London buses: one bus at a time

The Number 287 Route

2012-02-01T03:31:00.000-08:00

Barking Station to Rainham (Abbey Wood Lane)

Monday April 18^th 2011

Jo had a short wait as I was running a bit late but we were still able to be off at 10.10 on our double decker Route 287 which starts opposite the attractive and well-served Barking Station: 2 Underground and 1 Overground lines and a pleasant bridge.

This route does a range of one-way options to get itself facing out of Barking and heading south closer to the Thames, passing the impressively large Barking bus garage on the way.

Both of us had picked up a ‘metro’ newspaper with an article claiming the local pedestrians needed yellow lines on pavement but we peered in vain as we passed. In fact this route clings hard and fast to Ripple Road even passing through Rippletown. Sadly it was not a case of raspberry Ripple on this warm spring day, but rather passing over rail and streets on high built bridges and then alongside the A13 flyover, so the unusual sensation swings from one of being ‘King of the World’ from the top deck to being rather dwarfed by a heavily used trunk road. Housing Blocks alongside main roads always look a bit desolate and we noted some CLASP built ones remained hereabouts.

The Rippleside Cemetery dates from the late 19^th Century inevitably when there was a big boom in cemetery building, and this one still has ‘vacancies’ it seems.

Though not actually the A13 the major road we were following was impressive, fairly new and with several lanes enabling the bus to go at quite a speed. Out of the rush hour and during half-term the route did not seem very popular but we surmised at times it must be busy enough to justify a full double decker service.

Goresbrook seemed to be the next landmark with its leisure centre and then another major interchange, after which we hit the whole stretch that once housed the Ford works – the workers’ car parks remain weedy and overgrown, local shops have folded and what was once a bustling industry seemed to have little more than some scrapyards.

The CEME - a college for mechanics and engineers – has a campus here in what seems to be referred to as the Thames Gateway, a cross-river cross-local-authority regeneration education training sort of thing. It seems an enormous task given that all the land between this bus route and the River Thames, once filled with industries built around the motor works, is now desolate: that is a lot of space and a lot of jobs to find./create.

The 287 takes a right turn away from the main road and emptiness and enters Rainham Village which is a composite of an old Essex village overlaid with later developments but retaining a villagy feel nonetheless. It still has a village church and school, a Working Men’s Club and war memorial with quite a few shops indicating links with the nearby River Thames – a chandlers shop and Chandlers Corner – and it is really not far along the Rainham creek to the River Thames. However the old rural farming village having been overtaken by the 20^th and 21^st century needs something of an uplift and there seem to be plans afoot called the Rainham Masterplan. The residential parts had the usual mixture of paved over front gardens or unusual trees – a sprightly monkey puzzle.

The bus having made excellent time lurked for a while in the village High Street where they changed drivers before heading on through a pleasant and well maintained development largely built up with bungalows to finish at Abbey Road close to a dog exercising field in just about 40 minutes.

The Number 286 Route

2012-01-31T06:29:00.000-08:00

Greenwich (Cutty Sark) to Queen Mary’s Hospital, Sidcup

Monday December 20^th 2010

An early start on almost the shortest day of the year meant that at 10.30 AM we had already completed the key route of the day, which must be one of London’s shortest and had left us at the side gate of Greenwich University main campus, in what most of us still think of as the Royal Naval College. Both the Wren college buildings and the Maritime Museum looked splendid in the snow, even from the limited viewpoint of a single decker bus. These picturesque and historic buildings are often used as a backdrop for TV or big-screen filming.

Still the 286 is not just to pass a pretty face, as the increasing number of passengers boarding indicated. We glimpsed in quick succession a new (but ‘antiqued’) housing development – very Duchy of Cornwall, we thought – and the Arches swimming facility and East Greenwich Library. Approaching the Blackwall Tunnel interchange from this direction did not cause as much delay as we were to experience later in the day, though we paused long enough to see an ICTHUS church (one of those fishy ones) and for Jo to try to remember what all the letters in this word stood for: the answer (thank you Wikipedia) is a latinisation of the Greek ἰχθύς, standing for Jesus Christ God's Son, Saviour – appropriate enough five days before Christmas.

On a bus-only counter-traffic access we essentially turned left up Westcombe Hill – the road surface was just about clear enough, though the pavements looked treacherous and untreated. This is a very scenic and steep route, and the bus crosses the main A2 close to the Royal Standard before taking the pleasingly broad (not so broad with slush piles on both sides) Kidbrooke Park Road with gracious Victorian homes and the picturesque St. James church until we turned off at the Well Hall roundabout.

We had noticed when we had taken the 124, 126 and other Eltham buses how popular Eltham was with shopping passengers, the Eltham shops presumably offering more choice and more competitive prices than the infrequent corner shops hereabouts – such small shops as there were tended to be more specialist and geared to motor or to pet owners.

Dover Patrol road, like the earlier Old Dover Road, reminded us just how close this part of SE London lies to the Kent coast and one of our main entry ports. . As I have noted before, Eltham has that strange mixture of links to an important Tudor past and a rather ordinary 20^th century presence and present. The Tudor Barn was snow covered but I did glimpse Edith Nesbit Walk, reminding us that this Fabian society pioneer and children's author moved round SE London (almost as much as we do) and this bit of Eltham contained one of those homes.

After Eltham the bus became less busy, though if term had not been over I am sure we would have transported lots of students as the 286 passes the Avery Hill campus of Greenwich University, having started at HQ so to speak. Avery Hill used to be a college for training teachers in its own right but is now absorbed into the bigger academic institution. This campus still sits in extensive grounds, the range of which was difficult to gauge in the snow where it is hard to tell where one things starts and another finishes. Crown Woods, a school round this way, was still being rebuilt (let’s hope the money lasts) and a sign indicated the Shuttle Riverway, almost certainly part frozen today.

Halfway Street, which is more important than it sounds, was only halfway cleared of snow so both driver and pedestrians were taking it fairly cautiously along here – one of the main ways of getting to Sidcup. This approach to Sidcup is again scenic, swinging round by the Green which today was totally snow covered, even the dinky war memorial. Transport for London had warned of delays close by the station but this seemed not to be the case today and very soon the bus was terminating opposite Queen Mary’s Hospital Sidcup. It seemed odd that in order to get to the hospital buildings passengers still needed to cross what amounted to a dual carriage way, and we could not see why the bus did not stop actually outside, to allow the sick, the disabled, the pregnant and their visitors an easier access to health care.

We had thought we might need to access the hospital facilities but no way if it needed this amount of negotiating traffic. This route had taken under an hour and though a single decker was busy throughout.

The Number 285 Route

2012-01-30T03:18:00.000-08:00

Tuesday 28 September 2010

We waited only a few minutes after climbingoff the 111 at the Cromwell Road Bus station in Kingston. before hopping onto the single decker 285 at 13.10. At first, Mary, Linda and I were theonly passengers, but after we had passed Kingston Railway Station, we werejoined by homeward bound shoppers.

Our bus rounded the smart John Lewis to headover Kingston Bridge. (We have heard a story that, in 1939, the words ‘KingstonBridge’ were chiselled off the stonework in order to baffle the invadingWehrmacht as to which river they had reached, but I have been unable to verify this) Once over the bridge, we headed right along the TeddingtonRoad, rather than repeating the 111 route which had brought us to Cromwell Roadbus station. We knew we werenearing Hampton Wick Station because the number of ‘commuter flats’ increased,and soon came into Teddington.

We passed the Teddington Lock Campus of St Mary’s and signs to Teddington Lock, andheaded along Cambridge Road, noting the many up market shops which servethe population.

The bus ramp was lowered to allow anelderly wheel chair user and her carer to board. From then on, the driver had problems with the rear door,needing to open and shut it a few times after every stop. We wondered in passing how many othermajor cities have entirely accessible buses.

Neat terrace houses are a feature of this part of London, though some have made an effort to stand out a little. like this one with its interesting gable roofing.

Teddington Memorial Hospital has a moretraditional memorial outside its gates, but was indeed built, after ten yearsof fundraising, in 1929 as a monument to the local people who died in the GreatWar. Even more impressive was theNational Physical Laboratory, famous for being where Barnes Wallis tested the Bouncing Bomb (sorry, a slightwar theme developing here) but also a key centre for science research anddevelopment.

Lady Eleanor Holles School was another privateschool to add to the day’s collection, and briefly linked with our earlier rideon the 111, passing the Horse and Groom former pub before turning intoFeltham. The influence of Heathrowcould be felt in the name of ‘The Airman’ pub, though the inn sign depictssomeone from the time of its establishment in 1938 rather than a modern,besuited pilot.

Feltham Police Station and the MagistratesCourt are both substantial buildings, while Feltham Station is moremodest. All this time we were havingtrouble with the rear doors and the ramp mechanism, which gave us time to noteOseikrom African and Caribbean Cash and Carry, which is (by the way) on theDEFRA list of authorized importers of tropical goods.

Hatton Cross Station is well known to us, as most buses in this area nip in and then out of it. This time we picked up a number of outward bound travellers using our bus to get to the airport.

And we were nearly there, entering a world of car parks and hotels which lasted until we popped through the tunnel to arrive back at the Central Bus Station at 14.20, a mere three hours since we had left it on the 111 bound for Kingston.

The Number 284 Route

2012-01-29T15:18:00.000-08:00

Grove Park Cemetery to Lewisham Station

Thursday 22^nd September 2011

Thursday’s child has far to go – well Linda’s have come a fair way, today being their 34^th birthday no less.

Jo and Linda on the other hand had come just one stop on the train from Hither Green, where our excellent 255 had left us, followed by a walk from Grove Park station through Chinbrook Meadows. There we enjoyed the usual park facilities but especially the Quaggy (nicer then it sounds and released from its culverts) and the Desmond Tutu Peace Garden opened in 2009.

If it was peaceful you were looking for, the start /finish of this route is just outside the gates of Grove Park cemetery, which is probably why the bus comes this far. The combination of cemetery, park and street trees makes for a leafy experience. Somewhat to our surprise even from a single decker bus there was an excellent view back over London – so Grove Park must be on some kind of South East London hill. Most of these streets are part of the Grove Park Estate built mainly in the late Twenties and originally local authority housing. At the crossroads with Chinbrook and Grove Park Roads the bus filled up and continued along the winding Marvels Lane, where they had once been a large hospital named for the area.

When acute services were relocated to Lewisham hospital and the long-term residents of Grove Park re-established in the community, this became a brownfield site ripe for redevelopment – the gates remain as a reminder of past history and the new houses are settled further back.*

Tucked away here also are the playing fields for the City of London School for boys (that building at the opposite end of the Millenium Bridge from Tate Modern) so you can see how far they have to travel for their outdoor sports.

We were a bit puzzled when passing a modern block offering ‘Colposcopy’ and wondered whether this was a private resource but research seems to indicate it is part of the Baring Road Family Practice

Rather than remember the Bankers of Baring Road, the alley named for E. Nesbit’s ‘Railway Children’ seemed more cheering.

By now we were back on the main road passing ‘you cannot really call it a bus station‘ Grove Park Bus Stand and the rail station. We were to head up towards Downham (more clinics/surgeries, a very few shops and a free standing undertakers) very briefly and then turn off towards Hither Green’s Verdant Lane and our second cemetery of the trip. Hither Green has both Crematorium and Cemetery and a range of tall and impressive trees – this was one of the first areas in SE London to be colonised by parakeets which by now have spread, like a green plague, everywhere. The aptly named Verdant Lane perhaps? This cemetery is the burial place for the victims of the Sandhurst School 1943 bombing. This account is long but vivid – we can all identify with that line which says ‘The bell had just gone and I reached for my sandwiches’ . Somehow the library survived and the school was later rebuilt and remains popular in this residential area. Today outside the library a guy was getting very frustrated with the public telephone and banging it to get the money out which reminded us how rare it was to see anyone using a public phone even if you can find one.

The bus travels the length of Sandhurst Road picking up more and more passengers, most of whom are heading for Catford where there are both shops enough to make up for the lack along the route thus far and the Town Hall and other services on both sides of the road.

After the twin stations of Catford and Catford Bridge this route becomes a ‘Hail and Ride’ through the back streets of SE6 and then SE4 Crofton Park. The 284 serves that series of roads made of name compounds including Elsiemaud, Gordonbrock, Arthurdon, Francemary and Phoebeth: I have never found an explanation for these and can only imagine they were named after the builder’s family members. Anyway the 284 is their bus. We passed what used to be Crofton Park School, which was rebuilt and renamed, I think, Ladywell Fields but with a similarly named school at Hilly Fields (the next hill along) it gets very confusing – as long the pupils know where they belong.

Very soon we merged out onto Lewisham High Street – very familiar territory – today busy with pedestrians rather than traffic so quite soon we were pulling up behind another vehicle at Lewisham Bus Station – very handy for both our homeward journeys.

This route, entirely within Lewisham borough and serving large residential chunks and two cemeteries took just 40 minutes and was well used.

* As this bus route serves the start of Stage 3 of the Capital Ring walk I have borrowed a couple of better photos from there…

The Number 283 Route

2012-01-27T10:59:00.000-08:00

East Acton (Brunel Road) to the Wetlands Centre

Thursday 26^th January 2012

By now we are in the upper reaches/later stages of the bus routes and many of these start and finish in relatively remote corners of London – not remote to the locals of course but to us. Therefore the journey to get us to the 283 involved a bus, then a tube and a short walk in that order – the walk would have been shorter but for turning the wrong way out of the station. Perhaps by 500 we will get it right. Still we enjoyed the housing estate and some of the stories it has to tell.

The single decker Route 283 snuck out of its garage to avoid being bullied by the big Number 7, which also starts/ends at Brunel Road and soon we were having a very comfortable ride This was partly due to the careful driver but also I think to a well sprung new bus. Acton would have been one of those villages, initially a staging post on the route from the West of England into London and later providing a laundry service for West End hotels – the sort of enterprise that now happens on the Park Royal Trading Estate – and also some heavier industry. Today we spotted a grand Billiard Hall and then the listed gateway to Wormwood Scrubs Prison and the Hammersmith Hospital – not surprisingly this is where most passengers boarded.

After a brief flirtation with the Westway Flyover (not to be confused with the Hammersmith Flyover) we took a left angled turn through the White City Estate where even more people joined us. This dense housing was built on the former display area where the pre-war (1909) Imperial International Exhibition took place; hence the names of South Africa and Bloemfontein Roads. Talking of housing, we also spotted the HQ of the Women's Pioneer Housing Association, which had done Sylvia so proud with her Notting Hill flat. The local leisure centre is named for Janet Adegoke, the first black mayor who worked for this local community.

The bus does a last right angle and exits from the estate into the Uxbridge Road just short of Queens Park Rangers ground. This is a very multi-cultural part of West London as the diversity of food and restaurants testified – today we passed Jerusalem Gate and noted the animal carcasses being delivered from the back of a van. Though we initially thought they were pigs it seems more likely they were sheep given the local food shops – bit difficult to tell when they are headless and not oinking in a pen or baaing in a field.

We lost our first batch of passengers to the Market and then having completed the tour of Shepherds Bush Green the remaining passengers descended either for the local shops or even Westfield. A woman sitting near me had been clutching a shoe box in a bag and spent her time peeping at its contents and then at her own feet obviously quite excited and keen to get her new shoes home and she finally left the bus too. The last time we were round this way (the 272 about a month ago) there was a fair on the Green and I thought that accounted for the slowing in the traffic, but the fair has long gone and the slowing seems endemic. Today the tower blocks seemed more visible.

It must have been getting close to lunchtime as we were rather taken with Jumbucks Pies, though I am still not clear how you bake a pie in a waffle iron, which seems to be what they are describing?

After leaving Shepherds Bush and heading south we passed Brook Green with some crocuses peeping through. Our turn through the very efficiently arranged Hammersmith Bus Station was swift as was coping with the unlovely roundabout under the infamous flyover (hope those supports are doing their job) and onto the river.

Hammersmith had several now lost rivers, some starting back at the Scrubs where we did and all coming out in the Thames near Hammersmith Bridge. This finally gives me a chance to mention a wonderful book ‘London’s Lost Rivers’ by Paul Talling – a Christmas present, how did you know?? I now realise how much river-related information we have missed over our previous bus trips! The tide was very low today leading Jo to say that if we were TV detectives this is the point at which we would find the bodies washed up. Her informants at London’s river police did report that one person per day dies on the Thames but there was nothing very visible on the muddy flats.

From south of the river it is a straight run down the generously proportioned Castelnau lined with the classical villas built by Boileau (he might have been a Hugenot refugee as was the Count of Castelnau). Slightly later in the year you can enjoy the wonderful magnolias in their front gardens but we may not pass this way again, having already ridden the rarer 485 some weeks ago. Mary noted that the houses on our left seemed to have open space behind them and indeed many must look out over the river.

There was no extended tour of Barnes village as immediately on getting to the crossroads we turned down a narrow road to access the London Wetlands Centre where you can see all sorts of birds in comparative peace. Try the webcams. The remaining passengers were heading to bird watch, while we perched in a rustic looking bus shelter, ate our sandwiches and then returned home via Hammersmith.

A short trip of 45 minutes offering little in the way of novelty except for the turns round the estate, but encompassing a river crossing and some attractive buildings, both humble and grand, en route.

The Number 282 Route

2012-01-25T09:22:00.000-08:00

Wednesday 25 January 2012

The full team met at Northwood Station, two of us waiting in the cosy waiting room for the third, and made our way to Mount Vernon Hospital, to begin our journey to Ealing Hospital. There seems to have been some new building since I spent some time visiting the burns unit in 1987, but we did not linger to explore, as a 282 was ready to go. It was a double decker, somewhat to our surprise and delight.

