Day 232 and a return trip to Hertford in order to do the No 351 to Bishop's Stortford.

 After a visit from the plumber to replace our stop cock we went to the bus stop to catch a bus to East Croydon. Here we parted company, Charmaine taking a train to Clapham Junction, whilst I headed onto the 1103 Thameslink train to Farringdon. At Farringdon I boarded an Elizabeth line train to Stratford arriving at 1150. There is a half hourly service from Stratford to Hertford East and the next train departed at 1211. It wasn't obvious when I got on the train owing to the curve of the platform but it transpired the train was 10 coaches in length. I was on coach nine and once we were approaching Northumberland Park announcements were made that anyone wishing to get off should move two coaches to the front. This was not easy for some people particularly those who had been in coach ten. Indeed I noticed a number not get to the door in time before the train left. The same happened at almost every station as we went along as the seats on the class 720s are rather too close together either side of the aisle, so if you are carrying anything it's slow going. On arrival at Hertford East at 1300 I asked the driver about the issue and told him how the announcements in the carriages are inadequate to allow people to move in time. I then walked to the bus station having also a little look around town as the bus is only every two hours and the next one was at 1415.

No longer the No 351 to Bishop's Stortford-it was replaced from 8th Jan 2024 by the No 35

Quite a variation of operators at the bus station,
Vectare, Uno and Centrebus

Narrow boat on River Lea at wharf by bus
station

I found to my horror at the bus station there is no longer a No 351 and when I checked it seems it was renumbered to No 35 on the 8th January this year. Nevertheless I was there so went ahead with the trip and boarded Central Connect's No 364 at 1415, an almost brand new bus. 

My bus having just arrived from Bishop's Stortford

Almost new Central Connect No 364

Initially the bus followed the same route as the No 310 back down the main road (A119) towards Ware and then onwards to St Margarets where we took the hard left at the roundabout signposted Roydon. Once over the level crossing the bus continued straight on whereas a No 310 was visible on the road which headed off to the right. 

Ware with New River behind me

Repurposed maltings in St Margaretsbury

Once through St Margarets the bus continued for a while towards Roydon but when the road forked it went left down the B180 labelled Hunsdon and the Hadhams. One passenger got on in the middle of nowhere in Hunsdonbury before we continued on to Hunsdon. In Hunsdon I passed a very odd named road- Sheares Hoppit!

Very narrow road the B180

Location where person joined bus

Other side of road-same location

From Hunsdon we went to Widford where one passenger joined us and then on to Much Hadham and Little Hadham. At these latter villages at least seven people boarded and these remained on the bus to the end. 

Weatherboarded properties in Widford

Black and white thatched houses in Much Hadham

Rather non straight properties in Much Hadham

Ford over River Ash in Little Hadham

Where we met the the old A120 we turned right and this subsequently joined the new A120 and we followed this to Stortford Fields. As on the No 311 the bus here took a detour through Tesco's, where there was no custom and then descended into the Stort valley to terminate at Bishop's Stortford Interchange at 1510.

Bishop's Stortford interchange, bus almost
 immediately returned to Hertford

Here I wondered if I could get a bus to Chelmsford in order to try again to do a true No 351. However it appeared that the only way to get there was to catch a No 305 to Hatfield Heath and there take a No 59 to Chelmsford. The bus wouldn't leave Bishop's Stortford for another 30 minutes and so it would not be before 1700 that I would arrive at Chelmsford. That was, according to the timetable, too late to catch a No 351 over its whole route. I thus abandoned the idea and caught a train home.

Day 231 A trip to Heathrow Airport by means of the No 350 from Hayes.

This trip started with a No 407 bus to East Croydon and then the 1121 Bedford Thameslink train to Farringdon. I arrived at 1148 and within 3 minutes an Elizabeth line train arrived with the destination of Maidenhead. This should have been fine but as we reached Paddington passengers were being advised to catch this train and get a local bus at Hayes to the airport. There were apparently issues in the tunnels which led to the airport from Hayes so no trains were going into the airport. This meant that we were held up as trains that were supposed to be going that way had to be found an alternative stabling point before they returned eastwards. It was thus 1233 before we reached Hayes and Harlington station and it was very busy with people with cases. Eventually I was able to fight my way though and walk southwards to Farley Corner which was where the bus stop at Hayes station said the bus terminated. However, when I was waiting on the opposite side of the road and the next No 350 was approaching I saw there was someone already aboard. It appears the bus actually goes to ASDA  which is the next stop the other side of Farley Corner.

