The day began with the 1030 train to Battersea Park. This was to carry two bags of books for the Rose Community centre library that Charmaine was donating. At 1105 I was walking to the Battersea Power Station Underground station to take the Northern line to Tottenham Court Road. Unfortunately I missed Tottenham Court Road station catching sight of the sign only as we accelerating northwards. I had been deeply ensconced in reading about the Jersey tornado of November 2023 in the latest Royal Meteorological Society magazine. Thus it was after changing at Goodge Street at 1143 I was waiting for an Elizabeth line train to take me to Whitechapel. Here I only had to wait two minutes and at Whitechapel only one minute for an Upminster train to take me to Hornchurch. Here though my luck would run out, and having expedited my arrival at the town centre by catching a No 252 bus from the station I found the real time bus display on the bus shelter was not showing a No 372 any time soon. I arrived at 1240 and when the time got to 1245 and the bus route was still was not being indicated by the bus shelter I turned to the TFL bus app. This initially was blank but quite quickly showed me the next bus was in 29 minutes. It wasn't wrong, the bus arrived at 1315.
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They were repairing the pavement around the bus
stop so couldn't read the timetable |
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| The last of six buses to use this stop |
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| A very busy bus stop |
This was Stagecoach's 11076 based at Rainham and initially it set off in totally the wrong direction heading west along Hornchurch High Street, whereas the No 370 I had been on recently sensibly headed east from Hornchurch. At the end of the High Street the bus turned left down Abbs Cross lane with both the No 365 and No 165 and these buses continued to accompany us as we followed down Elm Park Avenue.
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| In Elm Park |
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| Mungo Park Road |
We then followed the same route I had recently covered on the No 365 using Rosewood Avenue, Mungo Park Road, Southend Road and finally Cherry Tree Lane. Here the No 365 peels away for the Orchard Estate but as soon as we had turned left at the end into New Road the No 287 joined us. This then accompanied us for the run to Dover's Corner and the roundabout where we turned right to access Rainham Tesco's.
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| St Helen and St Giles Rainham from Tesco's |
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| Sweeping past Rainham station |
Once through Rainham at 1347, pausing briefly at the railway station we join Wennington Road; this leads to a settlement made infamous a couple of years ago when a wildfire in the long hot summer caused houses to be burnt. From Rainham station onward the bus route is the only one serving the road.
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| The rural nature of Wennington |
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| The Top House Aveley, next to site of library |
Despite the settlement of Wennington being in the London Borough of Havering it is quite sparse of housing and where we join the A1306 there is a Premier Inn. Who is it for? Turning right here and then left into Sandy Lane we leave the Greater London area and enter Thurrock. This road headed uphill to Aveley where at the roundabout we joined with a number of Ensignbus company routes which meet us from the direction of Ockenden. Taking Mill Road we turned left into Purfleet Road to stop at a stop called Aveley library. I assumed this was down a side street but having returned on the No 372 to Rainham I noticed a space between the pub and the garage. Consulting my map at home that gap was where the library was. I wonder how long the bus stop will remain called that. Experience with Croydon airport would suggest at least twenty years!
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| Love Lane Aveley with viaduct in distance for Dartford Bridge |
We then continued left down Love Lane again as the only bus which then turned left into Hall Road across the A13 and then to the roundabout under the M25. From here it was a short run along Arterial Road and then left at the roundabout to descend under the same road and access the bus station where we arrived at 1410.
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| Going under the M25 |
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| Journey's End |
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| A class 357 arriving at Rainham station |
I briefly went into the shopping centre but when I saw the queues at the M&S cafe I decided to return and get the next No 372 back to Rainham. This I did and arrived at Rainham at 1458 with 23 minutes to wait for the next train to West Ham. There was a nasty cold wind whilst I was standing on the bridge over the tracks but it afforded a view of HS1 and I saw one Eurostar heading into Europe and a couple of Southeastern Javelins, one each way in the 20 minutes waiting for my Fenchurch Street train. I changed at West Ham onto the Jubilee line and then got the newly named 'Windrush' Overground at Canada Water to West Croydon and was home at 5 PM.
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