Day 162 to far East London for the No 247 and No 248.

 There were no trains because of engineering works to Victoria from Selhurst and neither were there any trains to London Bridge. Therefore my initial transit at 1030 was just as far as West Croydon where I changed to the London Overground to Canada Water. From here it was then a Jubilee line that I took to Stratford arriving at 1130. I then transferred to the Central line so as to reach Barkingside  Underground station on the Hainault loop of the Central line. I arrived at 1154 and it was very wet as I searched for the stop from which I could catch the No 247 to Romford station, there being no signs at the station to tell me where to catch any buses.

A very wet first half of the day for this trip

Barkingside Station stop is a good 5 minute walk from the station 

Eventually I found the stop, on Tanners Lane near the junction with Craven Gardens, where Stagecoach 19829 of North Street Garage Romford was already waiting. At 1206 I was aboard and we set off to the magistrates' court where we picked up the first collection of passengers. The bus turned right and headed for Fullwell Cross whereupon we took the left turn called Fencepiece Road. These are all roads I have used before and we turned right along the New North Road to Hainault station which I traversed when upon the No 150. Throughout this journey it was extremely difficult to take photographs as the inside of the windows were steaming up and there was rain streaming down the outside of the windows. At the junction with Elmbridge Road the bus went straight over joining the route No 362, the route No 150 having turned left at this point. At the traffic lights at the end of the road the bus turned right and entered much more rural surroundings with Hainault Forest on both sides of the Romford Road. At the roundabout at Mark Gate we turned left along Collier Row Road with a No 62 just across the roundabout at the terminus of its route from Barking. We also in quick succession, went from the Borough of Redbridge into the Borough of Barking and Dagenham and then into Havering. From here we ran back into suburbia at Collier Row and turned right at a roundabout I had previously seen on the No 175. Thus it was only a very short part of the route from Mark Gate roundabout to Collier Row Glass Junction where this bus was the only one to cover that road. From Collier Row we headed south to the A12 arriving at 1239. 

Waiting to cross the A12, just north of Romford, weather gradually abating

Once across the A12 we passed the North Street Romford bus garage of Stagecoach and ran around the eastern side of town and down to the railway station where the bus terminated outside LIDL at 1250. The route was supposed to take 38 minutes but this time we took 44 minutes. 

Terminal bus stop, around corner from Romford
station

Bus layover point now visible as Stagecoach 19829 moves away

By this time the cold front had passed through and the rain had ceased so I was hopeful my next bus from Romford Market the No 248 might present better opportunity for photographs. I walked back through the town and emerged on the other side of the eastern bypass and crossed by underpass the roundabout by the town hall to arrive at the Romford Market bus stop. There is a bus layover point to the north of here but the 'Borismaster' which was to be my mount was actually parked at the stand near LIDL when I got off the No 247. This bus had come up the eastern bypass around the roundabout at North Street and back to pick me up at 1313. This was LT90 of Arriva and it only picked up myself at this point but picked up many more as it drove through the town centre back to the railway station.

Route No 248 to Cranham due soon on my arrival at bus stop

My earlier bus returning whence it had come

Arriva's LT90 arriving, roads wet but it is now dry

Emerging from town onto Rom Valley Way we soon were turning left to Roneo Corner and onto the Hornchurch Road. On the way we crossed by a park and in the dip we passed across the Ravensbourne. Despite working at Flood Forecasting Centre I could only recall the Ravensbourne being in South London, indeed I passed by the source of that river at Keston on my previous day out to do the No 246. We reached Hornchurch Town Centre at 1337 and then pressed straight on along Upminster Road towards Upminster Bridge. 

Heading up the Hornchurch Road at Abbs Cross Lane

Upminster Bridge District line station

Queuing to get to Upminster

 Station Road

Once past this station we crossed the Ingrebourne river and climbed up St Mary's Lane to reach Upminster. 

There were roadworks in Station Road which were somewhat troublesome but once past the station we continued for a while eventually turning right into Avalon Road. Towards the end of this road we passed the Golden Crane Pub and then turned left into Front Lane. The bus then took us into the Upminster Park estate and turned right into Roseberry Gardens, a name I am very familiar with as every day walking to school I used a road named this in Orpington. This road took us along two sides of a square so with Front Lane to begin with and Brunswick Avenue to end we were back at the same point this time with the Golden Crane Pub ahead of us.

Approaching the Golden Crane Pub in Avalon Road

Turning into car park by Moor Lane

Underground service vehicles

Disembarkation in the car park 

The bus next turned left and followed along Front Lane until it reached the junction of Moor Lane where it terminated at 1401, although didn't announce that it had. The bus just turned right into a car park and I had to ask the driver to open the doors to let me out. This car park is next to the Upminster Underground depot.

Rather than sample the delights of the Upminster Park Estate again I thought I'd try an alternative route to Upminster and crossing the bridge I found another bus stop and very soon a No 346 arrived at 1406 and this deposited me at Upminster station at 1416. The next train to Fenchurch Street was at 1422 as there was no Underground service owing to engineering works. Rather than change at West Ham and use the Jubilee line home, I stayed on the train until Limehouse and caught the DLR a brief one stop to Shadwell. Here I was able to change to a London Overground train to West Croydon and after a four minute wait a train home, where I arrived at 1634.