The Number 390 Route

Monday 24 September 2012

Linda had very kindly changed the date so I could use the latter part of the week to visit the chicken pox ridden areas of the East Midlands:  I should not have liked to miss this route, as it is one of the two that pass near my house, and I had never travelled all of it.

So, 'what larks', as Joe Gargery used to remark to Pip, and we met at Notting Hill Station in what can only be described as pouring rain.  We set off, bound for Archway, at 10.10.  I stood aside for some people who were already at the bus stop, and they grabbed the front seats;  but there were fewer photo opportunities than on a sunny day so we were not too unhappy.  We thought they might be Finnish, since we could not glean any words from their conversation, whereas most other European languages have some familiar sounds.

Very smoothly, we reached the southern side of Hyde Park, retracing the route of the Central Line which had brought us to the start,  and admiring the handsome terraces with their modern sculpture. (Actually we thought this one looked a bit like one of those take-apart models that were used for anatomy lessons in the days before modern IT)

We got to Hyde Park Corner rapidly, noting the Tyburn Shrine at the convent there.  Those executed by Queen Elizabeth I are known as the English Martyrs, though they had of course sworn allegiance to a foreign power which had authorised the death of the sovereign, in a sort of 1571 version of a fatwa.  The shrine's website makes no mention of the 300 Protestants executed in the previous reign.  But I digress.  

We noticed that the strange horse's head sculpture was still at Hyde Park Corner, but were happily unable to photograph it as we headed rapidly into Oxford Street, still following the Central Line.

Selfridge's windows were spotty enough to make me think of the grandsons again.  The Yayoi Kusama windows are rather good, and you can see them being constructed here.

At least as interesting was the new build which as filled that hole where the dinosaurs were for so many months.  It isn't finished yet, but should be soon.  And, of course, Cross Rail is now busy with Bond Street Station, though the huge space down by Tottenham Court Road Station isn't finished yet.

The London College of Fashion is logoed as part of the University of the Arts, but we suspect that they would not want to move to King;'s Cross and away from the rag trade hub where they are now. 

We turned left to go up Tottenham Court Road, and the interlopers in 'our' front seat got off, presumably to go to the British Museum. We made rapid progress up  here, as we had along Oxford Street.  We were not sure whether it was recession, or wet Monday, but were pleased to get this route completed before Christmas shopping begins.  Passing the former entrance to the Second World War deep shelter at Goodge Street, we saw that it was now called 'Recall'.  It was the Eisenhower building for some years, as it had been one of his D-Day planning bases.

Past Heals, with its attractive plasterwork details, we reached the Euston Road, and University College Hospital.  Clearly those modernistic building materials were of high quality, as it looks pretty spruce.  I regard it as 'my' hospital since an encounter with a taxi took me off my bike and onto the pavement some years ago.

 Close by is the Wellcome Collection, always worth a visit, and the large chunk of real estate that is the Friends' Centre.  We speculated that frugal living and industrial prowess had made the Quakers rich enough to buy and hold onto this prime site.

The underpass was occupied by stationary traffic, but thanks to the blessings of the bus lane, we were soon into and out of the congested space which is Euston's Bus Station. I felt nostalgic as I spotted the 68:  my second journey of the project (number 2 to West Norwood,) enabled me to do the 68 back to here.

On along the Euston Road, past the British Library and the St Pancras Hotel, the rain meant that pictures were simply smears, and we turned right up York Way, where there isn't even a pretence at a bus station, despite the large number of buses which pass this way.

On up York Way, we went past Kings Place, the excellent concert venue with  the Guardian attached, and crossed the Canal.  
Next we passed the huge and forbidding new housing which is going up on the railway lands.  Will there be enough foreign students to fill the block close to the railway bridge?  Is £200,000 for a one bedroom flat 'affordable'?  Only time will tell and, of course, I may have identified the wrong block.

The night club along here, which used to be called 'Egg' is now 'The Apothecary' but still has bouncers mixing with the commuters, whatever time you go past.  

