The Number 302 Route

Tuesday 26 October 2010

After our LOOOONG wait for the 114, which had been how we got to Mill Hill Broadway, Linda and I also had a bit of a wait for the 302, climbing on board at about 12.30, bound for Kensal Rise Station.  We headed back along Lyndhurst Avenue, retracing our 114 steps, past some allotments, and then noticing the Dean’s Brook running through some green spaces.  We have said a lot about London’s rivers in the past, but I have never come across a website as thorough as this one. 

As we ran along Orange Hill Road, Linda remembered that in her schools days there had been two Grammar Schools named for the road.  Now called Mill Hill High School, they are again selecting their intake. 

We rapidly reached Burnt Oak Town Centre, with its Watling Avenue Market, many Halal meat shops and CSC Beauty World, specializing in Ebony Hair.  We also passed the Peacock’s on the corner with its sweet murals. (We should perhaps go back to see whether the murals have survived the collapse of Peacock's....)

 Then we were back into residential areas, along Stag Lane, with handsome hedges and also some thatched cottages.

The Meera Nursing Home occupies several substantial houses and we also passed the Brent Sikh Centre and Kingsbury High School.

We enjoyed the green spaces of  Roe Green (deer, not fish, as Linda patiently explained to me: in justification, I have to say that I was beginning a really beastly cold) and Fryent Country Park.

Then came the biggest surprise of the ride.  As we approached Neasden, we saw a massive container lorry, containing ‘Bergbauern Milch: Echt, Gut’ from the Berchtesgadenerland.  Are we really importing milk from South Germany?  If so, why? It wasn’t a German number plate, but that's containerisation for you.  The web has not helped me here.

Over the North Circular, we had to do a little loop to face in the right direction, and soon were passing Willesden Bus Garage

We came to Willesden Green and the New Testament Church of God, a large organization of mainly Caribbean and African groups.  Next came the Islamic College forAdvanced Studies  and the Willesden Green Library Centre, before we made our way along Staverton Road and into Sidmouth Road.  Here the houses were well maintained and substantial, and we noted the cinema labelled ‘I am a Cinema’.

Almost before we had time to notice, we were under the railway bridge and at Kensal Rise Station, at just after 13.10.