main roads as it crossed SW London.

Having alighted from the bus I saw it was pretending to be a different route

To get home I walked to Morden Road tramstop and got home two hours after starting the bus journey.

The bus heading off to layover

The bus heading off to layover

Morden Road tramstop, a good ten minute walk from the Underground station

Day 126 Finally I reach 200, a three hour trip to do a local bus of route duration 47 minutes.

 The No 200 runs from Raynes Park to Mitcham and I thought perhaps I would start from the farther end at Lambton Road Raynes Park. Therefore I caught the 1330 train to Clapham Junction and then at 1406 boarded the Hampton Court train as far as Raynes Park. I had seen the No 200 laying over at Raynes Park many times when driving to and from Heathrow Airport and the bus at that time was operated by the first 14 single deck AD Enviro Dart 200s of which London General has now in excess of 300. These were registered in 2007 and it was a surprise when I saw they were now replaced by double deckers registered in July this year. The service was now provided by Optare Metrodecker 1050s which are wholly electric.

Optare Metrodecker Me13 at Lampton Road Raynes Park

Having never tried to get a bus at Raynes Park I stupidly walked the wrong way down the road towards Kingston instead of heading right and crossing the road into Lambton Road, so therefore missed the first bus I could have got. I was at the bus stop at 1422 and Me13 was already waiting and left for Mitcham Fair Green at 1431.

A series of new blocks of flats at Atkinson Close
West Wimbledon

The bus does a circuit of the one way system along Worple Road and then back past the railway station before turning right into Durham Road. This road is a constant climb as it turns right into Cottenham Park Road and then winds left up to Copse Hill Church West Wimbledon. Here the bus turns left passing a host of newly built flats, all with gates, until we reached Atkinson Close.

King's College School Rugby field. They also had numerous

tennis courts, hockey pitches and other sports facilities 

Two forlorn phone boxes outside the telephone exchange

We turned around at this point and headed back east along the same road to the church to halt outside King's College school at a stop called Edge Hill at 1438. Straight on from here the bus runs along Ridgeway where we passed Wimbledon Telephone Exchange and reached Wimbledon Village.  The bus took a 270 degree turn and headed down Wimbledon Hill into Wimbledon proper. The bus didn't stop outside Wimbledon station, probably as it is the only bus to turn left along Queens Road where it stopped by the Centre Court retail complex. We travelled along Queens Road to the end where we turned right into Haydons Road, still as the only bus route utilising the road until we reached the A24 at Merton High Street.

Haydons Road victorian villas with almost pargetting
type decoration

The other side of Haydons Road still victorian villas but
not quite as exquisitely detailed

From here the bus passed Merton bus garage where there was another Optare Metrodecker lurking within and turned right at Colliers Wood underground station.

Turning at Colliers Wood
tube station

Instead of running straight into Mitcham which the No 152 does this bus takes Church Road and then turns right down Haslemere Avenue into the Phipps Bridge estate. After running around the western edge of the estate the bus returns to Church Road along Phipps Bridge Road.

Mitcham Church

We passed the church and then turned North towards Mitcham town centre which was a crawl for a while before finally arriving at the Fair Green at 1518. This was exactly 47 minutes after departure which is precisely to time.

There was only one other bus type on the No 200 that I saw 
this AD400 Enduro

Arrival-Bang on time

Me13 moving away
to lay-over after arrival

To return home I caught the No 127 to Carshalton at 1529 and on arrival just missed a No 407 so walked to Wallington Green to catch the No 410 and arrived home exactly 3 hours after leaving home.

Day 125 After a long wait to allow for the manic queues for petrol to subside I risked trying the No 199.

 I did this trip by catching the 1330 train to West Croydon and then the 1340 from there to London Bridge. Before I had my over 60 pass I would have done this by the cheapest way possible but now I just went straight into zone 1 and caught the Jubilee line to Canada Water.  This lead to my reaching the start of the route only an hour after leaving home.

Stagecoach 80119 at Canada Water bus station.

At 1415 I was therefore leaving Canada Water bus station aboard Stagecoach 80119 which had previously been Thames Transit VH38119. I had noticed buses like these last month being utilised on the route No 160 which when I took the route was operated by Arriva Thameside.