After 'not getting off' at the stop for my house, we were in the Camden Park Road one way system which means that I cannot talk about the whole food and Italian delicatessen shopping opportunities of Brecknock Road, but can mention Lord Stanley, for whom the pub along here is named.  He the one who helped to cause the Tudors, by changing sides with his substantial forces at the Battle of Bosworth.  On we went, past the houses built on the old site of the Jewish Free School, and so to Tufnell Park Station, famous for there being no Park nearby.


Signs to the Whittington Hospital told us that we were near to the end of this journey and sure enough, we arrived at Archway at 11.10, exactly an hour after leaving Notting Hill.

The Number 389 Route

Barnet (The Spires) to High Barnet (Western Way)

Wednesday August 29^th 2012.

One way or another we were having a day out in Barnet, and when our previous scenic route (see 384) finished in Quinta Drive we decided to ride it back – a wise decision as when we reached the bus stop at the Spires it transpired (pun intended) the 389 was a once-an-hour service that was about to appear – and so it did at 20 minutes after the hour.  Lucky timing. You would have thought we should have learnt by now that red on the 4 key maps, which we use for our bus day out planning, means an infrequent service…

The 389 spent what seemed like the first five minutes of its scheduled 8 minutes trying to turn right into the High Street after it had worked its way round the Spires Shopping Centre, so called not because of St John’s Church (which we were about to pass) but because it had incorporated bits of the Methodist Chapel spires – this might also explain why the Wesley Hall round the back is quite as new as it appears – presumably what the Methodists got for selling out their original buildings to Mammon afforded them a new centre.

What did catch our eye on a High Street depleted by said Shopping Centre was the Victoria Bakery, still maintaining a more traditional shop front, though I was depressed by the thought they are already planning their Christmas Puddings ...

The High Street is not short of bus routes, playing host to 11 of them along here as far as High Barnet Station, so the familiar landmarks could be ticked off – the 1916 Court House and presumably new ‘Red Lion’ with a resplendent larger than life-size red sculpture (or 3D as they would say today) as we were soon to pass the ‘Old Red Lion’ with an altogether more humble painted sign. One seems to offer all week roast dinners, while the other has both Psychic Nights (shades of Hilary Mantel’s Beyond Black’) and offers succour to both Barnet football and visiting team supporters. 

10 minutes underway and we arrive at Barnet Football Club – they have a long (founded 1888) if not altogether illustrious history, having been professionals since the mid-Sixties and on this Underhill site since 1907. Today all looked quiet as the season has only just got underway. Passing the stadium the bus does a narrow loop along an area squeezed between the Northern Line Underground and the Dollis Brook Valley and at some point goes into what the route indicator calls the ‘Western Way Hesitation Point’ making it sound like a cross between a geometry puzzle and an invitation waltz? Thus far had taken 11 ½ minutes and the route then returns along the only alternative – Grasvenor Road (and no that is not a misprint)– to climb steeply uphill back to the Great North Road. While I can see that High Barnet might conceivably be considered elevated, the ‘Hesitation Point’ seems very low?

Along this stretch of ‘Hail & Ride’ the passengers (and driver) all know each other and this route is clearly needed and used to get to and from the shops during the day, as we had not passed a single food or other outlet since leaving the High Street.

Back onto the Great North Road we passed both Red Lions again and made much swifter progress in this direction, completing the circle of this route in 20 minutes.  

Technically an even shorter route than the previous record holder, the Route 346 round Upminster. 

The Number 388 Route

Hackney Wick to Embankment Station

(Friday October 8^th 2010)

Thursday September 20th 2012

 All good things come to those who wait!  We were originally supposed to ride this route having got off our earlier Route 236 (the day also involved a 106 but I won’t get boring) but when we arrived at the bus stop we were informed by drivers from other companies that the 388 drivers were on a 1-day Friday strike so we made, as they say, alternative arrangements.  

So nearly two years later we arrived at Hackney Wick Station (well endowed with ramps) and strolled round a couple of corners to find a brace of waiting 388s. Hackney Wick suffers somewhat from the overbearing Westway Road and a lot of industrial units but some passing Olympic games had given the area a confident, tidy and friendly feel. 