Bus arrived bang on time

A busy bus stop with at least
 four more buses for me to do

Abellio 8895 Approaching

Notice advising of change of No 350 route
depending on outcome of survey 

I was aboard Abellio 8895 at 1243 and this returned me in the direction of Hayes and Harlington station. Here the traffic was very slow and eventually I found the reason was a delivery lorry which was parked in the main road. This was making it very difficult for buses to pass each other, of which there were a large number.

Hayes and Harlington station

Heading down Botwell Lane eventually the bus route is the only
bus serving the road

At the High Street the bus filled completely with many standing and we turned left down Botwell Lane past Botwell Green Leisure centre and library. This route runs from Botwell Lane left into Botwell Common Lane and I found although the bus stops stated no other bus used the road, but there was an SL8 behind us heading for Uxbridge! When we reached Dawley Road the SL8 went right but our bus went left so that it could access Bolingbroke Way and the Stockley Park estate.

Entering Stockley Park

Here the U5 also joined us as we made slow progress around the estate owing to the speed humps. It was 1310 as we entered Stockley Park West although with all the toing and froing it was difficult to know what direction we had been heading in under the cloudy skies. Crossing under Stockley Road we took Horton Road and entered Yiewsley. For this part of the journey the bus was again the sole user of the road until we reached the high street where we turned left and headed over the Grand Union Canal and then under the GWR at West Drayton station at 1316. 

Briefly on the A4 dual carriageway

Heading vaguely south now, the bus was full and standing once more as we took Station Road and then Harmondsworth Road to the end where the bus went right along Holloway Lane into Harmondsworth where many people alighted. On Harmondsworth Road we had crossed the M4 and at the end of Holloway Lane when it had become Hatch Lane we met the A4. 

Crossing the Duke of Northumberland's
 river at the bus gate into terminal 5

  From here the bus made short work of running west along the A4 then south on the A3044 and left through the bus gate to access Terminal 5 where we terminated at 1333.

Inside Terminal 5 with a First Berkshire 
double decker ahead of us.

Day 230 A much more manageable trip than the last one, to do the No 349 from Stamford Hill to Enfield bus garage.

 After a trip into Croydon to deposit some cheques at the bank I caught the 1115 Peterborough Thameslink service to Finsbury Park arriving at 1153. I then walked under the bridge to bus stop R and caught a No 253 bus to Stamford Hill. From the bus stop it was a short walk to Rookwood Road where Arriva's 'Borismaster' LT3 was relaxing in the sunshine.

Arriva's LT3 resting prior to departure

Church with the closed Stamford
 Hill bus
garage behind it

Display at bus stop says a 40 minute journey

The bus stop said the journey should take 40 minutes and I was aboard in my usual spot by 1222. We headed straight back to Stamford Hill Broadway and took the road towards Seven Sisters. The route was created from the No 149 in 2004 and replaced that part of the No 149 that went north of Edmonton Green bus garage. That of course meant that we followed the No 149 past the Bernie Grant Arts Centre at 1228 and on past the new Tottenham Hotspur stadium.

Egerton Road, first stop after leaving Stamford
Hill Broadway

Seven Sisters

Tottenham Hotspur stadium in distance

The beginning of the roadworks

Beyond this the journey became very slow owing to a succession of road works from beyond Bruce Grove station through to the A406; it took 12 minutes from entering London Borough of Enfield to reach the A406 and then again further north it was slow approaching Edmonton Green. This bus station was reached forty minutes after departure instead of Enfield bus garage but north of here progress was fairly fluid. Soon only two bus routes were on the Hertford Road: the No 349 and the No 279 heading for Waltham Cross. At 1315 we reached Ponders End shopping centre and turned left into Southbury Road to reach the bus garage at 1316, fifty five minutes after leaving Stamford Hill.

Ponders End shopping centre

LT3 inside the compound of Enfield garage

Southbury railway station is very close to the garage so I caught the 1340 train towards Liverpool Street. However, rather than go into central London I got out at Hackney Downs and walked to Hackney Central station where I caught a Richmond bound train two stops to Canonbury. At Canonbury I crossed the platform and waited six minutes for a West Croydon train where I arrived at 1507 and then took an Epsom train home..

Day 229 So to the No 348. Up until privatisation in 1970 there were the 348, 348A and 348B all running out of Amersham to various villages. However, it was now a choice between Ashton-under Lyme or Tiverton-Tiverton won!

 This time we caught the 0905 London Bridge train and then Jubilee and Bakerloo lines to ensure we arrived at out booked time for the 1035 train to Exeter St Davids.

Tickets from Paddington to Tiverton Parkway

Our train 4th from left of display at Paddington

This train was slow to be called but we were off on time stopping at Reading, Newbury, Hungerford, Pewsey, Westbury and Castle Cary before reaching Taunton on time and finally alighting just before 1300 at Tiverton Parkway station. There is an hourly bus service, the No 373, from this station to Tiverton and rather surprisingly given its name it is six miles away from the town. The next bus was at 1327 so we were able to have an inexpensive pasty and sausage roll along with hot drinks-there hadn't been any hot drinks on the train.