We headed back along the Rickmansworth Road towards Northwood, noting signs to the Northwood HQ of NATO, which used to be known as 'Eastlant' during the cold war. I had a friend who was convinced that there would be a nuclear war (he had a bootleg copy of the 1965 BBC film which was not shown for years, War Game) and he moved his family to Northwood to be sure of being wiped out in the first strike. Hard to picture that level of fear nowadays.

There are handsome houses in Northwood, some displaying those green roofs which seemed so exotic when we were young(er) and evidence that we were in a prosperous area came with 'Pressed for Time' an ironing service. We also passed the London School of Theology which is the current name for the former London Bible College.

After the war memorial, and Northwood Station, we turned right just after St Helen's School towards Northwood Hills. My two South London colleagues were pleased that there actually was a hill. We were surprised at the number of closed-down shops in this apparently affluent area, but the William Jolle pub still seemed to be thriving. (Because it is a Wetherspoons establishment, I can tell you that he was a local 14th century resident) The former pub opposite had, however, metamorphosed into the Namaste Lounge.

Extensive and thriving allotments took our eye and we crossed the River Pinn a couple of times on our way into Eastcote. We had met the River Pinn when we travelled the 183, and Andrew and I have walked the Celandine Way which follows it.

We were also pleased to see some horses in a field. We townies like to imagine that we are in real countryside.

Once we'd passed Eastcote's War Memorial and Station, with its cycle parking, we saw more allotments as we moved into Northolt. The little clock tower in Northolt Green caught our attention as we realised we were leaving Hillingdon and moving into the borough of Ealing.

The large housing estates of the area are named for the farms which they replaced: Medlar Farm Rectory Farm.

Crossing the Grand Union Canal brought us into the outskirts of Greenford. Once again, the allotments were looking good, but then it has been an excellent winter for growing things. The allotments here were right opposite a parade of shops, which we thought unusual, since in many areas they are a back street feature.

Greenford has a handsome building, once a Burton Tailoring emporium, though now occupied by various other shops. Waiting to turn right towards Ealing, our bus driver gave way to an elegant Fuller's lorry, and then we were heading along the much wider and straighter Greenford Road, the A4127.

Here we waited at a couple of bus stops for longer than usual. It may have been for driver change, since we were very close to the Ealing Bus Depot, but no reason was given and soon we pressed on, to pass the large West Middlesex Golf Club and a Sikh place of worship, named Satnam Waheguru, before arriving at the large campus of Ealing Hospital. It is a long way from Ealing, but was presumably built where there was room for all that was needed, next to the older St Bernard's Hospital.

It had take us just over an hour from hospital to hospital, impressive, given the distance. It was also interesting that, though we were in West London, we did not hear much of Heathrow, cross the River Brent, or inch our way along Southall High Street, all of which we had experienced in previous visits to these parts.

The Number 281 Route

2012-01-24T16:14:00.000-08:00

Tolworth (Ewell Road) to Hounslow Bus garage
Thursday December 15th 2011

Our morning had started bright and sunny at Putney Bridge station, but by the time we found the start of this route – via the facilities in the enormous M&S supermarket (food only) – it was clouding over and the cold wind was getting up. Though it did not seem dark the photos look pretty gloomy as though already dusk – I suppose we were only a week off the shortest day.

Back to Tolworth – the 281 turns its back on Tolworth's delights and heads on into Surbiton territory. Not only is this a bus that offers a 24-hour service but it was also a double-decker, and on the top deck we were joined by a father, his toddler daughter and George (not to be confused with Peppa) Pig. He – the father, not George – was an excellent guide to his child pointing out all sorts of obvious but child relevant things so she was of course entranced from here to Kingston where they got off.

Surbiton was very clearly its own self-contained community, and we duly noted its Coronation Hall, so named as it was opened for the June 11^th coronation of George V, since when it has been variously a lecture hall, a cinema (Ritzy and Roxy) then a bingo hall and has been recently restored by Wetherspoons. There are some very splendid Arts & Crafts era homes as this was a turn of the century suburb. We also passed the hospital, the 1936 version I would think. It is impressive how previous generations saw a need and just got on with it…(Don’t you love that font?) At the roundabout the Christmas tree, rather subtly lit with small domestic size tree lights, had been sponsored by the Waitrose from the corner.

Entering Kingston, Jo was surprised that what she took for an impressive white Town Hall passing on our left was actually the County Hall for Surrey, but Surrey sprawls so far that this seems as good a place as any for such a building – again the Victorians did not do things by half.

The more modern Crown Court is close by and today we had a clear view of the Hogsmill river as we crossed over to tour round rather than through commercial/retail. At this time of year there was the seasonal addition of a craft market. The pub, the King’s Tun, plays on the origins of the name Kingston and then there we were crossing the Thames and immediately turning right towards pretty Hampton Wick. Today we had the pleasant experience of passing almost uniformly smart and open pubs (perhaps all the closed ones have been ‘tidied away’ in the Royal Borough) and Hampton has both the White Hart and the Swan which the brewers Shepherd Neame tell us has been on the site since the 14^th century though this one is from 1904.

More posh property round Hampton including the gated Langdon Park.The site has a fascinating history having been originally a hospital for mentally infirm children set up and run by the Langdon Down family until the NHS took over and eventually closed it. Some bits of the original site remain. The ‘Downs’ bit of the name is still with us.

Signs to Teddington Lock heralded our arrival in Teddington – again it has a pretty and thriving not to say specialist High Street, with its cigar shop and pub remembering Hogarth, whose links are more with Chiswick than here.

This is a good stopping off point to visit both Marble Hill and the more recently restored Strawberry Hill houses. Both are well worth a visit though overindulging and combining them might give you ‘stately home indigestion’

The run into Fulwell and Twickenham gave us a few more alerts: the Red Lion pub had opted for huge paw-print rather than the ubiquitous red lion rampant and the Tattoo Parlour, which seemed to have a range of lawnmowers in the window? Change of use?

Our next stop, and there was a significant pause whilst the drivers chatted and changed outside, was the rather imposing red brick Twickenham Depot handily sited alongside both the ambulance and fire stations. It has a proud history too.

Twickenham is famous on all levels; we enjoyed the still-working clock on the George Pub in King Street Twickenham and their real Christmas trees hoisted high on the lampposts as street decorations. ‘Jack the Stripper’ offered wood rather than male stripping – more useful if less exciting.

Crossing the Crane made it the third river crossing in one day and also meant we were about to pass along the Whitton Road and the home of English Rugby – all quiet today and time to photograph the newly erected sculptures . Jo had deduced correctly they must be new as depicting a Rugby move only recently sanctioned. Whether the core values cited have been kept to – I leave you to decide.

On a less controversial note is a more distant glimpse of Kneller Hall, now the Royal Military School of Music complete with extensive playing fields, cut through by the Duke of Northumberland’s River, which soon joins the Crane.

The 281 is the only route along this part of Whitton towards Hounslow.

Novelty continued with a pretty Lord Nelson pub (most of them are round Merton where he lived) and a southerly and pleasant approach to our old friend Hounslow.

Our transit through was swift today – just time to note that in lieu of Christmas decorations Hounslow has its street lighting powered both by solar and wind turbines. Today the latter were more in evidence and we certainly felt the keen wind on disembarking from this extensive tour of South West London including four rivers as a bonus. The time taken was 10 minutes over the hour for what is a long route.

PS As ‘Lofty’ pointed out, the bus would take a different route on a match day…

The Number 280 Route

2012-01-24T04:02:00.000-08:00

St. George’s Tooting to Belmont Railway Station
Monday June 14^th 2010

This was a route we took as the middle one in a series to get us to our key route; by now it was a lovely sunny morning and quite hot up on the top deck of a double decker – we on this occasion were Mary and Linda with Jo doing grandmotherly things in the Midlands.

The turnaround in front of the rather smart St George’s Hospital is usually very slick and today we had practically no wait for our 280, which headed straight off south and pretty much kept going – being an outer London route it can cover rather greater distances as the volume of traffic is less intense. The hospital sent with us an escort in the shape of a speeding ambulance, which was just heading round the corner to tend to a casualty on the Route 280 coming into Tooting.

Down past Tooting station and its ‘ghost sign’ for Gorringe Park (here is a link to a site with more leisure to explore Tooting’s ghost signs though nobody seems to know exactly what business this was for) and then at Amen Corner we took the turning for Mitcham. I had always been under the illusion that a rather mediocre Sixties band were named after this Amen Corner but it seems they came from rather more upmarket Bracknell – I can quite see how they were taken with the name, which seemed to go with the nearby Mixed Blessings Bakery.

It’s a short, jolly and very repetitive lyric…

After this we went along Figges Marsh – no fair today but signs to the ‘Lavender Fields’ which must have been here at one time and past the various greens that are Mitcham – the Fair Green and the Cricket Green plus the pub which was renamed in 1975 after a Surrey and Mitcham cricketer called Burn Bullock. Though nicely situated, most of the reviews and related articles indicate it’s quite a rough pub, which has been closed down in its time.

Soon after this and still heading south we crossed the River Wandle, which would be with us for most of the day. According to the various websites it takes about and hour and a bit to cycle the length, over 4 hours to walk it and about ½ hour in a bus or train. The National Trust also has some land round here but less publicly accessible – Watermeads.

By now we were driving through the very large St.Helier Estate, built in the Thirties to house ‘overspill’ families from Inner London, aspiring to the garden city model complete with schools and the huge St Helier Hospital. It is still one of the largest estates in London. The Rose Hill roundabout remains very impressive even if the cinema, which used to dominate this interchange has gone. As has the Bingo Hall. Not dimmed clearly was the enthusiastic support for the England football team that was very evident from all the flags hanging from the front windows.

The bus descends rapidly downhill into Sutton – in fact the road dips while the pavement and service roads continue at an upper level leading to some pedestrian bridges proclaiming ‘Welcome to Sutton.’ Actually the routes through the town are fairly uninspiring – the one-way south goes behind all the big stores and between the car parks. There is little of the old town left: the courthouse is now a GP surgery and the old solid police station next to its newer extension – not quite overshadowed by the massive B&Q.

Still in broadly the same straight line, the bus heads south past the station and along the Brighton Road. The flats hereabouts were all probably built at different times over the last thirty years or so – pleasant, inoffensive landscaped small scale with quite mature trees indicating perhaps that they have replaced original older single dwellings.

Before we knew it we were drawing up at Belmont Station which is just about on the southernmost boundary of the TfL domain and the point at which we all turn into pumpkins…. Having started the day at Elephant & Castle the air was definitely cleaner and we took several lungfuls as we made our way through the Banstead Downs to find our final bus of the morning, the Number 80.

A mere 45 minutes to get from Northern line territory in Tooting to a green welly walk. This site is now very active with both audio and video clips to tempt you off your bus and to start walking.

PS Apologies - pictures a bit reflective.

The Number 279 Route

2012-01-23T02:46:00.000-08:00

Monday 15 November 2010

We found ourselves waiting, though not for long, in front of the Woodberry Down estate which we have passed so often. In fact my parents had friends here and I can remember watching the coronation of Elizabeth II with them as they had a TV, and we didn’t – they later moved out and into their own property, and I am sure this estate has seem many similar stories.

Off up the Seven Sisters Road, by now very familiar to us, busy with passengers and the traffic flowing quite well as we headed due north in more or less a straight line for much of the route. The buses line up thick and fast round here with something like seven routes passing through. We noticed that since we were last this way the 149 has turned not into a pumpkin but from a bendy to a double decker, and we just glimpsed the Banksy tucked away (more visible going south)

By Bruce Grove, which has its colourful outdoor clothes marker close by the station, the bus was full, even on top. The old gates of the Whitbread brewery are very fine and some-one else’s photo is much better than ours.

Hard on the heels of this comes White Hart Lane, a significant local landmark – sorry Gooners, we cannot pretend it is not there as it gives identity to much of this part of Haringey.

Most of the shops are not part of chains, which is nice, or if so still modest local chains such as the Turkish Food Centre founded in 1980 and now with 14 branches. Hairdressers are rarely part of large chains and today we had Hairwaves and for men Klass Ventures with the strap line, ‘Fancy a bit of smooth with your rough?’

We had not heard of Kith and Kids but clearly from their website have been around for some time helping local families and we passed two of their charity shops today.

With a branch here (Silver Street) and just one other in Billingsgate Lobo Fisheries seems well established and of course reminds me that fish hits the spot for most diet and religious exclusions, so almost certainly will do well in this very diverse part of North London. For example the Rumi religious centre is next to the Salvation Army.

Interspersed amongst this wealth of shopping were many pubs – they didn’t all look that inviting but most of them were still just about open, which makes a change from some of our trips. There are still some road works as you approach Edmonton but in any case our driver was so slow overall we barely noticed when he had to slow down for the sewage repairs. Along the way and in no particular order we had the Prince of Wales, of course the Bell at Edmonton, the Boundary House, the Picture Palace and the Sun and Woolpack, the Plough at Ponders Green, which also was going under the name of the Sporting Green.

As yesterday had been Remembrance Day it was not surprising that the War Memorial by Edmonton Bus station had fresh (as in fresh plastic) wreaths. The bus of course went in and out of the bus station and lost some/won some on the passenger stakes.

No deviation from the straight and narrow and we headed on north. The buildings are quite a mixture: some mid-century estates, some more modern bits and the odd very lovely if somewhat neglected early 19^th century terrace of 25 houses along the way.

However slow we were going we managed to catch the 121 ahead. Edmonton, all part of the very extensive Enfield borough, began to blend into neighbouring areas. Having said that, Enfield was very assiduous about making sure you know where you were within the borough. Passing what is left of the North Metropolitan Electric Power Company was a reminder that while Enfield was not big on heavy industry (little coal or iron down south) it was busy through the 19^th and 20^th century manufacturing light-bulbs, Belling stoves (the famous Baby Belling was a big feature of bed-sits and student flats) and last but not least the small arms manufacturing associated with Lee (the designer) and Enfield – the place that produced the Lee Enfield standard issue British Army rifle that saw soldiers through 2 world wars. I am also reliably informed that the Bren gun gets its name from Br (no) in Czechoslovakia and En (field) so there you go.

By now I was struggling with some of the place names: Turkey Street named for the Turkey Brook, small but not so small that it does not have its web-site, and Freezy Water, named for a farm that once stood here together with its pond that looked like …..freezy water.

Once we had passed these two places the bus was nearly empty – our last gesture still running in a straight line was to cross the M25 and then bear just a tiny bit off in order to access Waltham Cross itself. Rather as we had guessed, the Cross is one of the Eleanor crosses – most of you will be familiar with the one outside Charing Cross well, Waltham is Number 10 counting south from Lincoln.

The journey took a full 75 minutes though I suspect could have been completed more quickly – a mark of how far we had come was that not only had we crossed beyond the north Circular but also beyond the M 25, and had encountered not only the instruments of war but also the reminders of war through the heart of Outer North London.

Since travelling this route there has been sustained recession and a few riots and a recent trip on the 349, which duplicates much of this, had evidence of a less robust local economy.

The Number 278 Route

2012-01-22T09:57:00.000-08:00

Well, here weare at our third non-existent route (the last one was the 239) The 278 had a very busy and varied lifeuntil its end in 1993. It wasmainly an East End bus, though it did get as far as Aldgate for a few months in1988-9. All the details are here: http://www.eplates.info/277s.html

I thought I might take the chance offered by the hiatus to write a few words about the chanciness of Blue Plaques. Linda and I have, before now, complained that if we just glimpse a blue plaque, it is very difficult to track it down. The English Heritage site lets you search by post code, which is fair enough if you know where you are, but not by street name. We noted these two, walking through Chiswick, on the trip which included the 265. I don't know the post code for Chiswick, having never had relatives or friends in that neck of the woods. But, you may reasonably say, if you are on foot, you have plenty of time to examine and photograph the plaques, which is of course true.

On the other hand, if you do know even the first part of the postcode, English Heritage gives you a list. If, for instance, you type in ‘NW1’, it offers you 323 to sift through, which is a little cumbersome. Perhaps they might find the money to extend their search engine to street names, since their data base does include them. Here, for example, is something interesting from my neck of the woods, Lyme Street, Camden

There is, of course, another element of randomness. If you travel on a bus in one direction and one way streets are involved in the route, you might never know of some blue plaques. For instance, we travelled the 274 from East to West, and so never saw the blue plaque in St Pancras Way to William Daniell, artist and engraver of Indian Scenes, (though the link takes you to some of his British aquatints) which we would have seen had we been heading towards and not away from Angel. But we did see the plaque for Dylan Thomas in Delancey Street, which we should not have seen had we been going East and thus up Parkway.

And if one always travels north on the 10, 24, 29, 134 etc, the many blue plaques of Gower Street, Pre-Raphaelites, society hostesses and medical discoveries, remain unknown.

Finally, I just wanted to mention the many plaques put up by boroughs, or fan clubs: I think we referred to the H G Wells Society's plaque a few weeks ago. The only way you can identify these is by reading them in situ, and then of coure you can look up the person concerned, But if they flash by, they are pretty untraceable.

We thought you might like Bromley's mention of Mr Hawkins, since the dinosaurs in Crystal Palace Park are such a delight.

Normal bus coverage will now be resumed until the 301.

