Today's journey started with the 1030 train to Clapham Junction where I swapped to Platform 5 for the 1113 train to Mortlake, a Kingston roundabout service. The train dropped me at Mortlake at 1123. It is then a walk down North Worple Road to Mortlake bus station which parallels the railway line I had just used. Whilst I was walking along a GBRF class 66, which said HS2 on it, came by with what I presumed was a spoil train from tunneling.
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The next but one No 209 waiting
alongside the fence by the railway |
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| The No 209 I rode SE 293 of London General |
I arrived at the bus station at 1135 and it was rather busy with at least two No 209s and two No 378s. All were London General AD E20D AD Enviro200 buses which are the 'sub-species' with 10.5m bodywork. London General's SE 293 based at Putney left at 1140 with a total journey time expected of 11 minutes until we reached Castlenau. The bus turned right and was soon running beside the Thames to Barnes Bridge.
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| Approaching Barnes Bridge |
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| Typical activity in this part of the Thames |
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| Barnes pond |
Once past the bridge it headed away from the river into Barnes High Street and then into Church Road. At the Red Lion the bus swung left and ran up the road called Castlenau as far as it could in the direction of Hammersmith. This bus stop was called Castelnau Lonsdale Road and we arrived only ten minutes after start of the trip at 1150. Until Hammersmith bridge was closed to all but pedestrians and cyclists this bus continued on to Hammersmith. There is now a No 533 introduced from this point to Hammersmith but via Chiswick Bridge.
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| Disembarking from SE 293 at Castlenau |
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| No further progress possible |
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| Hammersmith Bridge in distance |
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| Local protests at the Bridge pub about the inconvenience |
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| Approaching the bridge |
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| Crossing the river on western side of bridge |
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| Arrival at Hammersmith Underground station |
I thus had to walk on foot from here to Hammersmith and this was actually quite convenient as I needed to catch a Piccadilly line train to Finsbury Park to do the next bus. At 1207 I boarded this train and this led to my arrival at Finsbury Park at 1244. There was a bus already pulling up at the stop when I approached the western bus station so could not take my usual pre-boarding shot of Metroline's TE1089 an AD Trident with AD Enviro400H bodywork. I had used the bus station the other side of the station for the No 19, No 106 and No 153 but this side there are three other buses which can't get under the 12 foot 9 inch bridge on Stroud Green Road.
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| Already in place aboard Metroline's TE1089 |
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| Ready for departure on the No 210 |
The bus departed at 1247 with this journey naturally going to be considerably longer than the previous bus route, even had it been possible to get all the way to Hammersmith it would have taken no more than 20 minutes. The route wriggles a good deal throughout for example taking Hanley Road before we reached Crouch Hill station on Stroud Green Road. At the end of this road we start a succession of climbs, we turned into Hornsey Road
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| Class 710 on Gospel Oak to Barking line |
which became Hornsey Rise and then we swung left into Beaumont Rise and along Sunny side Road. Here the area really lived up to its name as there were plenty of daffodils out and lots of tree blossom on a south facing slope. The bus from here heads west to Archway and then turns north up Highgate Hill past the Whittington Hospital.
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| Highgate Village |
Highgate Village was reached at 1313 and at the school the bus took the road across Hampstead Heath until the Jackstraws Castle. The sharp right hand turn here dropped the bus past the Old Bull and Bush as we ran into Golders Green.
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| The Old Bull and Bush |
The bus continued in a straight line for a while before taking Highfield Avenue past Brent Cross Underground station and took a right turn at the T Junction at the end of this road and then did quite a few machinations before pulling up at Brent Cross Shopping Centre at 1340, so an hour less 7 minutes.
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| TE1089 at Brent Cross Shopping Centre |
From here I decided to return to Hammersmith to ride the No 211 to Waterloo. Before that though I had a comfort break, and then a ham and cheese croissant and latte at Starbucks. It seemed sensible to get to the Bakerloo line to reach Paddington and then Metropolitan to Hammersmith. However, I needed to catch a No 112 for this and after waiting over fifteen minutes the first No 112 came in as terminating at Brent Cross, whereas here it is normally a through route. So suspecting something was up I got the next bus to take me to Golders Green tube station and caught a No 102 so to do at 1412. On arrival at Golders Green it was announced that the trains were not stopping at Euston, the back up plan had been to change there for Victoria line to Green Park and then Piccadilly line. However, having let the first Northern line train go as it was a City line train, I caught the next Charing Cross line train and changed at Leicester Square to the Piccadilly reaching Hammersmith at 1510.
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| LT126 waiting to take me to Waterloo on the No 211 |
Above ground I found bus stop C in Hammersmith bus station and there was a No 211 waiting and in just two minutes I was aboard RATP LT126. The bus went straight out of the bus station exit down Fulham Palace Road under the Hammersmith flyover and past the Charing Cross Hospital. The bus took Lillie Road for a while but then beared right down Munster road and left for Dawes Road.
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| Dawes Road Fulham, boot repairs advert gradually fading away |
At 1524 we were turning right into North End Road and followed past Fulham Broadway and then took the Fulham Road past Stamford Bridge and on to Sloane Square, via a right turn down Sydney Street and then left in King's Road which was reached at 1546.
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| Sloane Square |
After almost a circuit of the square we took Lower Sloane Street to Pimlico Road which transferred us to Buckingham Palace Road. The bus reached Victoria station at 1600 but took the another 6 minutes before the traffic allowed us to get into Victoria Street.
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| Buckingham Palace Road approaching from Pimlico Road |
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| Victoria Street |
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Westminster Abbey, with
Parliament Square beyond |
From Parliament Square the bus went over Westminster Bridge and then under Waterloo station railway arches to reach the taxi rank area and finally came to a halt at 1621.
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| Taxi queue at Waterloo |
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LT126 reposing after its 69 minute
journey |
This arrival time allowed me to get the 1627 to Strawberry Hill alighting at Clapham Junction in time for the 1639 to Epsom Downs. Home was achieved at 1715, seven hours after initial departure.
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