Day 164 to North London for the No 251 on a cold and murky day.

At 1030 I left for London Victoria from Waddon and by 1144 had reached Arnos Grove tube station having changed from the Victoria to the Piccadilly line at Finsbury Park. Arnos Grove is one of Charles Holden's very distinctive 1930's buildings for the Piccadilly line extensions and is the start point for a journey by bus to Edgware station on the Northern line.

Arnos Grove Piccadilly line station

The final stop for the No 251 coming from Edgware

There are bus stops outside the station but the No 251 doesn't service these, although it does layover there. The first stop is actually on the opposite side of the road. 

Bus laying over for no more than 5 minutes

DE21064 approaching the start point

All the buses are dirty after nine consecutive nights of sub zero temperatures which have meant that the winter maintenance teams in Enfield and Barnet have been out spreading rock salt and clay on the roads. Thus it was impossible to take photographs of the journey once inside the bus. The extensive low cloud caused by slightly less cold air invading from the northwest meant it was very gloomy and once we were on the higher parts of the journey around Totteridge and Mill Hill it would have made for very foggy shots at best.

The bus headed at first mostly in  a northwesterly direction from the station straight across the New Southgate roundabout, up Oakleigh Road South and then as it crossed the railway lines out of King's Cross in a little kink, this road became Oakleigh Road North. This brought us to Whetstone where we crossed almost directly over the A1000 at 1200 to pass Totteridge and Whetstone tube station as we descended to the Dollis Valley and the Dollis Brook. The opposite side of the valley was a higher climb and we entered the cloud base as we reached Totteridge Village and Common where there were lakes which were frozen. After passing Hendon Wood Lane, the bus took the left turn down Highwood Hill. On a sharp bend we should have stopped at a stop called Holcombe Hill but there were road works leading to Single Alternate Line Working and thus we had to go on to the next stop which rather upset one of the passengers as it was a long haul back up the hill to where she would have preferred to alight. Eventually having descended out of the cloud as we drove along Lawrence Road we reached the A1 at the roundabout by Mill Hill Broadway. We left the bus station here at 1222 and took the left initially before following the route Nos 114 and 204 to Burnt Oak tube station. We turned left onto the Edgware road and then ran up that to the junction with Edgware High Street and terminated at 1237 at the Underground station. The journey according to the timetable at Arnos Grove said it should take 46 minutes and it took exactly 46 minutes. I was quite surprised given how rural the route was between Totteridge and Mill Hill that the bus was as busy as it was but a good many people got off at Mill Hill.

 Once more disembarking at Edgware station

For the next bus I would have needed to get to Hornchurch so I decided it might be easier to go home and leave that for another day. I caught a Northern line to Euston then walked to St Pancras and took a Three Bridges train to Norwood Junction where I changed for home arriving at 1500.