Day 137 Two buses in northern part of the capital the No 214 and No 215

 There was some business to attend to before we reached Finsbury Square to board the No 214. The 1100 train to Clapham Junction was taken and we changed to Platform 10 for a train to Waterloo. Outside Waterloo we caught a No 59 to Holborn Kingsway in order to visit the theatre where we had had tickets for Cinderella for a date that was cancelled in January. From here we walked to Chancery Lane and boarded a diverted No 243 to the Old Street roundabout and from there walked down City Road to bus stop C where the No 214 starts its journey to Highgate Village.

No 214 laying over at Finsbury Circus

Waiting for the bus, be-masked
 of course

London General's See91 arriving

Charmaine boarding See91

At 1257 we boarded London General's all electric See91 and returned back up City Road straight over the Old Street roundabout, past Moorfields hospital and on to the Angel Islington where we arrived at 1308. Turning right betwixt King's Cross and St Pancras stations at 1314 we then wended our way under St Pancras station to turn right along Pancras Road. Traffic became rather heavier as we approached Mornington Crescent station and then after Camden High Street we took the A400 Kentish Town Road at 1330.

Disembarkation

Waiting for the next No 214

At Kentish Town it was noticed there were some shops which might enable a special birthday card to be bought and so we disembarked at Kentish Town Post Office at 1339.

Boarding See78

We were able to buy the necessary card and board the next No 214 that came along See78 at 1351. This is then a fairly steady climb to Parliament Hill Fields and then up the 1 in 10 hill to Pond Square at Highgate. Here because of roadworks the bus halted instead of taking us to Highgate school at 1403 which fitted the 55 minute road timing allowing for 12 minute wait at Kentish Town.

No 88 at Parliament Hill Fields

Bus stop closed but driver let us out at 
Pond Square Highgate

From Highgate we needed to get to Walthamstow bus station to catch the No 215. The No 271 was boarded and this took us to Upper Holloway station where we caught a 'Goblin Line' train to Black Horse Road. We were very lucky and only had three minutes to wait so having changed at Black Horse Road for a Victoria line train to Walthamstow we were at the bus station soon after 3 o'clock. 

Waiting at Walthamstow Bus Station

Stagecoach 19785 approaching at 1515

The bus station was being renovated so it was very busy at times until the next No 215 arrived at 1516. It was No 19785 operated by Stagecoach that arrived at this time but very few actually boarded the bus. 

The van blocking the junction at the Bell Forest Road

The bus turned left out of the bus station and then left up Hoe Street but unlike the No 212 it went straight on to Forest Road. There was a van making deliveries which caused a considerable hold up between the shopping area and Forest Road. 

At the Bell on Forest Road the bus crossed over into Chingford Road and on to the Crooked Billet roundabout over the North Circular. Continuing onward Chingford Mount was reached at 1539 and at Mansfield Park the bus turned left down Mansfield Hill, the first occasion when it was the only route on the road. The road reached the A112 and bore right and pulled in at the Yardley Lane Estate. This is where the bus has habitually terminated except in the summer.

The pull in for Yardley Lane Estate with the wigglybus No 379 also turning round at this the county boundary

However, today the bus headed on along Sewardstone Road into Essex and arrived at the Lee Valley Campsite at 1555, which meant the hold up at Forest Road cost the bus about six minutes.

Entering Lee Valley Campsite

The bus laying over with Charmaine still aboard in
our seat at the front

To return home we boarded the same bus, well actually Charmaine didn't get off unlike me and stayed on until we reached Kings Head Hill. Here we walked around the corner and caught a No 313 to Chingford. To get home from here took one and a half hours with a train to Liverpool Street, a No 133 bus to London Bridge and then the Uckfield train to East Croydon. Then finally the No 410 bus to get us home at ten minutes to seven.

Day 136 A more local trip than the last few, the No 213 from Sutton to Kingston.

For once I didn't need to take a train anywhere but caught the No 407 bus at 1125 to Marshall Road in Sutton and walked from there to the starting point of the No 213 in Bushey Road. As I was walking down Bushey Road a No 213 emerged; so as usual I missed the first one I could potentially have caught.