Road works all the way from Canada Water to Deptford.

The bus route travels through Surrey Quays stopping at the shopping centre and then heads left into the marina area along Plough Way following which the No 47 and No 188 were also diverted because of roadworks. These roadworks continued along the route to Evelyn Street Londis near Deptford High Street and on the way we traversed what looked like the remains of two bridges over previous wharf areas. Indeed, one parapet said Bridge Wharf in chalk or white paint which was fading away. At 1427 the driver was asked to wait outside this Londis for a couple of minutes. However, by 1437 we had arrived at the Cutty Sark and the bus then did a circuit of Greenwich town centre before heading off down Greenwich South Street towards Blackheath. The bus by now is following the No 180 route which after a stop for a few minutes at Sparta Street headed on to Lewisham railway station.

Commemoration of the battle of Deptford Bridge in 1497
beside the Sparta Street bus stop

At Lewisham station where we arrived at 1447 I saw the new electric buses now on route No 484. On the corner beyond the bus stops the Territorial Support Group were arresting two scooter drivers it would appear, one of whom was older than me!

New electric buses on the route No 484

 The bus then takes the A21 down Lewisham through Catford to arrive at the Catford bus garage at 1501.

Terminus of the No 199 route at Catford Garage

From here I caught a No 54 to Elmers End and then took a tram to Wandle Park and finally a No 410 bus.

 

Day 124 a quick trip on the No 198 previously the 194B 18/9/21

 This is a fairly local bus so caught the 1000 train to Thornton Heath where I arrived at 1013 and walked to Nursery Road along the High Street. This road is at the eastern end of the High Street and until 1990 this route was known as the 194B to Shrublands which was created in 27/2/63, presumably this was when the estate was built.

Arriva T167 awaiting time to leave from layover in Zion Road

Starting point for route 198
in 1964, 7 routes started here

As usual I missed a bus by less than a minute so had to wait from 1018 until 1031 for Arriva T167 to pull up from its layover point. The roads were relatively quiet and so it was only two minutes later when we were at Thornton Heath railway station.

Thornton Heath clock tower

Arriva London's T1 at Thornton Heath bus
garage

At 1039 the bus halted at Thornton Heath bus garage near the 'pond' for the drivers to exchange. On the opposite site of the road was T1, the first of their Alexander Dennis Tridents of which there were 193 in the first batch. At 1042 the bus was back on its way and we were not held up by the roadworks at the end of Mayday Road and sailed on past the site of Croydon General Hospital which is now Harris Invictus Academy. This part of the route I have already covered three times on the No 60, 64 and 109. At 1051 we reached West Croydon station and after a stop in Poplar Walk it was 1059 when we reached East Croydon railway station.

At East Croydon station where I have previously stopped on the No 119 and 194

The bus then follows the route of the No 194 to Shirley, but whereas the No 194 turns right at Shirley library the 198 carries straight on down Wickham Road until turning right at Bridle Road. Here in March 2020 I took a photo of the 198 from the 194 saying it wouldn't be long before I would be on the bus opposite. 18 months later unfortunately I couldn't quite replicate the shot from the other bus.

A No 194 bus emerged just before we got to Bridle Road
so I was unable to replicate the photo I took in March 2020 

The bus travelled all the way up Bridle Road before swinging SE into the Shrublands Estate. The bus does a one way circuit of the estate before terminating at Brambles Close. We reached here at 1123, 52 minutes after departure. The timetable at Nursery Road had said it would take 50 minutes so we kept pretty much to time. 

Typical 1960s housing of the Shrublands Estate

Arriva London's T2 at the terminus of the route

Here I snapped T2 and quickly boarded it to return towards Croydon. By so doing I traversed the remainder of the route until it regains Bridle Road having departed at 1131. 

My return  mount

From the back of T2 my outbound
mount 

Completing the loop around Shrublands Estate
with Bridle Road in distance

I disembarked at the Whitgift Centre and caught a No 410 home arriving at 1215, only 2 1/4 hours since initially catching the train from Waddon railway station.

The photo of a No198 from March 2020