Day 234 on the 19th July 2024, all but 1 of the next 8 buses are nearby and even that has a local alternative. The No 352 and 353 both operated by the Metrobus are of London General.

This journey started with a No 410 bus to the top of Tamworth Road where I alighted at 1058 and managed to catch the 1101 London Overground train at West Croydon to Sydenham. Here I visited the post office to send a couple of items and walked to Bell Green Sainsbury's, a place I last visited just prior to lockdown on the No 194.

A forty minute journey time from
Bell Green to Bromley

Bell Green retail park

London General (Metrobus) 160 approaching

I boarded unexpectedly at 1039 the London General single decker No 160 as I had thought I had fifteen minutes to wait for the next one. The bus turned left out of the retail park and left again to go under the Mid Kent railway line before immediately turning right down Worsley Bridge Road. This meant the bus was the only service on the road and this happened a good deal on this service. We passed Lower Sydenham station and then Beckenham Cricket Club and at the end of the road headed right to New Beckenham station.

Beckenham Cricket ground grandstand

Kent County Cricket club headquarters

The building that was Beckenham Post Office
now a church

The bus then took a short section of Copers Cope Road before crossing the railway at Bridge Road and then running along Blakeney Road to reach Rectory Road. From here the bus went right to the war memorial and then up Beckenham High Street for a short while in company with many buses at 1052 before taking Village Way with the No 367.

View towards Croydon skyscrapers
 from Village Way

 At Stone Lodge Road this bus headed left on its own to the Chinese Garage and then into Hayes then Wickham Way as a hail and ride service beyond Langley Park school through the golf course to a mini roundabout where it had to turn hard left owing to width restrictions in the road. 

The roundabout where the bus turns hard left

The bus then climbed up the hill to Pickhurst Lane, initially straight over into Meadway but then hard left into Pickhurst Park now combined with the route No 246 for a while winding through this estate to emerge onto Hayes Lane and then into Bromley. The bus should have run up the High Street here but the road was closed so we were diverted up Kentish Way to terminate at Bromley North at 1120.

Unusually running up the full length of
Kentish Way 

Arrival at Bromley North Bus terminus

At 1125 I then caught a No 261 to Locksbottom and there boarded a No 353 to the start/end of the route at Ramsden estate in Orpington. In using this method of getting to the start of the route I unwittingly covered some roads in the estate that were not covered when starting there. I therefore covered Petten Grove and Rye Crescent before getting off London General's EE106 at 1218.

Crofton Road hill looking down across Orpington

Road works on station hill making transit difficult

Layover at Ramsden

Bus stop at war memorial end of
Orpington High Street depicting 21 buses

I then reboarded the same bus at 1225 going left to run past the Eldred Road shops before heading back to Court Road via Tintagel Road and Ramsden Road. At Carlton Parade the bus took the length of Orpington High Street and then up Station Road to stop opposite Crofton Halls where drivers were exchanged at 1247. At 1249 the bus was climbing up the hill to run along Crofton Road to Locksbottom. When I was about 10 years old a speculative bus route was offered from Orpington to Croydon called the North Downs Bus shown as N on the timetable. This was an hourly minibus service. Historically it has become so successful it now runs every twenty minutes throughout the day as a double decker bus. After the bus had passed through Keston it turned right down Baston Manor Road and I disembarked to hand deliver a birthday card to St Mary's Cottages. 

Queues waiting to get to Orpington station, the 
Arriva Kent bus No 477 in lead

The cause of the hold ups, roadworks at the station

Disembarkation in Hayes

Awaiting the next No 353 arrival

EE108 arriving to take me the rest of the way

The next No 353 EE108 picked me up at 1321 and took me through Hayes and along Kent Gateway to the Addington tram interchange at 1332. From here the bus follows the route of what was the No 357/857 many years ago to Forestdale and terminated at 1341 at the end of Courtwood Road.

The high speed run along Kent Gateway

Passing arable fields near New Addington

Addington tram and bus interchange

The first bus stop on the way back but
 not included on the run from Orpington

View from bus after arrival at end of route

Arrival of EE108 at Courtwood Road

Bus stand at end of route

I explained to the driver what I was doing and he told me to get back on the bus and so took me around the turning circle at the end of Courtwood Road and back to the tram interchange. However, my intended route home was blocked by the police stopping all trams in Lloyd Park, so my backup plan was a No 64 to the Whitgift centre in Croydon and a No 407 or 410 bus home from there, and I arrived  home at 1510.