(Unfortunately a previous encounter with a fireworks display over the River Rhine had left the camera in a mood expecting darkness so the photos from the first part of the trip are not usable. Apologies. You will have to manage with my limpid prose.)

From Hackney Wick the 388 takes a route along the north-west boundary of Victoria Park – I know we are supposed to love the ‘people’s park’ here but I found the security surrounding the big-screen Live Venue during the Olympics both unfriendly and overly stringent – they banned all food except chocolate bars and packets of crisps (?!). Perhaps the ever more gentrified locals in those large homes opposite the park did not welcome the ticketless wandering by. In amongst the large houses are some with dramatic art works on the end of terraces.This one courtesy of Flicker – and apparently covering a vandalised Banksy.

While the residential homes are a rather greying London Stock the old Cardinal Pole School building is a defiant red – thanks to Hackney’s schools building programme they have just moved into new premises but seemingly have not changed names. Cardinal Pole with his policy of burning the opposition (in his view heretical Protestants) would not be anyone’s role model of choice – unless you are Queen Mary of course. Having previously been the only  bus route, we joined several others as we turned into the start of Mare Street and thus Cambridge Heath Road, even rather nostalgically running into the Number 8. Though the three of us had the top deck to ourselves for the entire route downstairs became busier from here on.   

We crossed over the Regents Canal, much more famous and photographed at its Little Venice and London Zoo end but also being spruced up here.

The rather fine former Town Hall for Bethnal Green, which has amongst its stone decorative sculpture the original Blind Beggar, is now an achingly trendy boutique hotel with attached restaurant – if you enjoy less than flattering foodie reviews stop here – otherwise there are more interesting things to keep you in Bethnal Green (and this route passes them) such as the Museum of Childhood and the rather decorative Salmon & Ball pub. Also spare a thought for the 172 persons who perished in the air raid disaster.

As the only bus project member who enjoys shopping I was interested to see Box City, described here as “the worlds first pop-up mall,” though when all is said done the chains still dominate – however, the setting is quite intimate and who knew a steel container could look so smart?

This was as we came through trendy Spitalfields to Shoreditch High Street, trendiness being about to give way to the more sober City of London as we crossed the city boundaries, marked as ever by the red/white bollards and upstanding dragons. The City of London shield is very recognisable mainly due to its simplicity, or perhaps I am just over familiar with it as a City of London School blazer, complete with crest, hung around at home for a few years.

All the buildings in the City are densely packed which makes the contrasts between old and new even more intense.  The former included St Botolph without Bishopsgate, which is not to be confused with the nearby St Botolph’s (I suppose it’s like how you get all those girls named Britney at one time and then none for years: when did you last meet a Botolph and then two come along together?).  For examples of the newer along  the strangely named  Norton Folgate, the Broadgate on Bishopsgate  – we have been rude about RBS before so will forbear today.  We really do not like the multi-coloured steel sculpture that sits near the boundary – it is both too large and too small at the same time – in similar vein to the Orbit a few miles to the East but that at least has size on its side.

Old Liverpool Street is weighed down (and propped up) by newer buildings and down towards Threadneedle Street The Pinnacle struggles to make progress. In contrast to many towers that we have seen go up swiftly during our bus riding careers this one is very slow – Jo thought due to the work force being needed on more Olympic projects but my view is what the picture says – with so many empty offices to let who needs another 60 floors of them??      

The sights of the City come quicker than the bus stops – the Bank of England and Mansion House, the statues to Wellington and James Peabody, and then suddenly along Queen Victoria Street there is a HUGE hole covering a triangular wedge of ‘prime real estate’. The hard hats at work seemed to belong to McGee but that proves to be a demolition firm rather than a construction company so we are none the wiser.

Queen Victoria Street has a rather incoherent mixture of buildings ranging from the College of Arms (should you wish to become Lord Muck of the Recycling Bins they would design a shield for you) and the rather drab Baynard House, former home of BT and named for the old castle which used to stand here. The bus of course gives a good view of St Paul’s.