The Number 277 Route

2012-01-20T02:39:00.000-08:00

Highbury and Islington Station to Leamouth (Saffron Av)

Thursday January 19^th 2012

It was a day of deep dark puddles; the sort that children love and adults hate and all over London the transport was getting really dirty. Today I was doing a solo trip as Jo was on a mercy dash to grandchildren and Mary had rare-as-hen’s-teeth Leonardo tickets, so I waited alone for the 277 at the first stop, which it shares with other key Islington routes – the 4 and 30. A young man was telling another chap, not a friend I think, how he has pleaded with drivers about being ‘short on cash’ and sure enough as soon as we boarded I could hear him wheedling with the driver, ‘I didn’t know I didn’t have enough money, please let me on, I have an important meeting,’ until the driver finally relented. I wondered if he travelled round London with a permanently under-resourced Oyster card? St Paul’s Road, which is where the 277 stars its journey south and east is the slightly less glitzy end of Islington, but nevertheless we passed several terraces of fine early 19^th century homes. The side roads offered glimpses of even more gracious frontages.

Steadfastly we pushed on down the Balls Pond road as we approached Dalston Junction – the Turkish barber indicating just one of the diverse communities that populate this area. Barbers’ shops are a good example of ‘arrival city’ businesses – you bring your skills and expertise from your country of origin and set up shop to cater for your community – barbers shops in particular being a good community and social resource. By now this route was doubling back on the journey I had made via the Overground to catch the bus in the first place but if it was logic I wanted I would not be on this project. At Dalston Junction we crossed with one of about nine 277s I counted heading the other way; there is something very comforting about a run of red buses on a grey and rainy day.

Coming from Graham Road we avoided the worst traffic of Hackney and breezed past the Empire, the old façade a wonderful Frank Matcham flourish and the side extension suitably modern. The clock on the Town Hall was correct as well and today I spotted the Mare Street studios, but they prove to be spaces to rent rather than something more specific. More incongruously, Freed of London, famed for their dance wear, especially shoes, has a factory here and the contrast between the stock and the rather run down building is interesting.

Though this route does not go close to London Fields it very much criss-crosses Victoria Park and today it was easy to see how planned this area was when first built – the roundabouts at each end of Lauriston Road and Grove Road offer fine views down expansive terraces. The pubs now look more gastro than working men’s (it’s often known as the People’s Park) and the whole area offers a range of delights both as a living environment and park proper.

Planned by James Pennethorne and opened in 1845, and now largely within Tower Hamlets borough it will also play a role in the Olympics. There have certainly been some new additions as could be seen even from the bus.

Not content with one green space the 277 then runs the length of the much more linear and rather less grandiose Mile End Park This has a very different history, having been created on the site of 1940s war bomb damage (including the site, marked by a Blue Plaque, where London’s first Flying Bomb fell) and now consisting of a range of different sections – the Go-karting track looked excellent and there is an Ecology stretch leading to the Green bridge – we whizzed by too fast for me to capture it but I did get a clutch of buses lurking by Mile End Station.

This excellent website gives a brief overview of what is to be seen round here and makes a good case for why it should be Two Mile End?!?

Apart from some D buses the 277 is the only route along here and for the first time since Hackney there was more than just me plus a another on the top deck.

Despite my obsession with crossing water (as Jo might say) I had missed the Hertford Union Canal earlier so was pleased to see the Limehouse Cut.

By now the 277 was ready to cross East India Dock Road and gain entrance – I say this advisedly as all transport has to pass through a security light and police controlled barrier – to the Canada Water development . The towers were all clearly visible from Westferry onwards and then we did a loop cutting along the concrete canyon – the nearest London comes to Manhattan. More glimpses of water, and even the odd boat break up the buildings along Cabot Square and we exited the money making metropolis via another gate by Churchill Place and Billingsgate Market

Compared to most fish markets this one looks both unromantic and unscenic especially on a wet Thursday morning . By now I had realised that my left boot had let in water and I had a wet sock and that there was no heating on the bus. I looked enviously at the other front seat passenger who was wearing leopard skin pattern wellies, but she agreed it was cold and banged the window shut. By now the bus had given up on passengers and was speeding along the very fast Aspen Way from which it turned off to its final resting place. I had not done much prior research on this route except for the start and finish and was quite looking forward to admiring what I imagined to be a little estate built like a spice rack – Nutmeg Lane, Saffron Avenue, Oregano Drive, you get the picture.

When I and the leopard wellies got off as the last passengers we found ourselves in a further grey canyon of nearly windowless slab blocks, most of which were heavily barricaded with the bus stopping behind another security barrier. Clutching my map and directions for Canning Town I was hailed by a security guard who pointed me in the right direction. “What are all these big grey blocks?” I asked ‘Telehouse – security data’ was all he said. Well I had to Google that didn’t I? Having got a couple of error messages on my first attempts I was about to get all conspiracy theory on you, dear reader, but Google finally served up the following link, so perhaps it is just ugly rather than actually sinister.

What an amazing route – upmarket Islington down through colourful Hackney with green spaces galore in Victoria and Mile End Parks THEN through the monied not to say muddied waters of Canada Quays finishing in a rather baleful industrial estate near the Lee River mouth, and all in under 50 minutes.

The Number 276 Route

2012-01-13T10:48:00.000-08:00

Thursday 12 January 2012

A bit of a walk through Stamford Hill from our previous bus brought us to Stoke Newington Green and the bus stop for the 276, onto which Linda and I stepped at 12.20, bound for Newham General Hospital. After the slightly dingy houses of back street Stamford Hill, we admired the terraces around the Green. Soon we had moved into newer building, much of it postwar public housing. The Woodberry Down Estate was looking well cared for and occupied, unlike a number of properties in Tottenham which we had passed earlier. Just past Hackney Downs Station, we passed an enormous building site where Bellway is building homes of every size and status.

We had not previously heard of Prideaux House as a charity, but it proves to offer a range of services for the elderly, including reconciliation and fellowship as well as catering to more mundane needs. We noted a Registered Yellow Fever Center just opposite, and assumed from the spelling that it was an American agency.

The traffic along past Hackney Central Station was, as usual, very slow indeed; at this point the charming young woman in the seat in front proffered my bus pass, which I had managed to drop on her seat without noticing. We had already had problems with the reader on the bus requiring a couple of swipes each. Eventually we reached the Cock Tavern, with its handsome stonework, and turned left just before the Hackney Empire, picking up a little speed. We passed the General Browning Club (or shellhole as it should probably be known, since that is how they refer to their branches). We detoured around several streets of the Trelawney Estate before coming to Homerton Hospital, with the Hospital Tavern just opposite, presumable there to calm the nerves of staff and patients alike. For people who wonder whether Homerton College, Cambridge used to train teachers around here, the answer is here, and a little bit more complicated than that. We came past the old Hackney Hospital as well.

Now, as we travelled along the side of Mabley Green, we had surprise views of Anish Kapoor's Olympic 'thing': surprising because all our previous buses have approached from the Stratford side, and seen the various stadia first. This time, we saw the distant red ironwork before anything else, and indeed kept seeing it from different angles for the next twenty minutes. It is big....

Through the Kingsmead Estate, and then the Trowbridge Estate, we came to the Wick Community Centre, formerly the Public Baths, and then to Hackney Wick Station. Our route took us under the A12 and into the Locton Estate, where there were were more than twenty cold people waiting at the bus stop, for our little single decker. It appeared that the route had been 'on diversion', now cleared and some passengers had had a very long wait. We were now in more familiar territory and came past the end of Roman Road Market as well as the former Bryant and May works about which we have written before. Bow bus garage and Bromley Public Hall brought us to Bow High Street and the statue of Gladstone by Bow Church.

The next event was the huge and lethal Bow roundabout. This was a good day to be visiting it (and its pointless 'cyclists beware, vehicles turning left' signs) as TfL announced today that they were finally going to do something, though what is not is yet settled. Given that slower traffic is better for everyone, perhaps the suggestion to make the flyover single lane might be best. There were further good views of the Olympic Orbit, though!

Newham was our third borough of the day and we crossed several branches of the River Lea and its various cuts to enter it and notice that there are still lots of roadworks around the Samuel Gurney Memorial to the philanthropist and brother of Elizabeth Fry. Actually we passed his obelisk twice, once before and once after nipping through Stratford's fine bus station. Next we headed towards Plaistow with views of Canary Wharf as we reached West Ham Station. We went over the London Greenway, and the looped round to do it again. It is such a pleasant walk that it seems sensible to call it the Greenway and not the Northern Outfall Sewer, which of course is what it is. Coming off the Barking Road and heading finally towards the hospital, we realised that we should have to ride our bus back again if we did not want a long walk. Newham General Hospital is big enough to have three bus stops, and the friendly driver made sure we knew which was the last stop, and then carried us back towards Canning Town.

She told us she had only been doing the route for a few weeks: hard to believe, as she coped smoothly with all the loops through the housing estates, the road works and slow traffic of Hackney and Bow and indeed the whole 70 or so minutes of this interesting route.

The Number 275 Route

2012-01-10T01:43:00.000-08:00

Walthamstow (St James’ Station) to Barkingside (Tesco)
Thursday September 29^th 2011

Probably this was our warmest trip of 2011 as we came out of St James’ Station, Walthamstow for a short wait in the sun for the 275; the other route from here is the super-abundant 212, which we have already ridden. The 275 tracks back along the railway line alongside the Selborne Centre (head to head Sainsbury’s and Asda stores) and round the gleaming Underground and bus stations before heading up the hill towards Wood Street and Upper Walthamstow, an area we had only really broached today.

Passing the Hoe Street Working Men's Club makes you realise how important these meeting places must have been when founded. Quite close by is the Forest YMCA both strategically placed to help support students attending the Walthamstow College which sits snugly alongside the Town Hall – built 1938-1941 of Portland Stone with a copper Clock Tower (correct time today) it is a real monument to civic pride and just looking great in the sunshine, which the students were enjoying also.

Just past the Wood Street library the 275 leaves the busier roads and heads north, for much of the route the only bus, towards Highams Park crossing the North Circular, after which the housing becomes typical streets of pleasant semis built just before the war. The road names such as Forest Glade recall this area would have once been part of Epping Forest. Similarly Woodford, through which we passed. Woodford today – and indeed for some time having once been the constituency of Sir Winston Churchill (he appears on their rather modern ‘village sign’) – has always been rather affluent due in part to the original railways having charged more on this bit of their line (the Ongar loop) while charging less round by Leytonstone. By now we had crossed over into Redbridge borough and over said railway, now of course the Central Line (which is actually showing its age in comparison to other revamped lines).

Just before we came out into Chigwell Lane we passed along Snakes Lane (a very exotic name – there cannot be many snakes worthy of mention round here can there?) where the Gas board still have a depot – no more gasholders but heaps of signs saying ‘Diversion’ (plus arrows), ‘Cycles this way’ ‘No through Road – Men at Work’: a break-in here and you could cause considerable havoc.

Snakes Lane took us across the Roding river valley and up the other side, with the occasional golf course but actually some undisturbed grasslands also – today we also noted how many trees were fruiting especially the crab-apples. Here are some recipes but best ask if the apples are not yours…

There was a steady population of other passengers, including one person who seemed to be in the throes of breaking off a relationship in a mixture of tears and hardcore expletives. In the next breath she said she might do some voluntary work and I wondered how her language might go down. Sitting just behind us was a young lad who seemed very interested in the fact Jo was taking photos and we were both remarking on our surroundings – he eventually leant forward and made some helpful suggestions pointing out the ‘very rich people’ behind some golden gates (indeed another gated community). For a more orthodox history click here

I could not believe I had missed Claybury Hospital – one of London’s more famous and grandiose hospitals – but we did not miss it for it has been renamed. We were very taken with the views down the hill (Tomswood Hill that is) right over East London down to the Thames and also distracted by the Guide Dogs

Training School. If ever a charity ticked all the boxes this is it and they always do well in street collections, when sometimes you can pat the dogs, otherwise discouraged.

Anyway, as our travelling companion had correctly identified, this was rich people’s Essex , but by the time we descended the hill to the Fulwell Cross Roundabout we were, after a long ride in completely new territory, back somewhere more familiar. The Leisure Centre at the roundabout is always an eye catcher and we made reasonable progress along Barkingside High Street watching as the driver of the van in front leapt out and into the baker’s completely blocking the traffic – his mate slid into the driving seat and we were able to progress to the end and where the route finished at Tescos, almost certainly built on the site previously occupied by the Barnardos cottage homes.

The walk to the Barkingside station was noteworthy for its lack of facilities for pedestrians – clearly a station where partner drops spouse off at the station, or you park your car, as it was almost impossible to cross the road and access the station safely on foot. Still we made it to tell the tale.

This was at the end a novel route for us, showing that even 275 routes down the line there are whole chunks of London where we have not been before. Once it leaves familiar Walthamstow behind this is a route, which carves its way along old lanes and up and down hills – there are loads of Essex jokes and clichés and being flat is one of them but today’s route demonstrated the opposite for us. This was a most enjoyable and surprising trip in wonderful late September sunshine.

Just to give a shout out and thanks to Peter Watts at The Great Wen blog for posting the piece he published in Completely London back in October, and thus boosting our readership. Peter and a photographer accompanied us on a trip out of Brixton (Route 355 to come) and of our occasional brushes with journalists this has been by far the most positive and genuine. The photographer was pretty good too though Peter was not able to use his pictures for his blog.

The Number 274 Route

2012-01-06T08:39:00.000-08:00

Tuesday 8 December 2009

In order to get to the start of the 46, today's bus, I met Linda at Angel, where major traffic realignment works meant the bus stop had moved. This gave us a chance to note the New River Path, on its last stage towards Clerkenwell. It does, by the way, make a very good walk. easily completable in two or three days, and convenient to access by public transport most of the way from Ware to here (if you'll excuse the phrase)

The 274 is the bus I use most frequently in everyday life, so it was exciting to be travelling its whole length.

The sun was shining, which made a change, and also made it possible to notice that the sundial was on British summer time, unlike the rest of us. We passed the dying Borders, and the Sainsbury's that seems to be surviving having Waitrose next door, and headed along Tolpuddle Street: the name is a reminder that the great Copenhagen Fields demo of 1836, demanding the release of the 'men of Dorchester' happened just here; 20,000 marched peacefully to Whitehall, and the government, aware that Peterloo had been rather poor publicity, kept the troops out of sight.

Islington Police Station is embellished with some youthful Art, which we admired as we headed towards the Caledonian Road, where we passed the Cally (swimming) Pool, and a centre for the training of cabbies, before turning into Market Road.

We turned briefly into York Way, before heading down Agar Grove. With few people wanting to get on, we made rapid progress and soon crossed the Regent's Canal for the first of several times.

The Camden Sainsbury's is famous (or notorious if it's not to your taste) for having been designed, together with some housing behind it, by Nicholas Grimshaw. The St Martin's Almshouses, built for the Parish of St Martin in the Fields, are rather more traditional in design. Once we were across Camden High Street, we moved into the Regents Park Area of prosperous terraces and mansion flats (spot the magpie in Linda's picture!). We passed Cecil Sharp House, home of the English Folk Dance and Song Society and then London Zoo.

After Lord's Cricket Ground and the Central Mosque, the route takes you down the length of Baker Street; One building has competitive plaques: the Arnold Bennett Society saying that their man lived there, and the H G Wells society saying the same. Other (tourist) passengers spotted the Spymaster shop, for all your snooping needs, but did not get off to patronise it.

The windows down the side of Selfridges were pretty, and we saw that there was a Christmas Market in that not-building site we have noted on every Oxford Street trip. (actually now a building site again: let's hope it's not more offices to stand empty)

The horse's head is still at Marble Arch, though initially meant to stay just a month but we were cheered by distant views of the funfair in Hyde Park, and a riding lesson on Rotten Row, before arriving at Lancaster Gate Station within an hour of our departure from Angel. A splendid bus, even if single deckers provide less good views than might be wished.

The Number 273 Route

2012-01-06T02:30:00.000-08:00

Petts Wood Station to Lewisham Station

Thursday January 5^th 2012

Happy New Year to all our followers and random visitors, and thanks again to Tim for setting up an index and generally giving the blog a fresh look.

Back on the road after the holidays and 10AM found Jo, Mary and Linda 'raring to go’ if slightly puzzled on leaving Petts Wood Station where the ‘little bus’ signs, (not unlike our new smart logo) suggest exiting the other way. However, after some judicious texting we met in time to catch this small 1 door only bus, which only runs 3 times an hour.

It seemed appropriate to be in SE London on the days following the final conviction and sentencing of two of the Stephen Lawrence killers, as SE London had been the setting and background to the whole shameful saga. The route today was not going to take us directly through Eltham, but Mottingham en route is not very far from Eltham and all of SE London has long been tainted by this incident.

Petts Wood clearly sees itself still as a Kent village as the sign by the bus stop shows – it also comes with a handy key so I can tell you the White Horse is for Kent, the Galleon for King Henry’s warships built at Deptford from Petts Wood Oak, the local Petts family’s coat of arms and the eclipsy looking thing for Mr William Willett who gave us daylight saving.

The 273 waits alongside the R2 and an eager passenger, en route to her day centre, was keen to tell me it would take her all the way there. I suspect Petts Wood likes to hark back to its importance as a timber supplier in Tudor times by building all its post war (1920s) housing in a distinct pseudo-Tudor style - not only the restaurants opposite the station but whole streets of semis were all half-timbered.

The 273 follows Poverest Road and then effectively what must be the Cray Valley along Cray Road which is lined with substantial industrial units – Sun Chemical and Allied Bakers for example. A man boarded clutching his beer can (this was 10.10 in the morning) and regaled the largely empty bus for some stops to come.

The route 273 follows the Route 61 to St Mary Cray and then up Leeson’s Hill – Jo felt the trip overall was developing a banking theme but we doubt that Leeson’s Hill was named for the Rogue Trader of that name. The 273 had few takers so we progressed swiftly on, passing the remnants of woods still there in place names, and as the homes became ever larger and more detached with the occasional private road we knew we were approaching Chiselhurst. The Bullshead Hotel stands close to some very large late 19^th century homes called Warren Wilton and Chesil House, now all subdivided or business premises.

