Day 193 As I missed the No 297 earlier in the week I decided to do this bus on a Saturday afternoon.

 At 1450 I caught a No 407 to East Croydon so as to take a train to Clapham Junction and thence the London Overground to Willesden Junction. I arrived at Willesden Junction at 1601 and just missed a No 266 bus which was the one to take me to Willesden bus garage. I walked up to Harlesden clock tower in the hope there would be more than one bus I could catch and indeed there was: the No 260 as well. However, I found the buses were not stopping there at all and I had to 'hot foot' it around the corner to the Magistrate's Court. Here I caught the next No 266 heading for Brent Cross at 1612, this bus took me down to Harlesden station where the bus turned right up the road before the station which became Knatchbull Lane. Once we reached Craven Road the bus turned right utilising a road that would normally only be served by the No 18. At the junction at the top of the rise the bus turned left and rejoined its normal route to Willesden town centre.

Metroline's VW1184 approaching at Willesden bus garage to form my No 297

At 1641 I boarded VW1184 in Pound Lane outside the Willesden bus garage and the bus then took me back the way I had come until we passed the county court. At this point the bus turned right at the roundabout and was the sole user of the road until we reached the Neasden underpass. At this stop which we reached at 1651 there were 5 routes joining us and all of these ran under the North Circular and most on towards Kingsbury initially, before bearing off towards Wembley. It was very slow in this area but once we had turned towards Wembley the traffic became much lighter. The bus took the road to Wembley Park station but then headed off right up Empire Way where we were asked to linger as we catching up the bus in front at 1705-1707. This was supposed to be another road only utilised by the No 297 but we were sharing it with the No 204 for some reason today. The No 204 should join from the right at Wembley Hill Road along with the No 79 and we then run together to Wembley High Street.

Crossing over the lines at Neasden station

Queue of traffic along Neasden Lane

Here the bus headed west past Wembley Central station and then took the left towards Alperton. Here again the road became very busy as we approached the shops north of Alperton Station. It was 1725 as we passed the station, so crossing Wembley took 25 minutes. 

Siding just north of Wembley Stadium station for
short distance trains from Marylebone

We kept catching up with the bus in front
and eventually overtook it in Perivale

The No 297 should have been alone on the route as indicated by the bus stop

Beyond the station we took a route I had done a number of times to Alperton Sainsbury's. However, this time the bus continued onwards after exchanging drivers betwixt 1728 and 1729. Here it became sole bus on the route as it passed the Golden Tours headquarters with its Harry Potter double decker buses. We went left into Bilham Road and this took me through the suburbs of Perivale for the first time ever. At the end of this the bus turned left to pass first Perivale library and then the station on the Central line. 

Bus route alone in Perivale

Global warming perhaps? A banana plant
in Bilham Road

Beyond these we reached the A40 and here the bus turned right to cross over the A40 where it met one of the Ealing buses-the E5. The bus took Argyle Road through various parkland areas and eventually this led to us turning left at Cleveland Road which became Castlebar Road. We had gone beyond Ealing Broadway to the West and then returned SE towards the green at Ealing Broadway where the bus terminated on the east side at 1753 having gone around the north side of the green.

The Green to the north of Ealing Broadway

My VW1184 laying over for return to Willesden

Class 66s 66170 and 66131 and two
others in Acton Yard

I then caught an Elizabeth line train one stop to Acton Mainline the only one of the Acton stations I don't think I have ever used. Here I was able to catch a No 266 back to Willesden Junction where I caught the 1835 to Clapham Junction and onwards home via East Croydon.