By this point we were closing in on the river and when we reached the shiny new Blackfriars Station (entrance complete but still awaiting the bridge shopping options) we could see both across to South London and along to the Eye. The bus has its own turning slot (against the flow of traffic) and comes to a halt close to the Blackfriars Pub for which station and bridge are named. The pub of course was named for the Dominican Priory monks being well know for their brewing skills

A robust trip, which takes you from outside the Olympic venues past the gentrified Victoria Park and the more down to earth Bethnal Green through Shoreditch and the heart of City to come to rest by Blackfriars.

PS Could the treat have continued? The maps (paper and online) show the 388 passing along the Victoria Embankment (where no other route goes) and coming to rest at Embankment Station but it clearly has a resting place where we got off??         

The Number 387 Route

Thursday 13 September 2012

Linda was on holiday, so it was Mary and I who boarded the 387 at Little Heath at 10.50, destination Barking Creekmouth.  We headed into the King George Hospital and then out again.  It was a double decker and we had, of course, headed upstairs, so we did not notice if many hospital patients and visitors boarded.  The route goes along Barley Lane and we noted signs saying 'Warning:  Obey Parking Restrictions, these are enforced'.  Mary's guess was that, parking in hospitals being so costly, residents were trying to prevent hospital users taking their spaces.  There were certainly a lot of cars parked along here, and we were the only bus for a while.

We came into Goodmayes and past the station, as well as the clock tower with bible messages at the road junction.  We also admired the tree-lined road, and the new build to be called 'Academy Central'.  Coming past the bus garage, we admired the spire of the Royal Oak pub, and Barking Park, though we were not close enough to see whether the travelling funfair was coming or going.  This brought us towards the middle of Barking, with the fish sculptures on the roundabout, reminding us that this area used to be a major fishing port (as we have  mentioned in previous posts).

Although there are rather too many closed shops in Barking, we were pleased to see the Gurkha Namaster restaurant, and the colourful new flats as we headed out of town.  The one way system meant we couldn't really see the Broadway Theatre, and the memorial to Job Drain VC, but we knew they were there, from earlier journeys.  And we did enjoy the views of the church across the green as we headed down towards the A13.  


And that's where things went rather wrong, or at least slowed to a standstill.  We came to serious traffic queues, both along the A 13 and in our road called, with unintentioned irony, Movers Road.

Large lorries trying to turn right off the main road and down to the Industrial and business areas of Barking Creekmouth blocked the roads and tried to slip cross on the red.  Our driver was very calm, and managed to avoid being hit by a pushy Bunzl Healthcare van, which had already annoyed me by boasting one of those stickers that read 'cyclists, beware of passing this vehicle on the inside' but don't add 'because it has a mad driver and the wrong kind of mirrors'.

Once we were over the main road, it became clear that the delay was because of serious resurfacing work along River Road, with police diverting traffic.  Having spent about 25 minutes getting past this blockage, we came to signs that suggested it might be to do with the second phase of the East London Transit Scheme, which made us feel better, as we approve of improvements to public transport.

Heading towards the end of our journey, we were impressed with the amount of new housing which has been built in this formerly industrial and warehousing area.  Council banners celebrated the attractions of the new stylish homes, riverside living, new primary school and excellent transport links, which seemed to mean the 387 bus.  We hope that they will provide shops and restaurants soon.  

We reached the end of the route at 11.55.  When I offered the driver a card, he said that he had seen us on the TV.  Fame!  now I know how celebrities feel.  Though they probably don't usually get off the bus to be followed by the charming driver waving a dropped Freedom Pass.

We had had a sunny and entertaining journey, despite the traffic hold up, and travelled back a few stops on the same bus, with no delays going North for some reason, to reach Barking Station.

The Number 386 Route

Blackheath (Tranquil Vale) to Woolwich (Hare Street)

Thursday August 11^th 2011

The August outbreak of rioting and looting, which started in Tottenham and then spread, is what had been happening at the beginning of the week we rode this route, just to tell you how long ago that was.