After the Duck Pond complete with duck house came the Queen’s Head (she was anonymous or at least unidentifiable) which was promising us a Psychic Night – do they offer ‘free spirits’ Jo wondered? (Some old jokes are best left to die.) White Horse Hill, our route for leaving Chiselhurst behind, usually offers excellent panoramas but on a single decker the best we could manage today was the last of the front of house mounted Santas before they get tidied away for another year.

Very soon we were on the Mottingham Estate built by the LCC post World War II to rehouse the folk who were blitzed out of their homes during the war. I had a colleague who remembers moving down from Elephant and Castle as a young child and certainly her children never knew any other life than outer SE London.

In the streets between Mottingham and Grove Park we could glimpse the Shard between gaps in the houses. The bus was by no means crowded but certainly we had taken on more passengers through the 2 big estates than before. To be honest the bus did some serious and confusing ‘looping’ through Grove Park, often through some quite narrow streets, with the odd brave sortie out onto the bigger mainer roads such as Baring Road – our second banker of the day. The bus continued with a hail and ride section close to Horn Park before we rejoined Baring Road and headed towards Lee Green. However the 273 has a mind of its own and again it branched off at the Lord Northbrook pub – this was to be Jo’s third banker but as Northbrook started out as a Baring perhaps that only makes two? Anyway he was Lord Northbrook of Lee and there is still one sitting in the House of Lords, which is a testament to the enduring if dubious powers of the hereditary peerage system.

Anyway the pub has been nicely restored and the bus turns down Southbrook Road, which delighted us with its lovely double fronted well-proportioned homes. We were able to admire these at some leisure as we ran into 2 dust carts - one for recycling and one for rubbish - and it took a while to negotiate a route through but then we were passing Hither Green Station. Close by Bellway are developing some new homes (handy for the railway you might say) but it was a bit of a puzzle as to why they were called ‘The Old Biscuit Factory’. This is usually taken to mean the old Peek Freans (Chocolate Bourbons etc) factory in Bermondsey – though the 225 bus which stops at Hither Green would take you to Bermondsey this seems a rather spurious link.

After picking up our last raft of passengers we took a turn along Manor Park – a very grand and broad avenue lined with substantial Victorian homes so it is then rather an anti-climax to come onto Lee High Road, which is gradually being refurbished. But it has a way to go.

Unlike most other buses which terminate in the bus area next to Lewisham station the 273 goes just beyond and tucks in neatly in a small parking slot in front of Tescos, and that is where our tour of outer, and quite rural SE London stopped, having taken just under an hour from Petts Wood.

The Number 272 Route

2011-12-30T08:35:00.000-08:00

Chiswick (Grove Park) to Shepherd’s Bush Station
Tuesday December 27^th 2011

The bus expedition today, including two male relatives both keen to try their respective technologies of I-Phone and new camera, had met earlier in Mitcham and given the light Bank Holiday traffic we were soon at Putney Bridge. After a delay while, rather as in the old Music hall ditty, an old lady got locked in a lavatory in Bishops Park, the party advanced on foot in an effort to walk off a few Christmas meals taking in the considerable curve of the north bank Thames Path to Chiswick where the petite 272 waits in a quiet residential street.

Technically this part of Chiswick goes by the name of Grove Park, but doubtless in order to avoid confusion with SE London’s own Grove Park the nearby railway station is firmly called Chiswick. Compared to the grand riverside residences of the Eyot (island to you and me), this is less posh Chiswick but that still makes it a more expensive area than the start of most of our routes. Grand houses, mostly now sub-divided into flats, and the open spaces of the Quintin Hogg Playing Fields line wide and quiet avenues. The original philanthropic Old Etonian who founded the Regent Street Poly all those years ago might be a little surprised to find it was now the University of Westminster with its playing fields out here…

The bus passes back to the station along two very pleasant wide roads bordered by grand homes and we arrived at the Station House, formerly perhaps a station hotel. The front looks very grand but we had been round the back where the sight of dustbins and unswept leaves was less appetising.

Back to the Chiswick back streets. Jo was convinced we would be the only passengers but she was soon proved wrong. Three giggly girls got on, not seeming to know the cost of travel, and I had them earmarked as travelling to spend their Christmas money at Westfield. Other passengers soon boarded. Grove Park was named after a larger older manor house and the same is true of Sutton Court Road; Sutton Court had been the largest manor hereabouts and after changing hands several times was finally demolished to be replaced by the current fine flats in 1905.

Suttton Court Road brought us out at the corner of Turnham Green, one of my favourite London greens, much enhanced by the Giles Gilbert Scott church; we were not sure what the building on the corner might be with its canopies and proud façade it looked as though it might have some civic purpose?

The bus dives into the side streets, where the rather nasty Chiswick Health Centre (perhaps converted from a car park?) is thankfully hidden away, and we soon drove parallel to Chiswick Common Green and saw the two railway lines – an argument amongst the party as to which tube line this might be proved we were both right as the Piccadilly and District run close to each other.

Acton Green and the Tabard pub all border the conservation area that is Bedford Park, again built as a cohesive whole rarely bettered; we fell for the Dutch gables and other properties along the Bath Road, many of which are now listed. This is a route, which could only be taken by a slim single decker, as several times we had to obey ‘Give Priority to Oncoming Traffic’ signs. The Tabard itself was built by the Victorians in a country pub style; even they apparently tired of those huge edifices and hankered after the nostalgic ‘village pub’ look...

More architecture attracted our attention – this time at the modern end of the spectrum in the shape of the

'Factory Quarter' development, apparently built on the site of the former Prestolite factory. Prestolite was a US company, which took over from Lucas who made components for diesel engines but soon after the take-over (sounds familiar?) the factory closed now only to be remembered in the development’s name.

From here the 272, which has been pretty much on its own, has a brief foray onto the Uxbridge Road alongside other routes like the 266 and the famous ‘non stop’ 607.

Continuing along Old Oak Road was again familiar territory but it made a change to approach it from this direction and the landmarks came thick and fast: Newman set and prop hire, the Angel (Askew) Pub, a play on the road name, and, just approaching Sandy corner and East Acton Station, a row of workers’ cottages looking truly out of place by now.

After doing the little loop round Brunel Road, the ‘run in’ to Shepherds Bush was even more familiar with firstly the homes for prison workers then the listed buildings of Wormwood Scrubs closely followed by student flats , Hammersmith Hospital and Latymer Schools and playing fields. All these are strung along du Cane Road, named for the prolific architect Edmund du Cane, a son of Plymouth.

Once under Westway and into Wood Lane the BBC dominates with buildings of various vintages and grandeur. The extent of the site made us question why droves of people had been sent to Salford? Will the BBC sell off the spare office/studio space?

Sure enough as the stops for Westfield shopping were announced our passengers who had boarded with us in Chiswick got off, as did most people. In fact the last two stops taking us round 2½ sides of Shepherds Bush Green were the slowest probably due in part to the seasonal fair complete with a Walzer few us of could even bear to look at.

All the fun of the fair indeed. As befits our age we more enjoyed the range of architectural delights available to us on this circuitous but charming route.

The Number 271 Route

2011-12-28T05:04:00.000-08:00

Thursday 12 May 2011

This was the third bus of the day: we had come from South of Honor Oak tothe heights of Highgate, and this bus would take us back to Finsbury Square andthe city of London. ‘We’ were Linda and me, since Mary was busy child-minding.

We walked down the hill from where the 214 had left us, and were not kept waiting long before the 271 rolled up. The view down the hill towards London was slightly misty but still extensive and we headed downhill, reaching the Whittington Hospital. The significance of the area was marked by a couple of pubs: Whittington and his Cat and the Whittington Stone, with an inn sign showing young Richard presumably with ringing in his ears.

A handsome Manga graffito occupiedone wall, cheering the Holloway Road up considerably, and we also admired achurch poster ('Galilean Carpenter seeks joiners’) and ‘The Loving Hut’ whichproved to be a restaurant serving ‘pure vegan and vegetarian cooking’ so I hopeno reader thought it was another kind of establishment (we saw one of those alittle later, we think, since it was called ‘My Desire’ and had its blindsfirmly drawn)

Another interesting shop front was LondonMagyarok.com, a rather specialist estate agent for Hungarians, and we alsopassed the HQ of the National Youth Theatre.

Our first bus journey of the day had shadowed parts of the South London Overground, and now here we were at Upper Holloway Station, a part of the Gospel Oak to Barking line, heading down the Holloway Road to the huge and rather decayed looking Odeon.

We came to a campus of the LondonMetropolitan University, not to mention the Nag’s Head Waitrose which used tobe Jones Brothers. We liked thename of a Ghanaian Restaurant - Sweet Handz - and were interested in a pub called ‘TheHoratia’. It has previously beenknown as the Lord Nelson, so it seems not too fanciful to hope they haverenamed it after the hero’s daughter (see this less than well written bit ofWikipedia)

Arrived at Highbury Corner, and Highburyand Islington Station (yes, the Overground again) we noted the totallyinadequate provision of cycle parking, and had barely time to register the Hen and Chickens Theatre Bar before heading down Canonbury Road, the only bus to serve this part ofIslington. Neither of us has evervisited the Estorick Collection, and we were not inclined to interrupt our journey today, but we shallcertainly come back now we know where it is!

Past Essex Road Station, and over theRegent’s Canal, we were soon into Hoxton, passing the Salvation Army’s HoxtonCentre and then to Old Street, where we noted the Wesleyan links: not just the Leysian Mission and theWesley House, but also Epworth Street. (For those of you who, like Linda, donot know this story, it was at Epworth Vicarage that the infant John Wesley was rescuedfrom a fire, and declared to be ‘a brand plucked from the burning’,thereafter being expected to devote his life to God)

From there it was a short step to FinsburySquare , where we arrived within 30 minutes of leaving Highgate, for onceless than the advertised time!

The Number 270 Route

2011-12-28T04:38:00.000-08:00

Tuesday 27 December 2011

You might expect us to be doing old things as the year ends, but this was a trip of new things: we have never travelled a route on a Bank Holiday; and we have never had two gentlemen to accompany us two ladies (Mary will be rejoining us in the New Year) Both these novelties were extremely pleasurable. We would not have known that the services were running at weekend rates, and the empty roads meant they ran pretty well to the nominal timetable; and having Andrew and Tim along was fun.

The 270 starts in Mitcham: the bus map says Madeira Road, but the first stop is actually in Commonside East, close to the Three Kings Pond. We departed at 10.10, Linda having been dropped off after a fruitless search for the bus and the rest of the party in Madeira Road. Our double decker was not very busy, though a modest number of shoppers did get on and off as we went along. The pond, by the way, was named for the nearby pub, now a chinese buffet, rather than any Christmas visitors. We headed through Mitcham, with its attractive Christmas tree on Fair Green, and passed a huge Lidl, which was open and busy. Mitcham Public Library, on the other hand, was closed.

After Figges Marsh (named for Mr Figge who owned the land in the 14th century) we came to the cemetery, glowing with flowers from Christmas visits, and then admired the pub sign for the Gorringe Park Pub, which is a punning 'G' made out of orange peel.

This is a Young's Pub, probably named for the House and grounds that used to be here before the needs of Victorian population growth replaced it with housing

As we came into Tooting itself, past the mammoth police station and Amen corner, we saw what we thought must be the nest of a homeless person, behind a roof of umbrellas. At least it has not been as cold this Christmas as it was last. We also passed Morley's department store, which we think must be a branch of the Brixton Store. This Tooting one used to be called Smith Brothers, apparently.

Coming up to Tooting Broadway Station, we admired, not for the first time, the statue of Edward VII. As we approach the Diamond Jubilee of the current Queen, it's worth thinking what a difficult time an heir to the throne may have, waiting until well into middle age for the proper job to start.

The road feels very much like a country lane as it wiggles towards Streatham, and we passed another cemetery as well as the Diprose Lodge Almshouses in their attractive enclave. They were built by the St Clement Danes Charity but seem now to be for sale.

We noted a minor incident at a bus stop, with a police car stopped and the officers having a conversation with a car driver. We did not know, as we moved on, whether two other, racing police vehicles were dashing to the scene or going somewhere else. The Halfway House, another Young's pub with a good sign, counts as Earlsfield, and we assume that the river being crossed in the picture must be the Wandle.

After the various Youngs Pubs we had passed, it was interesting to see that nothing has happened to the former Young's Brewery. Young's did move its operation to Bedford, but has now sold out of brewing altogether (can you tell that we had a CAMRA member with us today?)

We crossed the Wandle, moving into an area with several Fuller's Pubs as well as the Young's houses, and were impressed by the staying power of a small house squeezed between modern commercial premises, and soon crossed the Thames, to arrive at Putney Bridge Station at 10.45. Our double decker had headed fairly straight along main roads as it made its way north, and we were aware of the difference a Bank Holiday makes to the rate of travel.

We hope you have noticed the changes to the shape of the blog, as made by Tim, including an index page for ease of checking earlier buses, and the fact that the book list is now down the side. Thanks , Tim.

The Number 269 Route

2011-12-19T14:35:00.000-08:00

Monday 19 December 2011

Linda thought she might be busy towards the end of the week, cooking and such, so we decided on a Monday outing. Our previous bus leaving us with a brief walk to Bexleyheath shopping centre, we were on board our double decker by 11.40, and heading towards Bromley North.

We admired, but did not sample, the various fairground rides set up for the enjoyment of the Christmas shoppers. We thought the Crazy Croc looked particularly unsuitable for children emerging replete from burger bars, but then neither of us much enjoyed that kind of thing when young (though I do remember an illicit trip to the Great Yarmouth funfair, over which - on reflection - I prefer to draw a veil)

We also noted the clock tower, erected to celebrate the coronation of George V, and with two of its niches occupied, one by the King, and one by William Morris, the local designer, whose Red House is just up the road. Coming away from the many bus stops of the centre, we turned left along Bexleyheath Broadway, and then darted (if a large bus may be said to dart) into the area around the Library, or rather 'LibraryPlus'. After this little wiggle, we headed out of town, quite steeply downhill, to cross the A2, which looked quite busy.

Now we were into mainly residential areas, crossing the River Shuttle Way as we went. While I am always keen to try any walks we may pass, this tributary of the River Cray is only 8km long, so we may leave it for a few years. We were the only bus along here, and were unloading people who had shopped in Bexleyheath as we went towards Sidcup. A couple of large buildings dominate the skyline: Marlowe House, centre of Child protection work for boroughs from the river southwards to here, with Christopher House next door, is one of them. Legend has it that the Playwright had links with the town, when not spying for Walsingham or brawling in Deptford pubs; he certainly attended school down the road in Canterbury.

The other large building is going up at the moment. I just hope that it is not offices to stand empty, but we were not close enough to find out the names of the builders or anything useful for searching.

As we left Sidcup and headed towards Chislehurst we entered the borough of Bromley, marked by the appearance of municipal flower beds full of winter pansies. We also admired the handsome war memorial (Sidcup's is also fine) and various green areas with autumn colour as we continued through residential roads. I have recommended the Caves to Linda before, to no avail, so I shall have to force her off a bus when Spring comes. Speaking of the weather, by now it had started to rain, and the bus, which had felt so warm as we boarded it, had chilled down considerably.

Chislehurst was the retirement home of the ex-Emperor Napoleon III and his wife Eugenie; after the splendours of Second Empire France, he may well have enjoyed the quiet of suburbia. But he only lived there for 3 years, and Eugenie moved to Farnborough after the death of their son, though she did not die till 1920. I think an exclamation mark there might be ageist, so I shall not add one.

Chislehurst station is well away from the village; indeed it seems closer to Bickley, which actually has its own station. We were passing a surprising number of small private schools. Linda's theory is that they exist to get children into Bromley's well regarded selective schools. We were heading into Bromley town along Widmore Way, but sadly the Widmore Pub is no more. Soon we were in the little warren of streets around Bromley North Station, where we finished our journey in only a little over the advertised time.

The Number 268 Route

2011-12-18T13:53:00.000-08:00

Golders Green Station to the O2 Centre (Finchley Road)
Thursday June 9^th 2011

Our second June 2011 bus day started really well, with both of us arriving punctually at Golders Green station to inspect the refurbished toilets – cosmetic, I would say, with new floors, doors and tiles but the same old reluctant cisterns etc but probably TMI. Golders Green Bus Station is now having a total make-over – I suspect they will give each couple of routes their own parking slots rather than the somewhat random free for all there is currently, but we shall see.

Anyway: we got ready to settle in at the first bus stop in North End Road, as after all this service only runs every twelve minutes or so, but one beamed round the corner – it was a single decker and we were comfortably installed and off at 10.05. The very steep and narrow climb takes all traffic up to Hampstead, both Heath and Village, and because the road is essentially a tree-shaded cutting (the pavement is on a completely different level and only on one side) it is always very dark whatever the weather. The sights include the ‘Old Bull & Bush,’ a famous pub that never seems to make much effort with its frontage – no window boxes or tubs and fairly functional tables, but presumably it is still favoured by walkers having a break or young men making eyes at their favoured one as per the lyrics.

On the right hand side are a string of blue plaques for local worthies who lived round here – Anna Pavlova for one. The bus emerges at the top, probably the highest point of the Heath as some-one has planted a flagpole, and past the newly refurbished Whitestone Pond, originally for horses, who must have been thirsty when they got to this point, with its new reedy edge. It used to look both leaky and scummy so the improvements have certainly paid off (thank you Corporation of London) though we noted there were some guys working round the other edge today. The route also passes the pastiche Jack Straw’s castle, once a pub now a gym.

The 268 is the only route which then heads downhill into Hampstead Village – we were not quick enough to capture all the boutiques and specialist shops round here though there are plenty of chain stores also. We wondered if the art dealer could really source all the artists on his shop sign, and certainly if anyone can afford the prices these works of art would fetch it would be the folk of Hampstead.

