Day 148 The entire No 229 on the 4th July 2022, much changed from when I was a kid when it ran from Orpington station to Erith.

 I took rather longer to reach Queen Mary's Hospital Sidcup than I might have done, leaving home soon after 11am on a No 410. I transferred to a No 119 at East Croydon station and then a No 269 in Widmore Road Bromley. This allowed me to reached Queen Mary's Hospital at 1236 just as a No 229 left so had to wait until 1248 for Arriva's T301 to pick me up.

Recently vacated bus layover point

Arriva's T301 which will provide my mount

The bus approaching at 1247

The bus takes a 180 degree turn straight away and heads toward Sidcup and across the High Street down to the station before turning right along Hurst Road. For this part of the route the No 229 is the sole user until we reach Foots Cray Road roundabout and then the No 269 joins the route into Bexley and on up the hill to Bexleyheath town centre.

The grass showing signs of stress after a very dry June 

Still on Hurst Road descending towards Bexley with Dartford Bridge in distance

The original Bexley library

Hall Place viewed through the trees on way up to
Bexleyheath

Further view of Hall Place where we met our friends
John and Debbie yesterday

After the Broadway the bus does a 360 degree turn so as to be able to head east towards Erith from the clocktower. From here the bus took Erith Road past the Bexleyheath London Central bus garage. This road became Bexley Road once we reached Northumberland Heath before descending to the riverside at Erith.

Heading towards the river at Erith

Erith newer library currently closed

Erith original library also closed undergoing 
refurbishment

Once again the bus did a 360 degree turn through the town centre so that it passes both the new closed library and the old closed library to reach Erith High Street where we ran parallel with the river for a short while. Gradually the bus headed further away from the river as we reached Belvedere and Lesnes Abbey which was reached at 64 minutes after departure which was the time the journey was supposed to take according to the timetable at Queen Mary's Hospital. The bus then spiralled up to cross over the railway at Abbey Wood and on into Thamesmead where we terminated at the library and leisure centre at 1407.

Disembarkation at Thamesmead
with T39 in front which took me
back to Abbey Wood.

The leisure centre and library bus terminal point

I took the first No 229 back to Abbey Wood and then the Elizabeth line from there at 1430 to Whitechapel where I arrived fifteen minutes later. The London Overground then conveyed me to West Croydon and I was home just after 4 pm.

Day 147 The completion of the No 228

The 2nd of July was an optimum time to finish this bus as my wife wished to visit the fair at Parson's Green. This done, we caught a No 22 and then a No 295 to Ladbroke Grove Sainsburys. From near here we then boarded a No 18 the short way down the Harrow Road to the Great Western Road stop where we were turfed off on the 16th June.

Back where we were two weeks previously

RATP 30032 approaching from Ladbroke Grove Sainsburys

At 1546 we were able to climb onto London United's 30032 for the three stops to the stop at the end of Elgin Avenue where the Chippenham public house was situated. We arrived as expected by the timetable three minutes later at 1549!

Disembarkation only 3 minutes later!

As we walked further we found the bus lay over point was undergoing reconstruction and possibly on another occasion we might have been able to go one stop further.

The end of the route currently

Layover point behind the Chippenham

From this point we walked on to Paddington Recreation Ground and once across that to Sutherland Avenue and finally Hall Road. This destination enabled us to visit the most unusual phone box which is situated outside what looks for all the world like a telephone exchange.

Massive phone box statue Hall Road

From here we took a No 16 to Edgware Road station where it was strangely terminated. The Pride 50th celebrations were causing all kinds of issues with transport and once we did catch the Bakerloo line to Charing Cross, Piccadilly Circus station was closed owing to overcrowding at ground level!