We had arrived at the Blackheath Standard and taken a stroll across Blackheath, normally a very pleasant event but today there was some intermittent nasty and slanting rain.  We peered into Blackheath Station hoping to locate a bus (silly I know) and then tracked it down at the first stop outside the Crown, which as its little plaque told us is one of the oldest buildings in Blackheath and used to be a stopping place for post coaches before they drove on into London. There was stabling at the back. Our eyes were also caught by the rather lovely frontage, that is the Mary Evans Picture Library. Only Jo (today we had Sue G along while Mary was in Wales) had heard of this formidable resource but we also admired the very pretty building, where it is housed.

The bus strikes out straight across the heath, along Wat Tyler way as it happens, which made me reflect what an achievement it had been for Wat and other leaders to gather so many ‘peasants’ together in one spot without the benefit of Blackberrys, as this week’s less politically motivated rioters had done. No telephones/telegrams or cars and yet they assembled.

The heath was fairly empty today with the weather so unpredictable, but there was one little girl wheeling into the wind in airplane mode and one parent struggling unsuccessfully with a kite and this seemed as typical of heath users at any time.  The other benefit (less so from a single decker) is the superb views particularly over to Canary Wharf.

As you bear left and down the hill the views get less spectacular and at the bottom of Blackheath Hill it was interesting to note that the Lethbridge Close estate had not only been demolished but was halfway to a rebuild. Still we were not destined to enter Lewisham borough today but started heading east along Greenwich South Street, whose very fine houses and almshouses are somewhat blighted by the density of the traffic. By now we were 1 of 4 bus routes running this way.  This remains true for all of central Greenwich through which we passed extremely swiftly today (tourists put off by riots?). The sign for the old Cigar factory added an exotic note – Carmen of Greenwich perhaps?

As this was holiday time the University was quiet, but some of the Maritime Museum’s exhibits seemed to have wandered across the road with two D-day vehicles parked up by the dining hall.

Once through Greenwich the bus does not disappoint and manages to find quite an engaging if circuitous route to nearby Woolwich by dint of flyng over the motorway approach to the Blackwall tunnel and skirting both Charlton and Vanbrugh, but offering a comprehensive service to the solid Kidbrooke Park Estate  – at the start of the trip there had been mainly female passengers but from here on there was a busy bunch of diverse shoppers.

The other key destination, once we had crossed Shooters Hill, was the Queen Elizabeth Hospital – a rather squat new building so hard to photograph, but patients struggled off and on the bus, some sporting their new leg braces and other orthopaedic supports.

The building site opposite the hospital is apparently destined for the due for re-location Kings Troop Royal Horse Artillery so next time we pass this way (and by the time you read this) there may be pretty horses pulling guns along Woolwich Common.

The other building site was just round the corner and clearly will be the stands for the Woolwich part of the Olympics. ( I shall be sorry to see this one go – it was like being offered an iced cake studded with Smarties) 

After all these excitements anything else was to be an anti-climax so down the hill we headed –any trip round this way will inevitably finish in Woolwich either in the middle or alongside the river, having been re-routed briefly due to another huge building going up in Woolwich Town centre.

On exiting the bus the most noticeable thing was the acrid smell due to a large corner plot that had been a victim of the arson wing of the rioters – not a great addition to Woolwich.

Today we were heading even closer to the river to take the FREE Ferry to North Woolwich for our onward journey to the real Olympic hub of Stratford – but that’s a tale for another year. Sue, who used to work in Woolwich guided us ably to our Thameside departure point. 

We had enjoyed this quiet little bus, which busied itself delivering shoppers and passengers from the more remote corners of Blackheath to shopping or heath hubs.  

NB A year on and so much has changed – the centre of Woolwich spruced up and waiting now for Crossrail,  the Olympic Shooting Venue built and used, Greenwich now a Royal Borough, having hosted two Equestrian events.  Let us hope these positive changes will be sustained and our somewhat blighted trip of 2010 remains a ‘snapshot’ in time.