For a virtual tour of the village – well worth a day out especially when the fair comes to town click here. Though there are many handsome mansions the charm lies also in the coveted workmen’s cottages and well-preserved fountains, wells and other street furniture.

Jo was keen I mention the William IV pub just to remind everyone that as monarch he spared all sailors for rising for the Royal Toast – as the Sailor King he had served aboard ships and knew if you stood up you would hit your head…

Just as we approached the old Town Hall, with Belsize Park tube station opposite, the bus turns right into Belsize Avenue and we enjoyed a good stretch of this route with its magnificent large white painted houses looking very sparkly in the sunshine. Though the route was not actually hail and ride we could see it offered an excellent service for the elderly residents of Hampstead to get them down to (and more importantly up from) the supermarkets of the Finchley Road. I can remember walking this route on summer afternoons as we had to get ourselves from school (pretty much on the Finchley Road) to a tennis club by Belsize Park big enough to absorb about 60 school girls at a time. I’m not sure we did walk in our tennis shorts but there was certainly no parental frissons or angst about the unsupervised nature of the stroll. For someone who was not good at tennis the temptation was to head for the tube and go straight home.

This route takes you close to Maresfield Gardens and The Freud Museum. Whatever you may think of his treatments and the patients he selected he was often perceptive and made everyone think again about human interactions.

By now we had emerged into College Crescent, which reminded us that most of the land from here down to Chalk Farm belongs to Eton – the college referred to. Jo was taken by a sign saying Swiss Deli, which she took to be an outlet offering Swiss rather than the usual Polish/Italian delicacies but I think it was named more for the area than the food!

For a little bus the next bit of the route is the most testing as it has to cross 4 lanes of traffic in order to go round the Swiss Cottage one-way system and back down the Finchley Road; charming as Hampstead is, the charm offensive stops here on the Finchley Road but there is an excellent, large and very calm Waitrose in the well-maintained Thirties Building that was John Barnes. Art Deco fans shop here.

We passed the Underground station and stopped outside the O2 Centre having had a delightful 25 minute trip.

The Number 267 Route

2011-12-17T12:57:00.000-08:00

Tuesday 22 September 2009

This was the route that would bring us back from Fulwell Bus Garage to Hammersmith, the 33 having brought us there. The drivers sitting around the bus garage seemed a little vague about where we might find our bus, suggesting that we take the 33 back! Our language skills were not good enough to explain why this was anathema, so Mary and I walked up to the crossroads and found the head stop of the 267, boarding at 12.35. London bus maps, though inspirational and free, are a bit impressionist when it comes to the siting of stops. We were delighted that it was a double decker.

The route did not overlap with the 33 at all, curving north where the 33 had headed south. We passed through Twickenham with the William Webb Ellis pub and the Garryowen Club there to remind us of who first picked up the ball and ran with it, and which Club preferred kicking ahead. Lots of young people getting on and off the bus pointed to the proximity of Richmond College, whose website, I am glad to say, makes clear that they use Moodle for their VLE, as this gives me an excuse to say 'hello Tim'. We knew we were in west London as there were constant aeroplanes overhead.

The West Middlesex Hospital made the fifth hospital of our day, though the first on this route, and we passed the gateway to Syon Park. A number of private schools, including Latymer Upper and the Green School testified to the number of prosperous people in this area of London, and there were some handsome properties.

The Grand Union Canal at Brentford Lock was soon followed by Kew Bridge, and we were back into the borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, reaching Hammersmith Bus Garage at 13.25, a much faster trip than the 33 which had taken us to Fulwell.

The Number 266 Route

2011-12-17T10:46:00.000-08:00

Brent Cross Shopping Centre to Hammersmith Bus Station (Lower Level)
Thursday June 9^th 2011

Well, a day that had started so well with barely a wait and faultless connections rather dissolved at this point and not anticipating such delays we had not brought any sandwiches so hunger did not help the situation.

Learning that this route, as well as running over 24 hours delivered a bus every 7 minutes, we thought it prudent to take a comfort break and sure enough soon after we returned to bus stop B at Brent Cross (more bus melée than a true station) along came the 266 and we boarded at 12.45PM . Not that clean – people have a nasty habit of leaving their half eaten chicken dinner under the front seat or on the front window sill…

Off we set at quite a pace across Tempelhof Avenue, which reminded us that Barnet is twinned with about 10 places including Berlin. Over the North Circular from Brent Cross there is quite an alternative shopping centre that has grown up with less glitzy stores including outlet centres for many of the bigger chains such as Mothercare or Next. As it is the North Circular and a junction where traffic often slows there are very many hoardings and we noted how so many brands seemed to be celebrating their 100^th year – Nivea and Coca-Cola to name but two. Perhaps on reflection it is actually Capitalism which is 100 years old, and each brand is just another facet of it. Looking very like another outlet shop the Jesus House Centre seems to do what it says on the tin, and is a religious Christian outlet if you will.

Before we knew it – and this part of the journey for once was very smooth – we were heading south along the Edgware Road through Cricklewood past more outlets and some charity HQs (the MS Society) and the Al Hussaini Masjid, one of several mosques we passed on this trip – this one looks to be located in a former office block so is not particularly conspicuous. No idea what the pretty Arabic says: ‘New Mosque opens here’ perhaps? We stopped by the Comfort Delgro Building – the word’s second largest Transport outfit from Singapore that owns thousands of vehicles including Metroline, so sure enough we stopped and switched off the engine while the drivers changed (hence the initial speed I think, to get off shift). Then off we went turning down Walm Lane towards Willesden Green, Willesden, Neasden and Harlesden . I have to say none of the ‘dens’ actually make my heart soar, and moving at snails’s pace while it was trying to rain the outlook generally was not great. Willesden High Street’s shops have one or two more interesting places – the Architectural Salvage shop look s like somewhere that might have some hidden gems and we 'Modest'

which offers ‘Fashion with Conscience’. Just as we passed Willesden Bus Garage the roads (these are all former country lanes and really not very wide and certainly not wide enough for the current volume of traffic) there was a police car in the bus lane and no room for us to pass – they seemed to be questioning a young man in a doorway but just few metres further along was a deserted pub where they could have parked up more considerately. Eventually an onward coming van gave way and we progressed down Beaconsfield Road and Ilex Road. Religious outlets came thick and fast here – they often take over smaller office blocks and we had in quick successions Portuguese Brazilian Christians (not just ordinary Catholics then?) and Elim Pentecostals, 7^th day Adventists and the Well of Deeper Meaning above and beyond the two further Willesden mosques.

We were in the aptly named Church Road – again progress was so slow we could have leapt off at any point to buy some Jerk Chicken or even a scandal or two. One shop was using a (toy) tiger to attract attention – it had a label tied to its ears which made them flap in the breeze and look quite animated and lifelike. Having said that not sure to what they were attracting out attention!

We passed Willesden Junction where indeed a multitude of rail lines converge, sometimes on different levels – the station itself is very confusing and they post an operative at a key point to redirect the lost souls who are on their third circuit of not finding the right platform.

After more slowness through Harlesden due to some fairly substantial road works, the announcement came that the bus would be terminating at North Acton and a group of us were duly ejected to wait for nearly 20 minutes on a rather windswept bridge by one of the many Acton stations which break down as follows:

Acton Central and South Acton = the Overground

North Acton and East Acton and West Acton = the Central Line (Underground)

Acton Town = the Piccadilly and District Lines (Underground)

Acton Mainline = the Railway
Oh yes and there’s a canal as well, while the 266 crosses A40 Western Avenue at Gypsy Corner.
(Thanks to our readers for these corrections: your blogger had by now clearly had enough!)

The net impact on the traffic is many bridges and much slowness.

Park Royal is essentially a large trading estate, and though we only skirted it today we spotted a couple of gems including the John Lewis Depository. Boden at least make a virtue out of necessity and while I spotted the Perfume factory Jo saw the real interest factor. I prefer to think of my perfume being hand gathered in the lavender fields of Provence rather than manufactured out of chemicals in Acton but there you go.

We are not very familiar with this Elvis’ output being more connoisseurs of the American one but this offers great samples.

We then crossed the Uxbridge Road at Gypsy Corner – slow but not stationary – and into more of Acton. Most striking thing hereabouts were the three or so 22 floor Tower blocks built in the late Sixties otherwise known as the Steyne Estate.

Round one of the more focussed bits of Acton (sorry, I’ve lost my nerve after listing seven stations) was a large Morrisons, but more encouragingly a quite lively market on what looked like the remnants of a market square. Acton has some other delights – two quite good ghost signs and a Passmore Edwards Library, one of I think 22 or so such foundations he bequeathed to the less affluent bits of London.

By now the bus was announcing it was going to terminate at Seven Stars corner but rather than get stranded again we did that trick of eying up the bus ahead (to be fair our 2^nd driver did try to catch and overtake the 266 in front – obviously not the one that had rejected us at North Acton) so we managed, just (the doors shut in my face while Jo was holding up the next 266 but I squeaked and was released in time). Not good for the temper.

Along The Vale there were huge numbers of police on both sides of the road. As it happened we were by now behind a 207, one of the remaining bendy buses, and on previous trips on these multi-doored buses we had watched how when the inspectors boarded they would be accompanied by police to prevent potential fare-dodgers exiting (See the Route 18 about 2 years ago). However on this occasion they did not attempt to get on the 207 so it was far from clear what these numbers of police were doing round the edge of Hammersmith – waiting for another bus?

Along the Vale the substantial buildings housing …Newman prop hire stand proud.

Rather than heading straight along to Shepherds Bush the bus heads further south along Askew Road towards Starch Green . I have not as yet found any explanation for the history of the name but did find a delightful web-site for an art and craft studio of that name.

The run into Hammersmith Central is packed with interest – a beautifully kept Young’s pub, the Thatched House, Godolphin & Latymer School and – just opposite the Metropolitan Line station – the Swan Dining Rooms complete (or restored) with pub sign, lantern portico and excellent architectural detail.

The bus’s final resting place was the Lower bus station at Hammersmith and we staggered out 1 hour and 40 minutes, and on our third vehicle after we had started. I suspect today was not exceptional and there is something about this route that does not quite work. If the account appears disjoined it was written over several days but in a way reflects the experience also.

The number 265 Route

2011-12-16T03:01:00.000-08:00

Thursday 15 December 2011

Today was predicted to be cold and wet and even snowy, but in fact Linda and I met in bright sunshine at Putney Bridge Station to head to Tolworth, even if it clouded over by the end of our return journey (on the 281, if you were unaware of which two buses have Tolworth as their terminating/starting point) The rain didn't arrive till the evening.

Leaving at 10.15, we headed over the river, coming at once to signs of the politics of sewage, a dispute which has been going on for some time now. We turned right to travel alongside the river, passing a block of flats with not one but three blue plaques: the one for Fred Russell, Father of Modern Ventriloquism, which we have mentioned before, and two neighbours, Gavin Ewart and Lord Hugh Jenkins. It would be nice to know if one liked the other's poems, or indeed whether they shared political views: the one an artillery officer and the other a pacifist Trade Unionist and member of the Tribune group. We also passed another plaque, this one erected by the Putney Society, to J R Ackerley, the author and editor of The Listener, one of whose claims to fame was that he was openly gay in a period when such honesty was more than a little risky.

Having moved from Hammersmith and Fulham to Wandsworth, we noted lots of rather smart eateries, as well as the Porson's Nose butchers, with attendant cow, and Will's Art Warehouse , before moving out into the green spaces of Putney Common and the Lower Common cemetery.

Crossing the South Circular, our driver needed all his abundant calm and good sense to deal with some very silly behaviour by other vehicles. The concerted indrawn breath of his passengers on this crowded little bus proved unnecessary as we continued smoothly past Rosslyn Park RFU Club. We went past the extensive campus of Roehampton University. My A-Z is old enough to refer to all the separate institutions, many connected with the training of teachers, which have combined to make the University and so explain its geographical expansiveness. New flats are being constructed on part of the land of Queen Mary's Hospital, itself a shining new building.

Here our bus began diving through the estates where Linda worked for some years in her Wandsworth days, returning to the main road before heading off again. We headed onto the A3, where we made rapid progress, looping into and out of the great Asda which Linda and I regard as 'ours' since we made use of its facilities when we travelled the 72. We travelled so fast that we barely had time to notice the green on both sides. A couple of young men were on their phones trying to ascertain where to get off. (The conversations were so inconclusive that they stayed with us all the way to a far corner of Tadworth: clearly a mistake as they got straight back on the bus to return)

We came off and under the concrete of the A3 to travel parallel to it, and visit the enormous Tesco, as well as passing the Fountain Roundabout and pub in New Malden and moved into our fourth borough of the day, out of Kingston and into Merton, but soon were back alongside the A3 to the Tolworth roundabout, with its unattractive (and available) office block. Here we finally left the major road, to travel along Tolworth Broadway.

We passed a couple of 'ghost signs', in quite good condition, though dated by the phone number they displayed, and so came to the little green area in King Charles Street where our route ended. It was just on 11.00 and we were aware that we had come a serious distance, but had travelled fast because the route follows the A3 when it is not serving the residential and retail areas.

The Number 264 Route

2011-12-14T08:03:00.000-08:00

Croydon Town Centre to St. George’s Hospital (Tooting)
Monday May 17^th 2010

This was the middle bus of a 3-bus outing and took us into unknown territory, the ‘we’ being Mary & I as Jo was off being clever somewhere else. The day went like clockwork as we had just descended from our key bus round the corner, broken into enough of a run to convince the driver to wait and off we went at 11.05. Croydon is of course amazingly well provisioned with buses and this one made every effort to leave its friends behind as soon as possible, disappearing behind the High Street and managing to thread its way behind (it being pedestrianized in front of course) no less than three Shopping Centres: the Whitgift, the Drummond and – the newest and sleekest – The Centrale, to emerge in what can only be described as a hinterland criss-crossed by both railway beneath us and trams alongside and above us.

(NB There has been recent press coverage of negotiations being afoot between Croydon & Westfield about the future of the Whitgift; not sure why? Surely a shopping centre is a shopping centre?)

The 264, bravely striking out alone, next seems to hit a kind of ‘No Man’s Land’ which is neither Croydon nor Mitcham, characterised by small pebble dashed houses put up between and after the wars, and where the most significant landmark is the chimneys of the nearby IKEA – one of the early and most enduring IKEA branches. The odd more modern building really stands out and we thought some local flats had individual wind turbines, which seemed very neat.

The roads are broad and though the volume of traffic is steady the bus was able to make good speed and before long we were at Mitcham Common, where it hardly stopped. Even on a nice late Spring day it had something of the look of a ‘blasted heath’ about it, and from a bus seemed lacking in features or walker friendly paths which might inspire. The (website would clearly beg to differ.

To be fair it was a novelty to be on a bus driving through extensive greenery after the concrete canyons that are Croydon. Mitcham itself clearly has a history as a village that has gown up over the years – it still retains many village features in names such as Three Kings Pond, The Windmill and Fair Green, though unfortunately the names are now more evocative than the reality as much of Mitcham seems to be a vast one-way system. Clearly the bus proved quite popular from this point as several passengers boarded as we carefully edged our way round a dog-riding sidesaddle on a bike with its owner. (And no, the dog was not wearing a safety helmet.)

What this journey made me realise is that what I have previously assumed to have been Mitcham Common is in fact (Figge's Marsh a much smaller area once belonging to Mr Figge. The latter kind of forms a boundary between the boroughs of Merton and Wandsworth and the areas of Mitcham and Tooting – the roads narrow, the housing stock is not public and much older, and though not in any way more affluent than its neighbour Mitcham seems to be both livelier and more populous and popular. The replacement window and pebble dashing firms give way to ‘Life in the Spirit Fellowship’ at Amen Corner and the (Mixed Blessings) Bakery seem to sum up the vibes round here This perhaps a second branch of the master bakery in Camberwell that Mary had noted on her travels.

Tooting Broadway was heaving, not only with buses at the crossroads but with students from South London College out foraging for food (no shortage there). Tooting Library’s face-lift is now complete and its frontage and magnificent weather vane were glinting in the sun . Tooting Broadway station sports not only a statue of King Edward but also some curly street furniture – a seven branched candelabra, which some one has seen fit to preserve.

Very kindly this bus goes straight across and up Garratt Lane and round in a big square to arrive back at Blackshaw Road and the front entrance of this hospital – once of course sited close to Hyde Park Corner but firmly established in Tooting since 1973 and serving the local population – Edward Jenner, he of the smallpox vaccination, is a former St George’s man. It is also the co-ordinating place for blood transfusions.

Being fortunate enough to need neither blood nor treatment but merely another bus we ambled from one stop to another to pick up our route north and home…

The Number 263 Route

2011-12-12T13:35:00.000-08:00

Holloway (The Nag’s Head) to Barnet Hospital
Thursday December 1^st 2011

This was the middle bus of a 3-bus outing and for the time of year was bright and not very cold; in any case we had done a certain amount of brisk walking in the wrong direction (sigh) and there was a barely a wait for this ubiquitous North London Double decker.

Once it arrived at The Nag's Head (not surprisingly a long defunct pub now giving its name to the major road junction) crossroads the Route 263 takes its one and only left turn before heading straight North for most of the route.

The Holloway Road is an Inner London mixture of old and new with some of the newer looking a bit tired and some of the older having been spruced up.

The National Youth Theatre. have rehearsal rooms along here – this used to be the route for actors to learn their craft before ‘Spot a NOT X Talent ‘ came along.

