This trip started with catching the 0905 train to London Bridge whereupon we caught the the Northern line the one stop to Bank and then the Central line eastbound the one stop to Liverpool Street. We than had over half an hour to wait for the 1030 Norwich train which strangely left from platform 14. The platforms numbered 12 onwards used to be reserved for the Shenfield and Southend Victoria trains but since the instigation of the Elizabeth line I suppose there are vacancies in this area of the station now. We than had over an hour on this train before we reached Ipswich where we needed to change for the Peterborough train which took us to Bury St Edmunds at 1156. Thus we arrived at Bury St Edmonds at 1224 which was ample time for me prior to the 1300 departure of the bus.
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| View of the Lowestoft bound class 755 from our Peterborough bound version at Ipswich |
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Two ex Metrobus buses of Chambers at
Bury St Edmunds bus station |
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Three different companies buses,
Chambers, Coach Service and Dans |
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Another bus company Stephenson,
and there was Mulleys as well |
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| Bus stop 6 services with No 374 at the top |
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| Chambers 802 arriving |
The bus, Chambers No 802 arrived about 1255 and comprised a bus I had seen in its previous life running the No 119 and No 353 buses out of Croydon. Chambers is part of the Go Ahead group which also runs Metrobus. We left exactly on time at 1300 and since the Labour government's lifting of the bus cap which had been £2 since COVID the journey cost me £3. The bus initially headed south parallel with the High Street before striking West along a road called Out Westgate. After a short while we took a left called Viney Road and this gave the bus access to the West Suffolk Hospital. We did a circuit of the hospital at 1307 and then headed back down Viney Road turning left at the lights at the bottom.
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| Part of a mural depicting 1000 years of history at Bury St Edmunds |
This meant we were running along the A143 which goes to Haverhill, however after a short time we took the B1066 left signposted Whepstead and Glemsford. We entered Whepstead at 1318.
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| Typical Suffolk scenery |
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Bus shelter at Whepstead, plenty of books whilst
you wait! |
Beyond Whepstead it continued to be very rural and I was quite surprised to see a sign for Brockley which is initially a hamlet of about 4 or 5 houses and then later a more sizeable village with the church.
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On the fringe of field and woodland I could see deer,
but I would have needed to put telephoto lens on
camera to show them here. |
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| St Anthony's church Brockley |
Beyond Brockley we reached Hartest with, as at many places since leaving Bury plenty of coloured house with thatched roofs.
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Pretty houses in Hartest, there were many others
but bus was usually too close to get a sensible picture |
Then on to Boxted and once through this village we continued running alongside the River Glem before turning right over a bridge onto the B1065 and climbing up this road into Glemsford where the bus stopped outside the former horsehair factory at 1340.
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| Glemsford |
This town is actually quite extensive compared to other settlements we had been through, However, that said leaving the twon down Skateshill the road was not wide enough for the bus to pass any oncoming vehicles. this was not a problem on this bus but was later when I was aboard the No 236 to Sudbury. At the bottom of the hill the bus turned right with Glemsford station straight ahead. This took us onto the A1092 which took us through Cavendish which we entered at 1347 and later to Clare which was reached at 1353.
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| Cavendish Green |
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| House in Cavendish |
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| Interesting weathered carving on house in Clare |
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| Bus ready to return back to Bury St Edmunds from Westfield |
We passed through the town and stopped at a side road called Westfield where the bus terminated at 1357.
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| The No 374 disappearing back through Clare |
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| Bridge over River Stour for railway to Cambridge |
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| Good shed with LNER notices and crane |
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| Even some track left in situ |
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| The station with platforms but no track |
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Clare station now Platform 1 cafe
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The bus set off back the way it had come at 1400 and that was the last journey on the No 374 from Clare today! There are two coming the other way after this. I had a walk around Clare as I had an hour to wait for the 1502 to Sudbury. It is a picturesque place made all the more interesting by the railway station which is now a cafe called Platform One and adjacent to the station the Motte of Clare castle.
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| The remains of Clare castle |
I caught the Chambers single decker No 467 on route No 236 to Sudbury at 1502 and this returned through Glemsford but subsequently took a different route to return to the A1092 so as to reach Long Melford and subsequently Sudbury. I arrived at Sudbury at 1540 and the next train was not until 1632 so I went to check the train was running and then to a fish and chip shop and had a very nice steak and kidney pie and a cup of tea. I then caught the train at 1632 which connected well with the 1657 train to Liverpool Street at Marks Tey. I alighted at Stratford and caught an Elizabeth line train the one to stop to Whitechapel and then the 1801 West Croydon London Overground train and arrived home at just before 7PM.
