Day 163 a pair of buses which are a near perfect combination.

I caught the 1035 train to Norwood Junction and then joined a London Overground train for just one stop to Anerley where I arrived  at 1058.

The No 432, the only other bus that stops here
taken from the station footbridge.

Anerley station bus stop

Arriva's HV293 of Norwood garage arriving.

The No 249 runs every 10-13 minutes and is expected to take 51 minutes to reach Clapham Common Old Town. Arriva's HV293 arrived at 1101 and took us right in the direction of Upper Norwood where we passed the Paxton Centre which had previously been the Paxton Arms Hotel. At the top of Anerley Hill the bus has to follow the one way system taking us south towards Croydon and past the original 405 lines TV transmitter at Croydon. 

The Paxton Centre

Crystal Palace parade bus terminus

The Croydon transmitter mast

Past the old VHF transmitter which now has mobile phone signalling equipment upon it, the bus swung right at the traffic lights into Beulah Hill. As we progressed along this road one of the stops was called Biggin Hill. This is named after a local road and not the settlement I passed last week on the No 246.

The Biggin Hill bus stop where I had previously stopped on the No 196 soon after lockdown

At Crown Point it was announced that the bus would be changing drivers, this being the nearest point to Norwood garage where the bus is based. This exchange took only two minutes and we were on our way by 1119 turning left towards Streatham and out of the London Borough of Croydon and into the Borough of Lambeth. As we descended towards the A23 Streatham High Road there was a good view looking West towards Wimbledon Common and beyond to Richmond and Teddington. 

Looking down the hill with Streatham Common North to our left and Wimbledon Common in the distance

We turned right as if heading for Central London when we met the A23 but after passing Streatham station the bus turned sharp left at St Leonard's Church and subsequently right at Ambleside Avenue in the direction of Tooting.

Tooting Common at junction of A214 and B road to Balham

This road is the A214 as it runs past Tooting Lido and the athletics ground before reaching Tooting Bec station which was achieved at 1137. The bus turned right here onto the A24 and this road took us through Balham and onto Clapham Common where we took a left called Rookery Road, having passed Clapham South station at 1146.

Clapham South additional entrance for the deep platforms.

The bus reached the Old Town at Clapham Common at 1151, just fifty minutes after departure. From here I walked passed the appropriate Omnibus Arts Centre along The Pavement which is name of  the road that the bus would have started its return to Anerley station, whilst I was walking to Clapham Common Underground station. 

The Omnibus Arts Centre at Clapham Common

Journey's end with already the destination
 having been changed

Thus I was on the Northern Line platform at 1158 and took just the two stops to Stockwell before changing onto the Victoria Line the one stop to Brixton. I arrived at Brixton Underground station at 1209 and was waiting for the next No 250 by 1214.

The Brixton police station stop where
 I had previously
boarded the No 109

The countdown display stating I had five minutes
 to wait

The route maps indicating the bus would
terminate at Croydon Fairfield Halls

I only had to wait 5 minutes before the next No 250 bus arrived at the Police station. Arriva T146 was my mount for the second bus of the day. The bus said West Croydon on the front of it whereas the bus stop showed the bus continuing to Fairfield Halls Croydon.

Arriva's T146 arriving.

As the bus climbed Brixton Hill the bus stops indicated that this was the 7th bus route I had used either to climb or descend this road. At 1229 I had reached the top of the hill and was soon crossing the South Circular to again be driving along the Streatham High Road. Ten minutes later we had got back to St Lawrence church where a No 249 was seen doing the abrupt turn from the High Road into Mitcham Road. The A23 was followed as we passed the Streatham ice rink run by the same company as so many leisure centres and library services.

Streatham ice rink

A No 249 having dropped down the hill to the A23
passing by

Once in Green Lane the No 250 is the only bus
to service this road

At the point just before Hermitage Road the No 250 leaves the A23 and takes Green Lane in the direction of Thornton Heath. The houses that line this road are for a long time from the inter war years. It was only as we neared Thornton Heath that earlier houses were encountered. At the Thornton Heath clock tower we were asked to wait to even out the service at 1255 and we dwelt at the bus stop here for 4 minutes before turning right and heading past the station and library to Thornton Heath pond. The bus turned left at the pond to regain the old road to Brighton through Croydon, passing Mayday hospital and the original site of Croydon General hospital which is now a school. The bus emptied at the stop before West Croydon railway station and then continued into Poplar Walk and did a complete 360 degree turn to drop me off at West Croydon bus station at 1319.

A gritter heading for Sumner Road from St James Road

T146 leaving the bus terminal point to layover at
West Croydon bus station

I then caught the next No 410 bus home which was reached by quarter to two.

 

Day 162 to far East London for the No 247 and No 248.