Further up the hill, and it’s a bus which climbs steadily, we passed the very handsome façade of the Northern Health centre and indeed it is one of the 'lost hospitals' of London but partly preserved within its modern usage. Nearly opposite is Whittington Park which today had a rather handsome foliage (it was constructed rather than toped) Cat – as Jo said it took her a few visits to the Whittington Hospital to twig why there were cats everywhere – we think the cat is now more famous than his master and eventual Lord Mayor.

Just before Archway were warnings of road works to come but we sailed over the major crossing. The Archway tavern – a really large pub but just surviving – had a new Guinness Clock in retro style which cheered us up; not that we needed much cheering.

Talking of pubs we then passed the Charlotte Despard; a woman who managed to be a social reformer, pacifist and suffragette, though her links are not particularly with this area (apart from having been sent to Holloway Prison). I am not sure what she would have thought of the different shops along the Archway Road:

Pax Guns ( Certainly not)
Ripping Yarns
Edward Scissorhands – a hairdresser

At the summit of the hill you can just glimpse the tops of the trees, which form part of Highgate Woods with its eponymous station down there too. Having walked down there in some peace it is difficult to believe one is so close to the A1 and other busy routes out of the city. This bit of the route, essentially East Finchley, continued uphill in an unremarkable fashion – the Phoenix for all it is a cherished and heritage cinema does not have a very noticeable façade, but it does have 101 year old history! (PS We hope those film cans do not contain nitrate film.)

Other more independent shops include: Amazing Grates and All Aboard – the latter charity shops located in NW London who fund raise generally finding local different causes to support – and Black Gull Books, an independent book seller. The 263 seems to be the only bus along here but we suspect most commuters would use the Northern Line.We may have been the only bus but first outside Amazing Grates and then later today we encountered a plethora of white vans who variously:

- Did U-turns in the bus lane

- Parked at the bus stop

- Cut into the bus lane

We passed some rather grand looking lodge gates with seemingly nothing much behind but looking at an A-Z indicates this would be one of the lesser entrances to St Pancras and Islington cemetery – apparently the largest and first publicly owned cemetery in London now in shared management between Islington and Camden, where the bus started if you remember.

By now the signs were all about the North Circular and to be sure we sailed straight over it – in my (too) many years of criss-crossing London I do not think I have ever traversed the North Circular so effortlessly. It is of course by flying over it rather than actually tangling with it that this easeful crossing is achieved.

If you head in a northerly direction from East Finchley you are likely to arrive in – yes that’s right – North Finchley.

After the batch of light industry the change to broader avenues and semi-detached homes is immediately evident, and again we were the only bus. After passing ‘Sea Rock’ – surely that was a Barclays Bank we thought – it was not far to the North Finchley Bus Station – a dark and forbidding place to be avoided and as luck (or more likely bus planning) would have it the 263 ‘avoids’ going in there, carrying on in a straight line North up the side.

And lo – it was time for another white van to do something silly.

More uphill, this time through Whetstone. It seemed difficult to capture the essence of Whetstone – brutalist council offices for Barnet, DIY and storage facilities, and then it is back to a low gear for the last uphill into High Barnet (with a bit of Chipping on the side).

The bus finally takes a gentle left in front of the church (see the Route 34) and along scenic Wood Street where the more historic bits of old Barnet are clustered, round the church naturally, including old school buildings and the Eleanor Parker Almshouses.

All that remained was the gentle twiddle into Wellhouse Lane to stop by Barnet Hospital; although this is not the only route passing by given that Barnet serves a large population over to Edgware it is sadly much more accessible by car.

The Number 262 Route

2011-12-10T12:04:00.001-08:00

Gallions Reach (Sainsbury’s) to Stratford Bus Station
Monday September 6^th 2010

This was the middle bus of a 3-bus outing and took us into unknown territory, the ‘we’ being Sue G. & I as Jo was off at ‘jam camp’ and Mary still not fully recovered.

Our key route, the 101, had left us at a very similar looking bit of new Beckton and after chatting to some knowledgeable locals they advised to take a bus to the start of the 262, which delivers its passengers to the Sainsbury’s, has a little rest and then sets off again. During the rest period we heard how Beckton used to be an area full of gas works and even earlier than that farms. The couple had been living locally around Cyprus – an oddly-named stop on the DLR – for nearly 30 years and had seen many changes. They now had the choice of three supermarkets (there really isn’t anything approaching a High Street till you get back to Plaistow) and while the University of East London had brought life and custom to the area it also brought parking problems. But grandad was palpably proud that from his humble beginnings his own grandson had succeeded at University.

We were tickled by some of the local advertising taking rhyming slang as its motifs – if you are worried about parking Gallions Reach offers you ‘space for 2000 jam jars’, and there’s plenty to eat if you are Hank Marvin!

The first third of this journey seemed to consist of a series of rather tight roundabouts so we were feeling a little frazzled on the bouncy top deck but it did give good views – at one point right back to South London & Shooters Hill (you see we have real hills in South London, not just the Beckton Alps) and of the colourful buildings that have been built hereabouts. At one point the bus zooms quite fast along an elevated dual carriageway but I was disappointed not to be flying over bits of the docks or river, which after all are not far away, but over some desolate land now overgrown with greenery. Of the previous gasholders there is one remaining – in fact a very beautiful possibly late Victorian one, which has been popular as a film location?

The regeneration of the area continues with several retail and business parks and more recently the University of East London which the 262 passes at some distance and without benefit of the Riverside views.

New developments line the very straight Tollhouse Way until the route passes under the A13 and thus moves back into an altogether older and more diversely populated part of London. The 262 takes itself pretty much through Plaistow (even the on board announcements did not seem that clear on how to pronounce this) and crosses over the Capital Ring where it is elevated as a Green walkway.

Some small corners of Plaistow have had a face-lift: there was a lovely children’s play area that had clearly got its bid in before the cuts arrived and looked very nice and safe (everything lands on sand) for it. The closer the bus gets to Stratford the more dense the housing so smaller blocks and terraced streets and still smaller blocks give way to the odd tower block which still survives from the Sixties boom in that kind of housing. We also admired the Plaistow Red Triangle YMCA building, which after closing has been smartly renovated.

Talking of building explosions Stratford Town Centre is one big building site. Obviously the nearby Olympic Stadium is the main thrust behind most of the activity round Stratford – the transport links are nearly complete: rail, DLR and 2 Underground lines, plus a range of buses. Westfield are building their second large shopping centre which seems to sit between the station and the stadium – not quite sure where that leaves the already existing Stratford Shopping Centre.

This was quite a short route taking us from redeveloped Docklands into redeveloping Stratford in about 40 minutes.

PS You all know that Westfield is now open and most of the site ready if not open to the public.

The Number 261 Route

2011-12-08T08:13:00.000-08:00

Thursday 8 December 2011

Our previous bus dropped us outside the Sainsbury's in Locksbottom, and we made use of the convenient - well - Conveniences, opposite. Fabulous new tiling but regrettably, previous users had been less scrupulous than one might have hoped. Too much information, so on with the buses.

Round the corner and into the capacious car park of the Princess Royal Hospital, Linda and I had only a few minutes to wait for our 261 to arrive (a double decker, I'm glad to say) and we were off towards Lewisham at 11.30.

The traffic queues which had held us up a few minutes before had now been completed, and we steamed along, past the Bromley Bus Garage, and into green spaces, with allotments on our right and fields with horses in them on our left. The autumn colours compensated for the serious chill in the air, though not on the bus.

There is a major house building project going on here, to be known as Trinity Village. I commented on the splendid municipal planting of Bromley, with bright primulas: Linda sniffed and said that it was a pity they did not devote similar love and care to the needs of their poorer residents, primulas being no substitute for decent social housing.

Linda having had her rant, it was as well that we came to some not-bad cycle lane, so I could have my turn. Mostly it was OK, but the way it narrows for each lamp post must make it quite difficult for cyclists to stay within the lines and thus within the law. It does give me the opportunity to give readers a link with the fabulous Warrington 'Cycle Facility of the Month' site, so you can see that there are others worse off than the cyclists of Bromley.

We came past the Tiger's Head pub, which looked much more prosperous than it had on earlier trips to the area, and then noted the Richmal Crompton pub opposite Bromley South Station. They seem to be doing 'works' around the station, but I can't discover what, unless it is an overflow from the track works in the area. Meanwhile, Richmal Crompton had time to write her excellent stories while working at Bromley Girls' High School.

On through Bormley, we turned right to go through the shopping area, where many of our fellow passengers got off, and then left to go past the attractive murals outside the supermarket, and so to the area known as Plaistow. It has always struck us as odd, since we associate the name with the East End of London. But then we have been close to Hayes today, which also has a twin town elsewhere in Greater London.

The hill that takes you to Grove Park gave us fine views towards Canary Wharf, as we passed into the Borough of Lewisham. We were not sure if the Baring Hall Pub, now saved from being turned into residential properties, has anything to do with Baring's Bank, though clearly the Lord Northbrook Pub, which we passed shortly afterwards is named for another member of the family.

We haven't done much haircutter spotting recently, but we liked the use of the scissors on this small shop, and we also passed the Allodi Accordion shop. We admire the specialisation of these experts in one corner of the world of music.

Other pubs which caught our attention on this pub-filled trip were the Old Tiger's Head. thriving while the New Tiger's Head is derelict, and also the Duke of Edinburgh, with a sign depicting one of Queen Victoria's sons, rather than her great-great-grandson, the current one.

As we came towards Lewisham station, the Ravensbourne was visible because of building works, or more particularly the demolition that precedes them. I made the mistake of commenting on Lewisham's rather limited planting on roundabouts and road dividers, and got told in no uncertain terms that the council concentrated on more important things, like social housing and proper care services.

We were saddened to see a ghost bike on the approach to the station roundabout. Recent figures show that we are still killing 10 people a day on our roads in the UK, almost all of them pedestrians and cyclists.

Our bus turned into the station at 12.20: a much straighter route than the one which had taken us to Locksbottom earlier today.

The Number 260 Route

2011-12-07T15:04:00.001-08:00

White City Bus Station to Golders Green Station

Monday February 28^th 2011

This was the second bus of a 4-bus outing and to set off involved little more than crossing the road into our very favourite bus station, the White City (Westfield) hub. Spacious, well set out gleaming aluminium and friendly operatives had all been our previous experiences but this time we barely drew breath as the 260 whisked us off and out. In retrospect this was perhaps the high spot of a route on which various factors – cold damp weather, poor visibility, dirty upholstery (nameless brown stains on the seats) and no heating, doubtless compounded by hunger – gradually rendered the trip less than joyous. And we had started the day so well!

The 260 travels round the outside of Westfield West, past the gleaming station and then round Shepherds Bush Green which is actually quite considerable but today looked more like a mud bath than a green. There could also be no greater contrast between the gleaming and sanitised shopping centre and the run down though quirky diversity of the Uxbridge Road.

We often travel through places on Monday when markets are not open but this one proved the exception.

For shop choices along both the Uxbridge Road and Old Oak Road we thought you might like:
Guava Jelly
Ambrosia Bakery
The Curtain Mill

The Nut Hatch

interspersed with pubs like the ‘British Queen’ and ‘Princess Victoria’ (little did they know how long she would reign when they started naming pubs after her!

Rather to our surprise after these lively roads we suddenly hit Westway (also known as the A40) at the grandly named Savoy Circus, merely a junction. So after urban crawl we were speeding (for the only time en route) along a 3 lane dual carriageway mainly lined with residential streets, except for a stretch that was weedily overgrown and looked as though it should have been a canal or railway? Research indicates that though demolition happened the promised rebuild never did.

This part of London, with Acton Mainline so clearly established on what was once the Great Western Railway, celebrates the engineer Brunel, mostly in its university but also in road names round here – and there is no shortage of bridges that we crossed. Most memorable was Abbey Road (NOT that one, see the 139) over the Paddington branch of the Grand Union, thereby indicating that all modes of transportation can continue to exist side by side.

By now we are quite familiar with this approach to the Central Middlesex Hospital, past the older bits of Park Royal. Just opposite the giant Asda we spotted some street art – not quite as grand as the bench in Bond Street where you can sit beside Churchill and Roosevelt, but obviously comfortable enough for some. As we waited for the lights we watched this man strike and discard most of a box of matches to no real effect.

If this was the Central Middlesex Hospital can Harlesden be far behind? The roads remain narrow and crowded round here and progress is always slow, today further hampered by rain. Not surprisingly lots of passengers got on here, so none of us were best pleased that after we had manoeuvred our way round Harlesden and the bits of Neasden that are bordering on Willesden we were turfed off the bus at Willesden Bus Garage. We have no objections if the drivers change over but it seems a bit churlish to withdraw the bus itself, An alternative 260 was lurking so we boarded (not able to get our usual front seats of course) and noted it was both cold and dirty too! Even peppermints could not save the day. Nor did the distant view of Wembley lift our spirits.

This 260 edged its way along the High Street towards Willesden Green, and it is difficult to believe that the roads back are really very nice. You can pretty much take your pick of religions round here with churches still as churches and others now mosques. Dotted amongst the fast food outlets (Filipino Asian Store anyone? or Russian 'Magasin'?) was an interesting looking architectural salvage store.

Given the slow progress elsewhere it was cheering that we crossed the Edgware Road pretty quickly so that we could head on north and a bit east through and up the pretty steep Childs Hill (the view is excellent if you are heading the other way as we have done!) to join the Finchley Road and a slew of other bus routes heading into Golders Green Bus Station.

Normally we are quite positive about this hub – me for nostalgic reasons as it usually marked the starting point for the Saturday and Sunday outings of my mis-spent youth, Jo because it’s on the Northern Line, both of us because it has reasonable toilets. Not today: they were having a refit so we had to leave the station and come back to tussle with our next route – but that was a story for another day.

Just to be picky again – Shepherds Bush Green, where we started was indeed a wide expanse of green whereas both Willesden and Golders appear to have lost their green grassy stuff and original claim to fame.

The Number 259 Route

2011-12-06T09:41:00.001-08:00

King’s Cross Station to Edmonton Green (Bus Station)
Wednesday March 24^th 2010

This was the middle bus of a 3-bus outing and took us to our furthest point north for the day – the day being the one when the ladies who bus had a male escort (related) to accompany them. He was in fact appointed as the official photographer but unfortunately even the upstairs of this bus was so crowded he got wedged mid-bus which rather cramped his and our style.

The bus’s popularity can only be accounted for by the fact it heads due north with few detours offering basic shops for most of the length of the route, with few other distractions on a weekday.

We left the bus-heavy territory of King’s Cross behind us to follow the Caledonian Road (Scots wha’ hae) passing over the rather pretty Thornhill Bridge, which crosses the Regents Canal. The locals prefer the name Cally Road hence the Cally Pools en route, not so far from another kind of baths – the Safi Hamam though unfortunately this is just a shop front for a beauty parlour not quite the extensive Turkish Baths its name suggests. This stretch is often busy with chaps on scooters doing ‘The Knowledge’ based at the nearby Taxi Training headquarters – more power to their elbows, the rest of us having moved on to Google Maps and Satnav. We are now more experienced travellers than when we started so we know this is a 2-prison route, but is not unique in that. First comes the fairly classic white Pentonville, followed by the recently rebuilt red-brick Holloway.

Alongside the railway lines, of which there is no shortage hereabouts, we spotted what seemed to be an interim depot for compressed rubbish being dumped by Veoilia vans, presumably destined for landfill somewhere not too far?

On a more appetising note, a green plaque commemorates Carlo Gatti, Swiss Italian ice-cream entrepreneur and good for him – the canal must have helped with distribution and the Canal Museum has taken over his former premises.

There is density of housing the length of this route which means most of the high street small shops and takeaways seem busy enough serving a diverse population – the Alban Deli and Alban Travel indicate a group now better established in London, as does the Addis Ababa restaurant. Hackney is trying to improve and signs indicate:
”This site will be delivering more affordable housing for Hackney’. Longer established are the City of London Corporation flats and estates, which always look that little bit more robust and better designed than the local council’s efforts. The same might be said of the large Woodberry Down Estate conceived in the 1930s but built post war in an attempt to offer affordable homes to thousands. Having visited family friends there in the Fifties I know the flats with their open walkways are spacious and solid.

I guess what was missing in the grand plan for this area was much open space – so much so that the very small Manchester Gardens impresses as a welcome oasis. Up and down the Seven Sisters Road is where the bus really filled up, even though it is far from the only route hereabouts. What’s more the 259 and others run pretty much in parallel to the Victoria line at this point but there was still no shortage of passengers. Through Tottenham there were a range of things on offer – the Bernie Grant Arts Centre , CONEL (the College of North East London), the Christ Apostolic Church with its LCD display, plus Town Halls, some in use, some not. Bruce Grove, actually a train station, has a very eye-catching market in its precinct and always looks busy. As well as offering two prisons, this is very nearly a 2 football club route: having passed the Gunners shop earlier at Finsbury Park Station we then had the Spurs Shop with the White Hart Lane Stadium (not one of the more iconic venues architecturally speaking) hard behind it.

For some reasons the male hairdressers/barbers seem to win out round here and we passed, not necessarily in this order: OBOYZ, CUT’Z and MR KLASS

Once out of what our Gooner children would consider enemy territory, Sainsbury’s seemed incredibly keen to get our custom, exhorting us to ‘Turn Around’ at several points along the straight route up from Tottenham to Edmonton. Also conspicuous was the pub The Gilpin’s Bell’ causing Jo to launch into a very impressive rendition of a William Cowper poem she had to learn by heart as a punishment for schoolgirl naughtiness. ( All 63 verses?) The link will get you the whole text but the brief version is that as some kind of 20^th anniversary treat Mr and Mrs Gilpin set out from home and the drapery business in Cheapside for a jaunt in the country at the Bell at Edmonton (sic) but given the cost of liquor Mr G. opted to take his own, strapped to his waist, and this combining with an unreliable mode of transport (a horse) the simple expedition soon ran into trouble.

