The Number 79 Route

Monday 7 June 2010

Mary was recovering from half term, so Linda and I made this trip,  starting at Alperton, in Glacier Way, just across the road from our first bus of the day. In fact the buses call it 'Alperton, Sainsbury's' but they do not go into the car park as we might have expected.

The headstop timetable promised a 35 minute journey, but this was not to be, as our journey took almost an hour from our starting point at 11.40.  There does not seem to have been any real problem, just a number of places with no bus lane and so general traffic slows the buses down.

We headed out over the Grand Union Canal, making its way down towards the Thames, passed the Alperton Bus Garage and came to the Church of God of Prophecy, part of a chain.  We noted that this one also included the Comunidad Christiana Latina which is a protestant church serving mainly the Ecuadorian community, as well at the Central Wembley Mosque and the beautiful Alperton Temple.  I was rather shocked to find a report of the exploitation of the stone carvers when had been brought from India to embellish it a decade ago.  But their work looks good  ten years on.

Soon we were into the main shopping area of Alperton, with Linda noting that her favourite Ambala sweets-and-snacks shop has a branch here.  There were windows full of lovely Asian clothes and jewels, as well as handsome borough geraniums in baskets along the railings, as we moved on towards Wembley.  We had fine views of the Stadium before we turned left over the railway and along past King Edward VII Park.  The bus was being used by shoppers, as well as students coming to or from exams.

The bus does loop around a bit, and we were interested as we headed away from Edgware and towards Watford, but this was only a brief twiddle, and soon we were bowling along Honeypot Lane and Marsh Lane, past Canons Park and its station.

We came to the Church of St Lawrence, Little Stanmore.  We had been told that Handel was connected with the church, and sure enough he was, since he was employed by the Dukes of Chandos.  Soon we passed the Church of St Margaret of Antioch, quite an interesting saint even if we found the building unremarkable!  We realised that this had been quite a religious journey, one way and another.

We had also seen a lot of pubs, as usual a number were boarded up but there was a substantial number that were alive and well, and flag decked all ready for the World Cup.

Very soon  (though not as soon as the promise!) we were at Edgware station, disembarking at 12.35.