The Number 17 Route

21 March 2009

A reminder for those of you who do not carry the whole of our blog in your heads that the 17 was the route we took back from the 4. So it was the Burbage boy and bird (still the only paying bussers so far, and, as it happens, Simon the only bloke so far) who were on the trip.

Having taken quite a long time to get to Archway on the Number 4, the 17 seemed amazingly speedy. I don't want to make claims I can't prove (with more than 500 buses still to go) but I think the 17 is very unusual in being a '2 Prison' route We passed familiar places like the Nag’s Head Waitrose and zoomed down Caledonian Road, which is getting very trendy with the LSE and other student accommodation. We were down past Smithfield in what seemed like no time, though it was in fact about half an hour. Of course a City bus at the weekend is likely to be unimpeded. As we crossed the River we had beautiful views of Jo’s old office, as well as Tower Bridge and City Hall.
A plan to do some shopping in Borough Market was stymied by the huge crowds of sightseers and lunchers, so we walked along Bankside to Tas for a tasty lunch before heading home. Simon had a dessert so large it was our duty to help him with it.

This may be the moment to explain to all of you who have asked what ‘the rules’ are: they are few and simple, and subject to change without notice by agreement of any/all the bussers
• The key ingredient of each journey is the ‘next bus’ numerical order. But we may take a different bus or other means of transport to get to the end
• The journey is from Head Stop to ‘this bus terminates here’ in either direction
• Complete routes of return or supplementary buses are written up at the time but appear later in sequence: the 17 is the first to be blogged in this way
• any one of the three of us needs to be on the trip, but guests and followers are welcome
• we do not travel in the rush hour as it would be cruel to take up the seats
• we sit at the front upstairs whenever possible: and as we start at the start of each route, it usually is
• we are not interested in bus companies or the engine size and manufacturer of each bus: but there are plenty of websites for anyone who is
• our pictures are taken opportunistically through more or less clean windows on the move, as their quality sometimes shows