Just short of our destination we had a little excitement of our own with a dust cart that was occupying the bus stop but all was amicably settled and just on the hour expected, we wheeled into the nicely canopied Edmonton Green Bus Station with a chance to admire their war memorial. This is one of those historic rather than actually still green-grassed ‘Greens’ but with signs to Picketts Lock and the Lea Valley I suppose that’s reasonable.

Not the most enthralling of trips but with more novel features towards the end.

The Number 258 Route

2011-12-05T05:49:00.000-08:00

Monday 14 February 2011

First, I need to apologise to Tim: I assured him at the weekend that there was only one London bus to Watford, and that was the 142. Write it off to old age, Tim, because here's the other....

We (Linda and I) had only a brief wait at Watford Junction Station after we arrived on the 142. These are the only two ‘London’ buses to visit Watford, so it seemed worth linking them together. Having seen a single decker 258 we were delighted to find this was a double decker, and settled into the upstairs front seats at 11.50. We noted the distinctive livery of the London Overground on the railway bridge, a more cheerful sight than the several empty office blocks in the area. We headed back down Clarendon Road, and along Beechen Grove, noting that Watford Market was not open on a Monday, and the back of Charter Place was looking very gloomy though clearly the Council has been working on improvements.

Then we were down past Watford High Street Station, logoed for the Overground, and Watford Museum formerly Benskins Brewery Offices, but now a good quality local museum, which we hope will have survived the cuts by the time you read this.

Down at the Water Lane Roundabout we noted Geo Ausden, the metal recycler or as we elderly people used to say, scrap dealer. Jo wondered if she had taught the firm’s daughter, but could not remember whose set Lisa had been in.

We popped round a roundabout to call at Bushey Station, with its clock, passing Thwaites, where Rachel’s violin used to be serviced and also the Oxhey Messy Church which we found puzzling not just because of its name, but because we were not in Oxhey. But it is simply the name given to a group of churches that seems to have some fun stuff on its website. Then we were past what is now the Bushey Academy, a school which both Jo and the bus stop remembered as Bushey Hall School, and a blue plaque for Lucy Kemp Welch who lived in Bushey while she painted, mainly horses. I expect she would have enjoyed the crocuses as much as we did.

Up through Bushey, and then right along the side of the common, where we were the only bus, we reflected on how prosperous green belt housing always looks. Had I known that signs to the Grimsdyke Hotel would have led to the former home of WS Gilbert, I might have leapt off the bus, but I didn’t, which may be as well, as the website has a strange reference to ‘the infamous’ Gilbert and Sullivan, which might have caused breakages if we had had coffee there.

At this stage we were joined by a number of students from Weald College as we headed to Harrow Weald, where we had been the other week on the 140. This time Linda was able to capture the charming violin playing mouse outside the Italian Restaurant.

As we went through Harrow, it all seemed very familiar: the handsome mosque, the dreary exterior of the St George’s Shopping Centre, and the peculiar golden woman by the bus and train station.

We were saddened to notice The Fat Controller Restaurant closed down. No doubt, by the time you read this, it will be something entirely different. (actually, we were there just a couple of weeks ago and it is still 'not in service' as we bus users say)

Next, we headed up Harrow Hill to see what can happen when a good man tries to help the poor boys of his area. Here is what the terms of John Lyons bequest intended:

In February 1572 John Lyon, a yeoman of Preston in Harrow, secured from Elizabeth I a charter to re-found a free grammar school for the boys of the parish of Harrow, to send two scholars to Cambridge and two to Oxford, and to improve the highways between Edgware and London. These intentions were amplified by Lyon's 'Orders, Statutes and Rules' (often called his will) drawn up in 1591. The schoolmaster was to be at least an M.A. and the usher a B.A., with salaries of £20 and £10 respectively, which were to be increased to 40 marks and 20 marks if Lyon left no heir. The schoolmaster might also teach fee-paying 'foreigners' provided that this did not adversely affect the children of the parish. (http://www.british-history.ac.uk/)

Harrow School’s website is rather quiet about fees, but it seems safe to imagine that they are not less that other private schools of the same status, ie between £20,000 and £30,000 pounds a year. Sorry, local poor lads of Harrow, clearly John Lyons should have tightened up his instructions when it came to those fee paying ‘foreigners’.

Please excuse the rant.

Well, we then glided down the hill, and soon reached South Harrow Station, where the poor design of the access roads made it hard for the buses to manoeuvre.

We got off our bus at 12.55, just a bit earlier than the predicted time, and climbed straight onto our next bus, about which you will be able to read in a couple of years’ time when we reach the high 400s.

The Number 257 Route

2011-12-05T04:47:00.000-08:00

Tuesday 23 March 2010

Linda and Mary were both busy today, so it was great to have Jenny with me. Thanks to early 'dropping-off-at-nursery' duties, we met at Walthamstow Bus Station at 09.00 and were on the 257 and on our way to Stratford shortly afterwards. Down Walthamstow High Road, I finally understood why Funeral Directors so often have corner plots: so that the vehicles can get in the back with their cargoes, and without disturbing the bereaved entering though the front. It may be obvious to my readers, but it hadn't previously occurred to me.

There were daffodils in profusion along Lea Bridge Road, but the lakes and trees we passed later were still very wintery. We saw the 6/8 (Inns of Court and City Yeomanry) TA Signals HQ, and then a number of cars parked in the layby indicated that we were near Whipps Cross Hospital. We were the only bus along Leyton Way, and admired the Sir Alfred Hitchcock Hotel so called because he came from the area, though this was not his house.

The huge roundabout with the A12 has amazing cycle and pedestrian tracks within it, under the roads, which was as well, since some of the on-road cycle markings in the area were frankly hair raising.

We twiddled round the one way system of Leytonstone High Street to visit the bus station, next to the Tube station, and there, to our surprise, were hundreds of people waiting.

Clearly something had gone wrong with the Central Line. They poured onto our bus; then the driver announced that the bus would not be moving as it was overweight, so they all poured off, and it became clear that the trains were moving again. They all flooded back into the station and we went on our way after a 10 minute pause.

On past the church and a couple more corner Funeral Directors, as well as the 'Loaded Dog' Pub. As usual, I can find details of its fame as a music venue, and information about the threat of closure, but no explanation of the name. There are lots of Caribbean eateries in the area, as well as an Eel and Pie House. The Plough and Harrow boasted a heated beer garden, bad news for the planet, though good for the smokers. But the most exciting pub we passed was the Cart Horses, proudly labelled 'The Birthplace of Iron Maiden' a rock band even we of the Elvis (or in Jenny's case, Beatles) generation have heard of.

Shortly afterwards we rounded St John's Church, Stratford and, with views of the building works for the Olympics, reached Stratford Bus Station, a mere 50 minutes from Walthamstow.

The Number 256 Route

2011-12-05T04:28:00.000-08:00

Thursday 16 November 2011

Noaks Hill to St George’s Hospital Hornchurch

We walked round the corner from our previous bus to the busy Noaks Hill Road, and waited outside the Bear Pub, apparently once known as the Goat, but here since the 18^th century.

Linda and I were on board by 13.10 and heading down hill, with countryside on our left (including horses grazing, always a pleasure to Linda). We passed the Pomapdours Pub, and speculated whether it was named for the hairstyle or the 18^th century courtesan, but have since failed to discover any answers.

This brought us into Hilldene, and part of Harold Hill, embellished by a roundabout with standing stones. We have noted before that this part of East London has adapted its planting to the possible drought consequences of climate change. There has not been much rain lately and we thought they were looking rather good.

We paused briefly in the forecourt of Harold Wood Station before continuing our journey through the pleasant housing estates, built, we think, to house people being relocated in the later 1940s from bombed South and East London. If this is the case, it would help to explain the startling number of care homes and ‘sheltered living’ complexes we passed. We were, it must be said, rather surprised to see one being built for the Over 55s, at a time when people will be working until they are 67 or 68.

Very large houses were interspersed with bungalows, and we noted again what a great year it has been for pyracanthas. Students got on and off as we passed Havering College.

There was a lot of traffic on the Southend Arterial road but fortunately our crossing point was controlled by lights so we were not held up. After passing a large Mormon Church, we reached the outskirts of Hornchurch, with its ‘Oh My Cod’ chip shop (no, I am not making an connections there) and then made our way through the town.

We noted that Elly’s Couture offered clothes for ‘Proms, Weddings, Races’ but deduced that this meant for Ladies’ Day rather than actually riding or indeed running. We had experienced the road works of Hornchurch earlier in the day, and passed the plaque for the heroic boy seaman Jack Cornwell (see Linda’s account with the 252 early in November and also here) but this time we swept on past the station, to reach St George’s Hospital at 13.45 after a pleasant 35 minutes.

This had been a neat day, starting and finishing in Hornchurch, with a little loop around some of South Essex’s residential areas in between.

The Number 255 Route

2011-12-04T02:38:00.001-08:00

Streatham Station to Pollards Hill
Tuesday January 4^th 2011

Mary, Jo and I had walked up Streatham High Road from St Leonard’s Church thinking a bus advertising itself as starting from the station might lurk alongside the rather modest Streatham Hill station but in fact the stop is opposite. Streatham of course is well provided with transport, having three mainline stations and at least 12 bus routes, so not surprisingly we are frequently visitors to these parts. (However today we experienced a frisson of anxiety as we spotted that the Route 159 appears to have altered its route since we rode it last year – See Addendum to 159 posted late March 2011.)

Streatham was not very busy and clearly the driver was trying hard not to get ahead of himself so took the route very gently though there were in fact few boarding passengers until past Streatham Common. Streatham Station, equally modest to its uphill counterpart, is now totally dwarfed by a large Morrisons store, but the Baths are no more having been closed due to ‘structural issues’. Ms Redboots has kept us up to date with plans for a much hoped for replacement Leisure Centre… Given swingeing local authority cuts it would seem lucky for this end of Lambeth Borough to be getting such a renovation or replacement, pools being expensive to build and maintain. The Ice Arena, which is a private venture, seemed still to be thriving, and is one of the few indoor such facilities in London…(due to close later this month.. see her comment on Route 250) On the corner opposite Streatham Common is the very simple but effective war memorial that was built mid 20^th century and always stands out on this major bus and car route into London, originally of course a Roman route up from the coast.

As we continued, south Streatham blends into Norbury, which is where most of the passengers got on, as round the station are clustered shops, take-aways and a bank or two. We could not quite see what was going on but there were crowds both inside ad outside the bank with a certain amount of police crowd control? Shortly after this, about the only excitement on this repetitive route, we turned right into Stanford Road and the heart of residential Norbury. Lots of pebbledash - what can I say?

Jo and I were trying to guess the ages of the homes round here: given none or few have garages or off street parking, they must predate the era where everyone was expected to have a car sooner or later. Wikipedia suggests the London County Council built 500 homes in Norbury between 1906-1910 but I think the generous application of pebble dash is a better indicator and these homes are likely to be from after World War 2; the other clue being that the rows of terraces are fairly unbroken therefore post dating bomb damage.

Pollards Hill itself, where this and other routes terminate, has more recent developments including a Harris School (they are dotted all over South East London and most in very new buildings) and next door heath centre. It was here of course that the passengers got off having completed their morning errands.

The bus completed its short journey in little under 25 minutes, with only the last quarter or so of the route offering much novelty.

PS Few photos from this trip so have added a couple of Montage shots; also Lego London though little of that shows South London – I wonder why??
PPS Several routes to follow this week.

The Number 254 Route

2011-12-02T04:56:00.000-08:00

Thursday 1 December 2011

I was rather puzzled last week to discover (courtesy of a comment about the 253) that the 254 was once part of the same route. I had not imagined that the route from Aldgate to Holloway could have anything to do with the bus from Camden to Euston which we so regularly take. Indeed, I pictured a northward journey from the start, a bit like the 17. Well, that's what this project is about: opening the eyes of parochial travellers to how the town knits together.

Linda and I met at the little bus station opposite Aldgate tube, and were onto the 254 just before 10.00. With fine views of the city, we headed not North, but East.

Our first landmark was Aldgate East Station, with a blue plaque to the poet Isaac Rosenberg. It's apt that his plaque should be at the Whitechapel Gallery, since he had hoped to become an artist, instead of being remembered for ever for the 'droll rat' and 'the parapet's poppy'.

We hurried on eastwards, past many banks but also small clumps of terrace houses, which had clearly survived both the Blitz and the developers. We were following the line of the so-called Cycling Superhighway (CS2) as it makes its lethal way to Bow Roundabout. I could not help thinking that it was perhaps appropriate to have an ambulance parked alongside it.

We passed the stylish and substantial East London Mosque as well as the Jagonari Women's Centre, and continued east. As we reached the Royal London Hospital and the memorial to Edward VII opposite, I really did wonder if we were on the wrong bus. The former Albion Brewery looks rathe shut up now, though still a fine building.

And now at last we turned north, or left, up Cambridge Heath Road, to pass Bethnal Green Gardens and reach Bethnal Green Station, scene of one of the worst events of London's Second World War experience. On a more cheerful note we passed a convenience store named 'Offie and Toffee', which amused us, and then came to the Museum of Childhood. There is little that brings on the Schadenfreude in a former teacher better than seeing a school party about to enter a museum, but there is such a lot to see and do there that I was sure the behaviour would be impeccable.

Soon we were out of Tower Hamlets and into Hackney, where we approved of the borough's signage, and also remarked upon the amazingly narrow Old Ship Pub. We assumed that it has a more standard sized entrance on another street, as indeed it does.

At Hackney Central we did indeed pick up the 253 route, and we alternated with them for the rest of the journey. We noted that the Lord Cecil Pub still has its picture of Lord Burghley, though it has been closed for some time and is clearly the subject of local debate. We passed Clapton Ponds, and then Clapton Common, which also has a pond, and spotted a police van with the strapline 'convictions that stick'. There were serious roadworks in Stamford Hill, and were were held up for a good ten minutes, occasionally glimpsing fine views across the Alexandra Palace.

As we passed through the Woodberry Down Estate, which is being regenerated, there came the message we like least: that the destination of the bus had been changed. It was going to terminate at Finsbury Park, so we got off just after Manor House Station and were soon on another 254. We said hello to the Arsenal Shop, and admired the couture opportunities of Finsbury Park, before heading round the Sobell Centre to reach the Nag's Head and our terminus near Holloway Prison. The trip had taken 70 minutes, which is not bad, considering the road works, as well as the huge swathe of East and then North East London we had visited. And the sun shone for much of the way, too.

The Number 253 Route

2011-11-25T01:10:00.001-08:00

Hackney Central Station to Euston Station
Thursday November 24^th 2011

We have been rather slow through the 250-60 route numbers, mainly because there were none we had travelled earlier as return routes from other numbers, so we have been tackling them one per week. This week was the turn of the enigmatic Route 253 and in order to avoid further delays and getting bogged down in NE London overall I (Linda) decided to travel alone while Jo and Mary were otherwise occupied. On paper it looks a strange loop, swirling away into North London and not that dissimilar from the 254 – in fact they share a NIGHT bus.

Getting to Hackney Central on the Overground proved easy enough and the latter is a nicer station than it might appear form the outside. I of course chose the wrong exit, so watched a 253 sail away from the stop but had scarcely time to draw breath when another, clearly destined for EUSTON, arrived and myself plus three waiting passengers I’d already spotted got on. Why did they not get the previous 253?

A young woman with Rihanna-style hair (red and over one eye) and myself were the only ones upstairs as we drove off through Hackney avoiding the delays that often occur round Mare Street. The bus made rapid progress to Clapton, barely seeming to call at stops but waiting patiently at zebra crossings. To be honest, it’s a while since we’ve been to Clapton although it featured heavily in the early days of our Project so it was quite nice to be back alongside the ‘pond’ which gives its name to the stop and then round the Leabridge roundabout to continue in a straight line. Buses have always nestled in the middle of the roundabout and sure enough the double decker 38s, one of the first routes to be ‘unbendyed’ (not a word that will find its way into any dictionary) were neatly ranked.

Though I have not been able to find out whether there is any significance to the random tree trunks ranged along one side?

Straight on through Clapton and in fact it is only this pair of buses that offers this service – it is a red route too. The bus passes Casenove Road but I am unable to confirm whether this was named for the eminent stock broking family though it seems more likely than not and hints at Hackney’s more illustrious history. Along the Lower then Upper Clapton Roads there is wide range of housing – mainly post war flats but some Victorian villas and interwar semis, which are rarer round here. Past some screening conifers I noticed an all girls Muslim School playing netball in a green and white uniform (one of the new faith free schools perhaps?), and by the time the bus heads its way towards Clapton Common the other significant religious minority – the Hassidic Jews – are increasingly to be seen.

For the last few stops both the indicator board and the announcements have been saying ‘This bus goes to Stamford Hill’, which was rather annoying as it had not been the case when we started, so when we duly arrived at ‘Stamford Hill’ we were told ‘This bus terminates here’. ‘Rihanna’ and I climbed downstairs and watched the driver let a mother and buggy on board. Puzzling. As we rounded a gentle corner (think of the route as a horseshoe with us reaching the top) into Stamford Hill I went to ask the driver if he was continuing to Euston – answer came there none – so we climbed back upstairs. After about ten minutes of silence the indicator board sprung into life again and informed us we were heading for Euston.

Today with the weather clear and bright it was suddenly apparent that Stamford Hill is indeed a hill, as we had an excellent view right across North London with Alexandra Palace sitting squarely on the near horizon.