 There were no trains because of engineering works to Victoria from Selhurst and neither were there any trains to London Bridge. Therefore my initial transit at 1030 was just as far as West Croydon where I changed to the London Overground to Canada Water. From here it was then a Jubilee line that I took to Stratford arriving at 1130. I then transferred to the Central line so as to reach Barkingside  Underground station on the Hainault loop of the Central line. I arrived at 1154 and it was very wet as I searched for the stop from which I could catch the No 247 to Romford station, there being no signs at the station to tell me where to catch any buses.

A very wet first half of the day for this trip

Barkingside Station stop is a good 5 minute walk from the station 

Eventually I found the stop, on Tanners Lane near the junction with Craven Gardens, where Stagecoach 19829 of North Street Garage Romford was already waiting. At 1206 I was aboard and we set off to the magistrates' court where we picked up the first collection of passengers. The bus turned right and headed for Fullwell Cross whereupon we took the left turn called Fencepiece Road. These are all roads I have used before and we turned right along the New North Road to Hainault station which I traversed when upon the No 150. Throughout this journey it was extremely difficult to take photographs as the inside of the windows were steaming up and there was rain streaming down the outside of the windows. At the junction with Elmbridge Road the bus went straight over joining the route No 362, the route No 150 having turned left at this point. At the traffic lights at the end of the road the bus turned right and entered much more rural surroundings with Hainault Forest on both sides of the Romford Road. At the roundabout at Mark Gate we turned left along Collier Row Road with a No 62 just across the roundabout at the terminus of its route from Barking. We also in quick succession, went from the Borough of Redbridge into the Borough of Barking and Dagenham and then into Havering. From here we ran back into suburbia at Collier Row and turned right at a roundabout I had previously seen on the No 175. Thus it was only a very short part of the route from Mark Gate roundabout to Collier Row Glass Junction where this bus was the only one to cover that road. From Collier Row we headed south to the A12 arriving at 1239. 

Waiting to cross the A12, just north of Romford, weather gradually abating

Once across the A12 we passed the North Street Romford bus garage of Stagecoach and ran around the eastern side of town and down to the railway station where the bus terminated outside LIDL at 1250. The route was supposed to take 38 minutes but this time we took 44 minutes. 

Terminal bus stop, around corner from Romford
station

Bus layover point now visible as Stagecoach 19829 moves away

By this time the cold front had passed through and the rain had ceased so I was hopeful my next bus from Romford Market the No 248 might present better opportunity for photographs. I walked back through the town and emerged on the other side of the eastern bypass and crossed by underpass the roundabout by the town hall to arrive at the Romford Market bus stop. There is a bus layover point to the north of here but the 'Borismaster' which was to be my mount was actually parked at the stand near LIDL when I got off the No 247. This bus had come up the eastern bypass around the roundabout at North Street and back to pick me up at 1313. This was LT90 of Arriva and it only picked up myself at this point but picked up many more as it drove through the town centre back to the railway station.

Route No 248 to Cranham due soon on my arrival at bus stop

My earlier bus returning whence it had come

Arriva's LT90 arriving, roads wet but it is now dry

Emerging from town onto Rom Valley Way we soon were turning left to Roneo Corner and onto the Hornchurch Road. On the way we crossed by a park and in the dip we passed across the Ravensbourne. Despite working at Flood Forecasting Centre I could only recall the Ravensbourne being in South London, indeed I passed by the source of that river at Keston on my previous day out to do the No 246. We reached Hornchurch Town Centre at 1337 and then pressed straight on along Upminster Road towards Upminster Bridge. 

Heading up the Hornchurch Road at Abbs Cross Lane

Upminster Bridge District line station

Queuing to get to Upminster

 Station Road

Once past this station we crossed the Ingrebourne river and climbed up St Mary's Lane to reach Upminster. 

There were roadworks in Station Road which were somewhat troublesome but once past the station we continued for a while eventually turning right into Avalon Road. Towards the end of this road we passed the Golden Crane Pub and then turned left into Front Lane. The bus then took us into the Upminster Park estate and turned right into Roseberry Gardens, a name I am very familiar with as every day walking to school I used a road named this in Orpington. This road took us along two sides of a square so with Front Lane to begin with and Brunswick Avenue to end we were back at the same point this time with the Golden Crane Pub ahead of us.

Approaching the Golden Crane Pub in Avalon Road

Turning into car park by Moor Lane

Underground service vehicles

Disembarkation in the car park 

The bus next turned left and followed along Front Lane until it reached the junction of Moor Lane where it terminated at 1401, although didn't announce that it had. The bus just turned right into a car park and I had to ask the driver to open the doors to let me out. This car park is next to the Upminster Underground depot.

