We travelled to Eltham by car as we had an item to drop off for the Edith Nesbit society-that done I left the car by the house and walked to the bus and railway station. Metrobus's No 180 was waiting between turns in the bus station when I arrived at 1324.
 |
| Eltham bus station |
 |
| No 233 arriving from its lay over point |
At 1328 I boarded the bus with two other travellers and we turned left and headed up Well Hall Road to the High Street which the bus took to its junction with Southend Crescent. Taking Southend Crescent the bus descended towards Foots Cray Road having picked up many more passengers at the stops in the High Street. I tried but failed to locate some indication of where Tanglin Manor was in the 1950s, whilst we drove along as it was my parents' first home after marriage in 1953. This road I traversed previously on the No 160 as far as New Eltham but shortly east of the station the bus diverted left down Longlands Road where there was a section of the route offering a 'Hail and Ride' type service. The bus gave names of various roads as we moved along Longlands Road but there were no stops as such. At the end of this road the bus turned up Station Road to Sidcup High Street where it turned left and followed to Foots Cray where we reached the previous location of the Barley Mow at 1400. This location is now known as Holly Tree Parade.
 |
| The district of Kent to the east of LB Bexley |
 |
An unfortunately blurry image of Kent
boundary as bus travelling rather quickly |
From here the bus continued east passing the Bexley refuse and reclamation centre and on down the old A20 through Ruxley to Swanley past the Bull at Birchwood, originally a Tudor inn, which is now attached to a Premier Inn. By this point we were in Kent proper and shortly after we reached the White Oak Leisure Centre where I learnt to swim in about 1968. The bus at this point deviated away from the main road wandering around some residential roads before emerging at Bartholomew Way beside ASDA at 1414. From this point the bus does a little wriggle around two roundabouts and then heads over the railway line and out towards Junction 3 of the M25 passing on its way the old London Country bus garage now used by GoCoach Buses. We arrived at the final point at 1417. The journey had taken 49 minutes opposed to the booked 44 but there were a few places where roadworks hindered our progress.
 |
| Beechenlea Lane final stop |
 |
| The driver has prepared his bus for the return to Eltham |
 |
| The No 233 at layover point |
 |
| White Oak Swanley on return |
Since this point was out-with the Greater London area I could not return for free unless I returned the same way I had come on the No 233, as it is the only TFL route in Swanley. However, I didn't travel all the way back to the station at Eltham but got off in the High Street and walked to where I had parked the car from there.
No comments:
Post a Comment