London General's DOE49 reposing before our trip to Kingston.

Bus stop flag parallel with the road rather than
sticking out across it which was why I walked past it.

After discovering that the bus does not start at the stop next to the bus garage I was directed by a member of staff on a break to a stop I had walked straight past because it was not pointed across the street but parallel with it.

DOE49 about to turn right to approach my position.
The bus is currently in Bushey Road as the road does a
dog-leg around the bus garage.

I boarded London General's DOE49 at 1204 and returned back the way I had walked to Marshall Road and then up Throwley Way parallel with Sutton High Street. Despite not stopping until the top of this road to pick someone up it took seven minutes to reach the stop called Sutton Police Station. The roadworks at the roundabout at Gander Green Lane caused a hold up for a while but by 1221 we were in Cheam Broadway. From here it only took four minutes to reach North Cheam and then it was on to Worcester Park where there was the usual crawl down the High Street.

Ford Anglia being worked on betwixt North Cheam
and Worcester Park

The London Borough of Kingston was entered at 1232, so almost half an hour after leaving Sutton, but nevertheless the bus was running to time and travelled quite briskly from here through Old Malden, across the Kingston Bypass and into New Malden. At 1241 we had reached the northern end of New Malden High Street at the railway station. 

New Malden High Street

Wright bodied Volvo in Langley Grove, another bus type and indeed this route
 often sports the three Volvo Enduros that London General own.

Thereafter the bus turned left down Langley Grove which is an estate mostly built in the 1950s and 60s by the look of it. At the end of this road the bus swung right into Gloucester Road to stop outside Kingston Hospital. This was achieved at 1251 and once it had turned right into Kingston Hill the bus continued into Kingston to halt at the Fairfield bus station at 1257. A journey time of 53 minutes as opposed to the booked time of 56 minutes so despite some hold ups a good run.

Arrival at Kingston

Fairfield bus station alighting point

I had expected to get a train to Wimbledon and tram home from there but as I was crossing the road a No X26 hove into view, so I walked swiftly to the Cromwell Road bus station and boarded that service at 1304. This got me home an hour later, which was probably quicker than train and tram, although there wouldn't have been much betwixt them.

Day 135 a four hour round trip for a thirty five minute bus ride the No 212

 After a week off having been positive for Covid I reached the station ready to catch the 1000 to Victoria. This took forty minutes to reach its destination and I then descended to the Victoria line to travel the entire route from there to Walthamstow Central where I walked onto the mainline southbound platform at 1109. My destination was Walthamstow St James Street in order to catch the No 212 to Chingford station. Had I gone the other other way on the mainline I could have reached Chingford station in less than ten minutes. St James Street station was reached in under two minutes at 1121 from the Central station and I quickly ascertained from the map where the bus might start from.

Bus stop just below viaduct on which I had just travelled

London General's Ee49

Prepared to depart from layover stand Ee49

There were a couple of quite new London General buses of the type Byd ADL Enviro400EV. Thus these were electric vehicles and these were based at Northumberland Park depot for services in NE London. The first bus  Ee49 arrived at the stop having done a circuit of the little driver comfort building at 1130 and we were off back towards Walthamstow Central. Indeed it did head straight back where I had come from running alongside the railway line on what is called High Street. We nipped into the bus garage and then out again before turning left just after The Goose public house along Hoe Street. After a short while the bus turned right along Church Hill where it is the only bus to serve the road and with a little wriggling arrived at Forest Road just by the Waltham Forest College.

The impressive facade of
Waltham Forest College

The bus went right at this point along Forest Road until we reached Wood Street and then swung north up Fulbourne Road. The 'countryside' was quite repetitive here with just monotonous rows of Victorian terraced housing which lead almost to the crossing of the North Circular Road. 

The typical housing stock of the area late Victorian terraces looking north up Fulbourne Road

Once across the A406 at 1252 we took Winchester Road across the River Ching to Highams Park level crossing where the signal box looked as if some tender loving care might be desirable.