Moving from post code N6 to N4 meant our arrival along Amhurst Park to join the lower half of the Seven Sisters road at the Manor House Road Junction – back on the Piccadilly Line after a series of railway train only stations. The bus travels alongside the Finsbury Park, which gives the impression of being a rather linear and not very interesting park – more of a glorified recreation ground, though it does have fairly grand gates. Some of the buildings on the road side (left hand) are being renewed by Hackney in places.

Just visible in the brickwork for the station named after the park is a sign for the Great Northern and Electric Railway. I am presuming this is a reference to the Piccadilly Line as opposed to the railway being electrified in 1971? However what really catches the eye is the Arsenal shop below – today being a GOOD day to celebrate North London’s premier team.

Hereabouts we joined the route of the rather memorable Number 29 which seems to be the bendy still hanging in there … and down the Camden Road we went together, Talking of togetherness we had followed both a 254 (not departed elsewhere) and caught the 253 in front with which we played chase for the rest of the trip.

Camden Road has many familiar landmarks; more familiar to Jo who can walk to them any day of the week and they include the City and Islington College with its effectively noticeable ironwork wall and the low windowless redbrick that is HMP Holloway. Soon after there is what looks like a disused twin towered church though the brickwork and glass looked to be in good condition.

The run into Camden Town was inevitably slower, so time to notice a pair of Converse trainers hanging in a tree – part of a bullying or other trick? A glimpse of the canal as we passed over it before it reaches the busy market round the Lock. On the corner is ‘The Twins Coffee Shop’ with no apparent explanation for the name and while I was wondering what this was about we finally overtook the 253 in front. With all the one-way traffic through Camden this was relatively easy to manage. I have a real soft spot for the paint shop even more so with a home decorating job upcoming.

Once we reached Mornington Crescent ( I only insert these here as they set a standard for coherence and logic to which the rules for our own project aspire) the 253 continued straight ahead (as indeed had been the whole trip) down the what I always think of as that dark chasm alongside Euston station. Perhaps cursed in some earlier incarnation, but the sun never seems to penetrate down Eversholt Street with its Royal Mail and train offices all handy for Euston station. And finally the only right turn of the trip – into the bus garage.

Given that the driver was clearly not very interested in communing with his passengers I did not bother to leave him a card. A more streamlined journey than I had anticipated, but a not very relaxing 50 minutes.

The Number 252 Route

2011-11-18T13:28:00.001-08:00

Hornchurch (The White Hart)* to Collier Row * Not The White Hart but an Italian Restaurant
Thursday November 17^th 2011

Jo and Linda met at the now familiar Hornchurch, which since our last visit a couple of weeks back had sprung some road works close to where all the buses revolve. Never mind: we were off pretty soon and heading south via Elm Park for a destination ultimately further north and towards the country (this is a generic and not scientific term and applies to those green areas outside Zone 6 of the Travel Card area.)

Our first landmark was a recently restored brass plaque on a gatepost – restored in July 2011 because it had been nicked in May 2011 – commemorating local boy hero Jack Cornwell, who had stood by the deck gun as he was told, though shot down on HMS Chester during the 1916 battle of Jutland. Jack was finally laid to rest in Manor Park Cemetery after every school in the country had posted a photograph of him, and is very much seen as a local hero. The gun itself is now an exhibit at the Imperial War Museum in which both of us need to declare ‘an interest.’

Just to prove that we do not solely spot historical things, we noted close to Hornchurch station both a bridal shop and Pink Pointes ballet wear. More generally useful is the fact that this bus serves St George’s Hospital, which looked to be one of the few complexes which has not had a 21^st century rebuild. Indeed while the lower floor windows had been clearly replaced those on the upper floors looked in need of some TLC. The services appear to be mainly for the elderly.

The hospital had in fact been built in 1939, and was used by the airmen from the adjacent Hornchurch Airfield; originally a World War 1 airfield, but not popular at that time as the accommodation was under canvas but then resuscitated for the World War 2 airmen whose names are commemorated in the street names hereabouts. The pub sign (The Good Intent) is in fact an approximate picture of a Spitfire plane (though the name is not at all plane related) and its designer RJ Mitchell has given his name to the local school, though unlike Jack Cornwell he was not a local man. Mitchell was the subject a film directed by and starring Leslie Howard called the ‘First of the Few’.

Having passed Airfield Way the bus then took Coronation Drive towards the centre of Elm Park. We decided the ‘coronation’ referred to was that of George VI – he of the speech impediment and smoking habit.

The area was clearly laid out with wide avenues between generous roundabouts and shopping parades by the station, with decorative street furniture, and was originally seen as a ‘garden city’ – some locals now have a different and rather more jaundiced view. Whether he was expecting to catch some ‘chavs’ we were not sure but a bus inspector boarded at this point. The garden bit of the original scheme still holds true as we passed some open common land complete with now picked-over blackberry bushes and a riding school.

The bus then turns away from this glimpse of semi-rural Essex and back to more Thirties properties and Roneo Corner whose history we covered back on the Route 248. Even more nostalgically as we crossed the busy A124 Road and spotted the Number 5 bus heading, as were we, towards Romford.

Along with the wealth of bus choices we did the ring road tour of Romford delivering and taking on passengers in greater numbers of course. We are still recovering from the shame of ‘going the wrong way’ 2 weeks back so the least said about Romford the better today. Suffice it to say we have more or less walked the entire ring road due to turning the wrong way.

Today and for this route only we were heading towards Mawney which we take was once a village, now well absorbed into Romford. We also crossed the mighty A12, which promised travellers Southend and points east. However the 252 continues as a sole route north up Mawney Road and White Hart Lane (Not that one) mainly through suburban residential areas. For much of the route the designated cycle lane was parked up with white vans, occasioning a rant from Jo. It has not been a good few weeks for London cyclists so that is understandable.

After one more turn we arrived rather more suddenly than we had expected at our final stopping place in Collier Row, named for its once local charcoal burners. Unlike Elm Park, close to the start of our trip, Collier Row though of the same Thirties era does not benefit from an Underground station.

Definitely an Essex bus south and north of Romford but with more interesting features than we might have anticipated and taking about 50 minutes.

The Number 251 Route

2011-11-16T09:37:00.001-08:00

Arnos Grove to Edgware
Monday February 7^th 2011

Today was Jo and Linda while Mary was resting her back after some slightly too strenuous child care. Because of continued road works on the North Circular we had been slightly short-changed on our previous route (the 141), so rather than walk from Palmers Green we had ridden 2 stops on the Piccadilly line but were therefore able to admire both the inside and outside of Arnos Grove Station. I had hoped that Solar Penguin, who photographs stations, might have visited this one but he seems to have skipped straight to the Bs, which is his loss as Arnos Grove is one of the (cliché alert) jewels in the Piccadilly Line crown. As it happens Jo had just given me as a birthday present ‘Art Deco London’ so we were able to look up the designer of the drum shaped ticket hall (Charles Holden) said to have been inspired by Stockholm City Library. Sadly the exhibition will be finished by the time you read this …

From this you can guess it was no hardship to wait the 10 or so minutes for the modest single decker bus, which we boarded along with a handful of other passengers. The purpose of this route seems to be to link the Piccadilly with both branches of the Northern Line so it carves a very much east/west route well outside the North Circular,

We started by heading through some fairly standard residential areas, interspersed with the usual odd Business park, low key local shops, and a multi-way roundabout called Betstyle Circus; the reality is rather less spectacular then the name though I gather the whole area used to be Betstyle before being renamed New Southgate in favour of the then new station.

Talking of stations: once we had passed through Whetstone town centre, quite an interchange, we came to the penultimate stop on this bit of the Northern Line – Totteridge and Whetstone – after which the 251 was very much on its own. Essentially most passengers boarded here and then hardly anyone got on or off for the next dozen or so bus stops. Obviously speed came into the equation, which made photography even more difficult than it usually is from single-deckers.

Residential housing comes in various shapes and sizes, starting with terraces, moving to semi-detached (much favoured in NW London), then more detached with integral garages and set back. If I tell you the houses in Totteridge seemed to be so far set back as to be almost invisible, with signs to two golf courses (Totteridge and South Hertfordshire), ladies in riding gear and the odd Range Rover you can see they are not the sort of people who take a bus. The streets have names like Badgers Way, Horseshoe Lane and Grange Way and peter out into green areas, which are generically Totteridge Common. Even on my new A-Z (2011 version updates the 1983 one) there is little new building round here, ensuring the properties remain un-overlooked. Later research tells me that one of the bus stops is named for the £12m mansion of Montebello, so probably the locals could afford to buy the bus company!

The architect here was Philip Jebb a possible contemporary to Charles Holden but with rather different style and clients. Jo thought I had misplaced a comma or zero but no.

In fact the route is on something of a hillcrest with the Dollis Valley to the north and the Folly Brook to the south, though the two join up. I am sure the locals would not have permitted a double decker bus round here (and to be honest there is probably not a call for it) but the taller vehicle would have offered tremendous views both ways.

The only non private building we spotted was the former St Columba’s School (former pupils /staff known as Pelicans) which has now been closed for 5 years – Catholic priests not being greatly in demand….It’s not clear whether they have managed to sell on the site – perhaps one of those parent groups who want to run their own establishment might want to make a bid??

Well, all good things must come to an end and we came down both Highwood Hill and Holcombe Hill and quite surprisingly out at a roundabout, where we crossed the A1 at Mill Hill Circus – a well known traffic slow spot – and then along the well provisioned – every food taste catered for – Mill Hill Broadway until we drove in and out of the bus and train stations: like the third circle of hell they lurk, unloved and unlovely beneath the M1 itself.

From there the bus crosses the extensive Watling Estate – cottage style homes for Londoners built between the wars and still going strong. Burnt Oak station is not as handsome as some. The area has a newish hospital too: previously the Edgware General with in-patient beds it is now more of an outpatient resource and much more accessible than Barnet which also serves the local population. Tehj only puzzling shop was Kabul Gate Seafood as we were not aware of Afghanistan having a coast? Once past the hospital and impressive TA Building we turned right and negotiated the awkward turn into the very pleasant Edgware bus station, from where soothing music was sounding. A fitting end to a very unique 40 minute bus ride taking us to places we would never otherwise go.

Not that we needed soothing, just relieving before we headed south on the good old Northern line.

The Number 250 Route

2011-11-14T00:35:00.001-08:00

West Croydon to Brixton
Tuesday October 12^th 2010

Mary, Jo and I are all pretty familiar with Croydon, having either lived near there or had close relatives to visit, so it holds few surprises. The bus routes hold even fewer surprises as they all seem to duplicate each other 70% of the time, meaning that it is quite difficult to find much that is new to say.

Today found us going back and forth between Brixton and Croydon in pretty much a straight line, as of course they are joined by the A23. It does not seem a very demanding drive – compared to some – with hardly any turns: the only challenge is waiting for the trams to take priority as you leave Croydon.

We all remember how Croydon used to be so impressive – back in the Sixties it had a Manhattan-type canyon of tall modern buildings with an early example of the purpose-built (if draughty) shopping centre. As Jo reminded us, the reason it was possible to build so comprehensively after the war was because Croydon suffered more V1 Bombs falling on it than the whole of London put together due to some judicious ‘false propaganda’ put out on the radio. It now seems to be in something of second wave of needing rehabilitation. Croydon’s rail links are second to none but it is now also linked to the Underground system from West Croydon and this should help stimulate the local economy somewhat. [This paragraph was written many months before the 2011 riots, which of course hit West Croydon very hard – our sympathies to the affected local residents and businesses.]

This route was also a good illustration of the ethnic diversity of South East London as we went through areas where the food outlets, whether shop or restaurant, move from South to North India (vegetarian to Halal) with temples and mosques to match. Norbury and Thornton Heath seem to have a more settled Caribbean flavour and by the time you get to Streatham the Somali preferences come to the fore. In Brixton of course the whole world meets, which might explain why they have quite so many bus routes delivering the world to its doors and markets.

Round the Whitgift civic pride ensures that the central reservation beds are well tended with an interesting collection of ‘dry weather’ plants. Not all of ‘old Croydon’ was wiped off the map as the old church and ‘ghost sign’, not far from the Mayday hospital show.

Thornton Heath signage promises both clock tower and ponds. The latter bit of naming has puzzled me for 40 years – unlike Clapton there are NO PONDS visible. As far as I can tell the ponds (useful to water passing cattle and horses) were enclosed when enclosure happened (that would not get me many marks in an exam but I am sure you are all with me) into farmland so there have not been ponds for years. The clock tower, on the other hand, is very evident: it was built by public subscription, a bit like in 'Back To The Future' .

Can you tell I’m a bit bored on this trip!

Anyway: back to Thornton Heath, which is where this route does some deviation heading towards the right hand route through Norbury – a quiet residential stretch with pebble dashed houses. Those to the right must have wonderful views out to the back as the whole area between the railway line and this bus route (Green Lane and Parchmore Road) is a series of parks and sports grounds. Like the surrounding housing it dates from the Thirties, with a children’s playground added later.

At the end of Green Lane the route joins several others heading straight north to Streatham and the first really viable pub for some time turns out to be the ‘Pied Bull’, a Young’s pub. On a trip where nice looking OPEN pubs were few and far between this and the other Young’s pub at Thornton Heath (‘The Railway Telegraph’) led us to the conclusion that Young’s do look after their establishments more then most.

Just passing St Leonard’s Church in Streatham there was a brief tailback because of finishing road works, which gave us the opportunity of pondering what exactly wig suppliers might be supplying? Also the Maq-soud restaurant promised Italian – Turkish - Somali dishes, which gives you some idea of which empires once ruled Somalia.

This end of Streatham still has both Karting and Ice Skating, whereas up the top end the bowling and the night entertainment venue Forum had both closed. Today we even crossed the major South Circular and A23 junction without stopping. The last stretch of the route already reaches into Brixton. We know the prison is only one block back but today we glimpsed the windmill. In fact according to the website major restoration is about to happen with the sails taken down, so they will not be visible for a while.

As some sort of compensation we spotted the newly arrived heron weathervane just opposite the Ritzy, which cheered us up. (Pleased to report that’s it’s still there a year later so probably counts as permanent.)

It shows that even on a familiar route there can be novelty and we did enjoy some details of plasterwork even amongst some otherwise rundown buildings.

Do we think 250 marks the half-way point?

Broadly speaking the numbered buses stop at 499 with the odd 600 routes designated for school use – there are also significantly more ‘missing routes’ between 251-499 than in the ‘half’ we have completed (see the 218 and 239) so the answer is probably ‘yes’.

On the other hand there are about 107 ‘LETTER’ routes including the trams which is about a year’s worth of travelling at our current average of 2 buses per week…

The Number 249 Route

2011-11-11T04:41:00.000-08:00

Thursday 10 November 2011

Anerley Station: North Londoners may be a little vague as to where this is, and the answer is either (a) down the hill from Crystal Palace or (b) the end of one bus route (from Brixton, and you will read about that sometime next year, I guess) and where the 249 begins its journey to Clapham Common North Side.

We waited almost no time at all, and were onto the bus by 11.00, turning right out of the station with fine views ahead up the hill. The Thicket Tavern appeared derelict, but has recently been sold (the estate agent's website does not say to whom) and so may recover. Past the Station, we came into the villagy feel of Crystal Palace, with its mixture of shops old and new, some with change of use still clear.

As we travelled alongside Westow Park, we commented on the large number of green spaces around here, and indeed along the whole of this route. The mixture of fine, late nineteenth century, housing and more recent additions brought us to All Saints Church, where we took a very sharp right to take us back down the hill. Charming mock tudor villas occupied the service road to the right. We were a bit puzzled that there should be a pub named the Beulah Spa, but the excellent website of the Norwood Society explains all. Any water recommended by Faraday must be worth a sip. When someone sent a "sample of the water to Professor Michael Faraday for analysis'', Faraday sent back the analysis with the added note:- ‘This water is equal to, if not superior to, the waters of Bath or Wells.’ "
The bus then took us back up hill and along the ridge, our double decker managing the varying gradients without any problem. The British Home used to be called the Hospital for Incurables, and was founded partly as a result of campaigning by Charles Dickens.

The next green area was Streatham Common, which brought us up to the A23, where we turned right, past the war memorial, which is of a soldier standing with head bowed and rifle reversed. Apparently there was no inscription on it until very recently.

Streatham Ice Rink was looking very pink; we passed both the Manna Christian Centre and advertisements for Arabic Classes and offers of a free Qur'an at Streatham Mosque, as we swung steeply right up Mitcham Lane. Soon we were enjoying the green of Tooting Bec and came to St Anselm's Church, which has a pleasant green dome, though otherwise appears rather forbidding. It has a shop and a school attached.

Tooting Bec station indicated that we were beginning the part of this route which follows the Northern Line. We admired Du Cane Court, with its white facings and interesting history (would the Nazis truly have wanted to use it as their HQ? Still the transport links are good). Hildreth Street Market now has a Sunday market, as well as the everyday one we saw. Still going along the route of the Northern Line, we passed Balham Station. We were also running along the Cycling Superhighway Number 7. The Northern Line was working well, which is more than could be said for the superhighway (honestly, who thinks up these names? blobs of blue paint do not make anything super, or indeed a highway)

The former cinema is now a Majestic Wine shop, and the former South London Hospital for Women and Children is now a supermarket. Almost immediately, we were heading along the South Side of Clapham Common, passing the pond and the handsome new buildings of Lambeth College Sixth Form Centre. We swung left, to cut across the common to reach the Old Town, where out bus terminated, at 11.55.

This had been a really attractive trip, helped by being on the upper deck and therefore able to admire the many green spaces and the mix of housing and public buildings.

Just to finish with, I'm adding Nicholas's picture of a bus. That's what happens with grandmothers: obviously this bus thing is embedded in the DNA, and for someone only two years and two months old, I think this is pretty good.