Rather than sample the delights of the Upminster Park Estate again I thought I'd try an alternative route to Upminster and crossing the bridge I found another bus stop and very soon a No 346 arrived at 1406 and this deposited me at Upminster station at 1416. The next train to Fenchurch Street was at 1422 as there was no Underground service owing to engineering works. Rather than change at West Ham and use the Jubilee line home, I stayed on the train until Limehouse and caught the DLR a brief one stop to Shadwell. Here I was able to change to a London Overground train to West Croydon and after a four minute wait a train home, where I arrived at 1634.

Day 161 A fairly short trip on a nearby bus, the No 246 from Bromley to Westerham.

 The first trip in 2023 had to wait until after the week of public transport strikes 3-7th January, so on the 9th of January as my wife had an appointment with the optician at Bromley it seemed the ideal opportunity to take the next bus on the list. I arrived at Bromley North station at 1220 and the bus according to the timetable was supposed to arrive at 1225. However, the next twenty minutes of buses due shown on the display system didn't include a No 246.

The fifth bus I have used which alights or starts from this stop at Bromley North Station

Rather blurry because it caught me unprepared and note the make shift route number because bus has recently been moved to Bromley garage from West Ham

It was therefore a bit of a surprise when Stagecoach 36347 arrived bang on 25 minutes past and I therefore enquired of the driver what was going on. He said there have been problems with the Ibus system for a while not displaying all the buses. As with the other buses I have caught from here the bus heads down Kentish Way to the Civic Centre ex Stockwell college and then works past the Glades to go down the un-pedestrianised part of Bromley High Street to Bromley South station.

The stop opposite Hayes Station where it is the third bus route I have utilised

After turning into Westmoreland Road and then Hayes Lane the bus separates from the routes I had covered before going this way : Nos 119, 138 and 146 and takes a right turn into Cameron Road. The bus rejoins the routes of the aforementioned 119 and 138 at Hayes High Street having worked its way through to Mead Way and then left down Pickhurst Lane. Hayes was reached at 1242. From here we followed those routes as far as the roundabout at the bottom of Glebe Way and then after turning left the route is quickly on its own as it climbs to Hayes Common. The bus doesn't take the first turning right but the second, West Common Road to get to the Keston Fox.

Inside the single decker at the Keston Fox

Beyond the pub after passing the single storey building which used to be the Post Office we reached the A233 where we briefly rejoined with the route No 146. From here the bus went to Leaves Green and past Biggin Hill Airfield.

Passing the Hurricane and Spitfire gate guards of St Georges Chapel Biggin Hill

There were some roadworks which briefly held us up at Main Road Biggin Hill but were soon on our way through Biggin Hill with by this time only 3 passengers, 2 having alighted at Waitrose. An unusual stop name was passed without stopping called Tatsfield Path, most similar stops would be road or lane but not this one. On arrival at the Aperfield Inn only two people remain aboard. This location had been the terminus for a while of routes from London for day trippers. Much as the George in Farnborough was for those using the No 47 from Shoreditch.

The Aperfield Inn

By now the bus is the only route on the road.  I days past there used to be the No 410 to Reigate from Bromley, the 705 to Sevenoaks from Windsor when I was a kid, and later even the 746 which has somewhat morphed into the 246 as this route is extended on summer Sundays to Chartwell.

Descending the hill at speed with the Pilgrims Way from Winchester to Canterbuiry where the hedge line is located

We crossed into Kent just before the summit of Westerham Hill which at 824ft is the highest point in the county before descending the hill and passing Pilgrims Way at quite a lick. Before reaching Westerham we crossed the M25 where at the next stop a few much less frequent buses were indicated. The No 401 runs only on Sundays, the No 594 every 50 minutes which is a very strange time interval, indeed, whilst the 695 is a school bus running just once a day. In addition the No 1 links Westerham to Sevenoaks 4 times a day.

Station House, the original Westerham station closed in 1961

The bus terminated at Westerham Green at 1308. The bus then continues empty beyond Quebec House to layover in the car park before returning on the opposite side of the road.

Stagecoach 36347 leaving to layover before conveying me back to Biggin Hill

After a few photos of the green I crossed the road to find that there was no timetable for the No 246 back-just a piece of paper saying that the service is curtailed at Lebanon Gardens Biggin Hill owing to roadworks on Westerham Hill. I knew this didn't apply having just descended Westerham Hill at a rate of knots so decided to walk to the next stop towards Bromley so I could have a good look at the old railway station which closed in 1961.

Churchill reclining on the Green

General Wolfe exhorting his troops into battle

When the next bus arrived I enquired about the note and the driver said it was ages ago and should have been removed! I stayed on the bus to Biggin Hill airfield and then dropped into the café for lunch.

Austrian Cessna 510 outbound

Polish Cessna 525 inbound

German Cessna 560 arriving

German  Pilatus PC24 arriving

A clearer view of the Biggin Hill gate guardians

 After an hour or so I caught a No 464 to New Addington and a tram home.