Tiverton Parkway station

The No 373 arriving

Stagecoach double decker 10691 which took us through some lovely East Devon scenery on a fairly bright day with much more sunshine than recently at home. We arrived at Tiverton bus station at 1400 and although there was no timetable up for the bus there was a blind arrangement giving the next departures in order. The next No 348 was at 1415, so I took Charmaine up to the High Street and let her loose whilst I headed back to the bus station.

The road from the station to Tiverton
 is not very wide in places

Stagecoach 47089, now twenty years old at Tiverton bus station

Reflection makes it impossible to read
this is the No 348 service

A slightly clearer view of the number on the side

No 348 bus ticket

Bus display system at Tiverton bus station

The No 348 is a town bus service using an Optare Solo and I boarded Stagecoach 48007 at 1411. The driver asked where I was going and I said all the way, which would be a bit strange because I would return to where I started from. But with a little

 explanation of what I was doing I was given a ticket for £1.50 and we departed at 1415. The bus turned left onto the bypass and next left into Station Road which did not have much left of the original station but I presumed the industrial estate was its previous location which closed in 1965. We passed over the River Lowman which joins the River Exe just south of the town and proceeded into Gold Street before turning hard right at Greggs into Bampton Street. Some of these roads were quite narrow and the bus had to give way quite often. Bampton Street became Park Street after Silver Street had been crossed.

The River Lowman in Tiverton town centre

After a while the bus went right at Belmont Road past Pinnox Moor Road which I had seen as a destination on the No 343 bus and then subsequently right into Courtney Road after the road had morphed into Cowley Moor Road. We followed left into Elmore Way and I noticed how the bus stop here had cars parked across it. At the end of this road the bus reversed into a dead end and headed back the way it had come to Cowley Moor Road. There were about ten people on the bus and had been from the start so I was beginning to wonder when anyone would be getting off!

After the first reverse in Elmore Way. The bus stop
 which
had a car either side of it making pulling in of a bus
an impossibility

The second reverse in Lower Moor Way

As Cowley Moor Road turned into Beech Road we headed down Sycamore Road amongst a whole estate of tree names. Even then people didn't get off and it was only beyond the end of Lime Road when we intercepted Queensway that any passengers got off and after this that was progressively the case as Queensway returned us to Beech Road. Here we took a right and then right again into Lea Road which ran into Lowman Way. At Lower Moor Way the bus reversed again and then returned to Lea Road picking up a passenger as it did so and the final two original ones got off. Lea Road took us around the north and NW side of town before running into the A3198 near Tiverton Rugby Club. The bus took a foray along the A3126 as far as Tiverton and District Hospital but there were no takers as it went around the roundabout and returned to take the right up Park Hill. This road became called The Works after passing the Castle and then also the parish church of St Peter's. Following left we entered Newport Street and then crossing Bampton Street we went right into Barrington Street which is one way. Instead of turning left to go over the River Lowman and back to the bus station the bus turned right and headed up Gold Street passing Charmaine as it did so. At Greggs this time we went straight on into Fore Street where the road appeared to be pedestrianised but buses are excluded from that I presumed. Here everyone but I got off and the driver waited for a while, before going ahead passing the memorial hall and over the River Exe. We then turned left onto the A3126 again and subsequently left again back over the River Exe before terminating after turning left into Phoenix Lane at the bus station at 1445. The bus then became the No 349 and this appears to the do the same journey as the No 348 but in reverse. However, since there is a No 349 in London I need to do that one. 

Stagecoach 48007 back at the bus station

Inside Tiverton Museum

GWR No 1442 allowing inspection of cab

I then visited the museum to see the Tivvy Bumper, the 0-4-2 tank engine that used to provide services to Tiverton from Tiverton Junction station. 

To the east of Tiverton there is an extensive
area owned by Blundell's school

Typical red Devon soil

Orpington Court at Halburton, the house on left shown below

Back at Tiverton Parkway station
with a Hitachi class 802 heading west

Bus tickets on same bus SC 10691 to Tiverton and
return 

  We caught the 1745 departure of the No 373 back to Tiverton Parkway station which missed the 1806 train by two minutes. Thus we had almost an hour and a half to kill at the station. The 1931 train did arrive on time and despite being held up behind a late running freight train and a potential points failure in Reading we arrived at Paddington only 4 minutes late at 2128. We then took the Elizabeth line to Farringdon and the Thameslink back to East Croydon and finally a No 410 home arriving at 2245. A long but successful trip!