The rather dilapidated wooden signal box at Highams park

We did not cross the level crossing but beared left and ran parallel with the railway again past the stop where Charmaine and I had caught a No W16 to meet Tim at Chingford Mount for when we did the No 158. This is Larkshall Road and at the roundabout at the end we took the right under the railway and into Hatch Lane. At the next bus stop we couldn't get into the layby owing to two No 357s waiting there; both were of the same bus type as ours. Next we headed left at the roundabout and up Friday Hill past Friday Hall and then down the other side to Whitehill Road where we took a left turn into Kings Road which ran us up to Station Road, Chingford's High Street and to the station where we stopped at 1205.

Ee49 just squeezing into the bus stand behind a London General No 444

All services on this line are now operated by the London Overground class 710 and there were a plethora in the sidings here. I just missed the 1210 as it was announced to be in the wrong platform and settled for the 1225 to take me back to Walthamstow. As stated earlier this took all of nine minutes and then it was back to the Victoria line for a train to Vauxhall. 

Class 710s of London Overground in sidings at Chingford

However, on boarding the train which was leaving in one minute the driver announced there was a fault, so he would be terminating the train at Seven Sisters and then running it into Northumberland Park depot. 'OK I thought' still time to do the next bus. However, this didn't allow for the long stop at Green Park when it was announced that someone had pulled the emergency communication cord, not on our train, but ahead of us. The train slowly crawled to Victoria and then after a long stop moved at normal speed to Pimlico and Vauxhall. This actually meant I arrived at Vauxhall at 1315, exactly the time the Kingston train left.

Vauxhall station on a day of hazy sunshine
but realisation that the journey to Kingston will have to wait for another day

 Therefore, having realised it would be half an hour's wait for the next one and crunching the numbers I could see the buses would be crowded with potentially infectious kids long before I got back to Sutton on the No 213. So it was a one bus day, I caught the next train to Wimbledon and then the tram home. Having got home I felt exhausted despite basically sitting down all day, COVID had certainly taken it out of me and I slept for best part of an hour.

Day 134 a full day's bussing enabled three buses to be the done-the No 209, 210 and 211. The last time I did three buses was the 5th March 2020!

Today's journey started with the 1030 train to Clapham Junction where I swapped to Platform 5 for the 1113 train to Mortlake, a Kingston roundabout service. The train dropped me at Mortlake at 1123. It is then a walk down North Worple Road to Mortlake bus station which parallels the railway line I had just used. Whilst I was walking along a GBRF class 66, which said HS2 on it, came by with what I presumed was a spoil train from tunneling.

The next but one No 209 waiting
 alongside the fence by the railway

The No 209 I rode SE 293 of London General

I arrived at the bus station at 1135 and it was rather busy with at least two No 209s and two No 378s. All were London General AD E20D AD Enviro200 buses which are the 'sub-species' with 10.5m bodywork. London General's SE 293 based at Putney left at 1140 with a total journey time expected of 11 minutes until we reached Castlenau. The bus turned right and was soon running beside the Thames to Barnes Bridge. 

Approaching Barnes Bridge

Typical activity in this part of the Thames

Barnes pond

Once past the bridge it headed away from the river into Barnes High Street and then into Church Road. At the Red Lion the bus swung left and ran up the road called Castlenau as far as it could in the direction of Hammersmith. This bus stop was called Castelnau Lonsdale Road and we arrived only ten minutes after start of the trip at 1150. Until Hammersmith bridge was closed to all but pedestrians and cyclists this bus continued on to Hammersmith. There is now a No 533 introduced from this point to Hammersmith but via Chiswick Bridge.

