The No 281 required me to reach Tolworth and therefore I walked to Wandle Park and caught a tram to Wimbledon at 1035. I arrived just in time to miss the 1103 to Tolworth so rather than wait for the 1133 I boarded the New Line to Guildford service first stop Surbiton at 1119. I left the train at 1125 at Surbiton and walked up the hill to the main road and caught a No 418 to Tolworth arriving at 1138.
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| Bus Stop E |
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Timetable suggests 71 minute
journey |
The No 281 starts from bus stop E which is the other side of the Tolworth tower in Ewell Road where I had earlier disembarked from the No 265.
The bus should take 71 minutes to get to Hounslow bus station according to the timetable and at 1152 I was aboard RATP London united 47057 heading for Hounslow.
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My mount arriving. I was expecting the driver
to have a break but he took off straight away |
The bus retraces the steps I had taken on the No 418 and then continues across the tracks east of Surbiton Station. Here there was an announcement made on the bus that the bus was on diversion. At the bottom of Surbiton Hill rather than turn right we went straight over and immediately ran into some roadworks at Surbiton Park Terrace.
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| Crossing the railway tracks at Surbiton |
The bus then ran into Kingston where we passed Surrey County Hall now closed and apparently sold. It was here I presented to the winter maintenance engineers my investigation into the thermal behaviour of pavements at three sites across Surrey in about 2003.
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| A Wendy's in Kingston High Street |
We travelled through the town centre and after Wood Street crossed the bridge over the river Thames and then went right at the roundabout so as to pass through Hampton Wick.
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| The wide road north from Hackney Wick |
This meant the next place we came to was Teddington and at 1230, 38 minutes after departure we stopped in Broad Street. From here we took the right turn to Fulwell and then after the garage another right turn so as to reach Twickenham.
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| Entering Twickenham |
It was only after Twickenham station where the bus turned left that it became the only bus on a particular road and this didn't last long as just before the rugby stadium we were joined by the No 481 and No 110 as we crossed the A316.
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| Twickenham stadium |
Bearing left at the stadium we were soon heading into Whitton. Once the bus had turned right at the Admiral Nelson public house we were in Hounslow Road and once again the bus was on its own as it went over the humpback bridge at Hounslow station. We ran into the stop just before Hounslow bus station at 1308, so about 5 minutes late if the 71 minutes is to be relied upon..
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| Sweet little church at Whitton |
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Rare to see propeller driven
aircraft now heading into Heathrow |
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| Disembarkation |
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| Final stop at Hounslow |
From Hounslow I needed to get to Ealing Hospital for the next bus and had arranged I would meet Charmaine to do the bus and visit a cemetery in Pinner. This required me to catch the Piccadilly line two stops from Hounslow east to Boston Manor and then I caught the E8 to Ealing Broadway so as to meet the wife. This we did after a little toing and froing and caught a No 607 along the Uxbridge Road to the hospital.
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| A forty minute journey is foretold |
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| Metroline's TEH 1464 approaching |
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| Charmaine boarding the bus. |
The No 282 service we took was provided by Metroline's TEH1464 which departed at 1426 on what was supposed to be a forty minute journey. Heading West at first we went under the Great Western railway bridge and then did a 180 degree turn so as to be able to head north to Greenford. This took us past the West Middlesex Golf Club and the aptly named estate on the opposite side of the road.
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| Appropriate name of Golf Links Estate |
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| Statue shows how interlinked we all are |
We passed what looked like a large football beside Cardinal Wiseman school and then went left up Greenford Broadway which is the Ruislip Road and once across the Grand Union Canal we were in Northolt. At the roundabout on the A312 the bus went right down Church Road to the Target roundabout over the A40.
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| Crossing the Grand Union |
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| Star Wars shop near Target Roundabout |
This meant we were travelling in a northeasterly direction as we passed Northolt station and Northolt library. Just beyond the station the bus turned left and was finally the only bus on the road which was Eastcote Lane North. At the roundabout we joined Field End Road and this took us all the way to Eastcote station. However, we were catching up with the buses in front so were held three times, for example at the Whitby Road stop, just after crossing the Yeading Brook we were held from 1512 until 1514. We remained on Field End Road after the station as the bus wriggled this way and that until we reached a roundabout at Eastcote House. Here the bus briefly went right but then left on to Joel Street so as to reach Northwood Hills Underground station. Once left at the roundabout we made our way to Northwood station but there were massive hold ups trying to get past St Helen's school.
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| Horrendous snarl up at St Helen's school |
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| Northwood Underground station |
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| Finally arrived arrived at Mount Vernon hospital |
Once past this hold up we reached Northwood station and then went on to turn right at Rickmansworth Road to climb the hill to terminate at Mount Vernon Hospital at 1544. The journey had thus taken 78 minutes. We had hoped to utilise the cafe but it was closed as was all the hospital friend's shops at 3 pm. So we caught the same No 282 back to Northwood and got a drink and a sandwich in local shops before taking train to Pinner and visiting the floating sarcophagus in the churchyard. Returning to Pinner station we caught a train to Farringdon and then a Thameslink Brighton bound train home.
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