Disembarking from SE 293 at Castlenau

No further progress possible

Hammersmith Bridge in distance

Local protests at the Bridge pub about the inconvenience

Approaching the bridge

Crossing the river on western side of bridge

Arrival at Hammersmith Underground station

I thus had to walk on foot from here to Hammersmith and this was actually quite convenient as I needed to catch a Piccadilly line train to Finsbury Park to do the next bus. At 1207 I boarded this train and this led to my arrival at Finsbury Park at 1244. There was a bus already pulling up at the stop when I approached the western bus station so could not take my usual pre-boarding shot of Metroline's TE1089 an AD Trident with AD Enviro400H bodywork. I had used the bus station the other side of the station for the No 19, No 106 and No 153 but this side there are three other buses which can't get under the 12 foot 9 inch bridge on Stroud Green Road. 

Already in place aboard Metroline's TE1089

Ready for departure on the No 210

The bus departed at 1247 with this journey naturally going to be considerably longer than the previous bus route, even had it been possible to get all the way to Hammersmith it would have taken no more than 20 minutes. The route wriggles a good deal throughout for example taking Hanley Road before we reached Crouch Hill station on Stroud Green Road. At the end of this road we start a succession of climbs, we turned into Hornsey Road 

Class 710 on Gospel Oak to Barking line

which became Hornsey Rise and then we swung left into Beaumont Rise and along Sunny side Road. Here the area really lived up to its name as there were plenty of daffodils out and lots of tree blossom on a south facing slope. The bus from here heads west to Archway and then turns north up Highgate Hill past the Whittington Hospital. 

Highgate Village

Highgate Village was reached at 1313 and at the school the bus took the road across Hampstead Heath until the Jackstraws Castle. The sharp right hand turn here dropped the bus past the Old Bull and Bush as we ran into Golders Green.

The Old Bull and Bush

The bus continued in a straight line for a while before taking Highfield Avenue past Brent Cross Underground station and took a right turn at the T Junction at the end of this road and then did quite a few machinations before pulling up at Brent Cross Shopping Centre at 1340, so an hour less 7 minutes.

TE1089 at Brent Cross Shopping Centre

From here I decided to return to Hammersmith to ride the No 211 to Waterloo. Before that though I had a comfort break, and then a ham and cheese croissant and latte at Starbucks. It seemed sensible to get to the Bakerloo line to reach Paddington and then Metropolitan to Hammersmith. However, I needed to catch a No 112 for this and after waiting over fifteen minutes the first No 112 came in as terminating at Brent Cross, whereas here it is normally a through route. So suspecting something was up I got the next bus to take me to Golders Green tube station and caught a No 102 so to do at 1412. On arrival at Golders Green it was announced that the trains were not stopping at Euston, the back up plan had been to change there for Victoria line to Green Park and then Piccadilly line. However, having let the first Northern line train go as it was a City line train, I caught the next Charing Cross line train and changed at Leicester Square to the Piccadilly reaching Hammersmith at 1510.

LT126 waiting to take me to Waterloo on the No 211

Above ground I found bus stop C in Hammersmith bus station and there was a No 211 waiting and in just two minutes I was aboard RATP LT126. The bus went straight out of the bus station exit down Fulham Palace Road under the Hammersmith flyover and past the Charing Cross Hospital. The bus took Lillie Road for a while but then beared right down Munster road and left for Dawes Road.

Dawes Road Fulham, boot repairs advert gradually fading away

At 1524 we were turning right into North End Road and followed past Fulham Broadway and then took the Fulham Road past Stamford Bridge and on to Sloane Square, via a right turn down Sydney Street and then left in King's Road which was reached at 1546.

Sloane Square

After almost a circuit of the square we took Lower Sloane Street to Pimlico Road which transferred us to Buckingham Palace Road. The bus reached Victoria station at 1600 but took the another 6 minutes before the traffic allowed us to get into Victoria Street. 

Buckingham Palace Road approaching from Pimlico Road

Victoria Street

Westminster Abbey, with
Parliament Square beyond

From Parliament Square the bus went over Westminster Bridge and then under Waterloo station railway arches to reach the taxi rank area and finally came to a halt at 1621. 

Taxi queue at Waterloo

LT126 reposing after its 69 minute
journey

This arrival time allowed me to get the 1627 to Strawberry Hill alighting at Clapham Junction in time for the 1639 to Epsom Downs. Home was achieved at 1715, seven hours after initial departure.