The Number 49 Route

Thursday 4 July 2019

Another beautiful, shiny blue day saw us hop off one bus in the White City Bus Station, and pop into the Westfield Mall before coming out to catch today's main route. It was 11.35, so we expected to be at Clapham Junction by about 12.45 and home in time for lunch. Ho ho.

We trundled out through the subterranean service areas and car-and-bus parking, to reach Shepherds Bush Underground Station.

Here we saw an advertisement for Drivy, which we hadn't met before. Some might have mixed feelings about anything that makes driving a motor car in London easier, or about renting out their precious motor car. I can't find anything on the web about the tax status of the rental income, either.

Anyway, we headed back the way our previous bus had come, to pass the end of Scarsdale Villas. Please bear the name in mind for a few paragraphs, and I will explain later.

We turned left at a handsome tulip tree along Earl's Terrace, and then Kensington High Street to pass the Design Museum, which is having a Stanley Kubrick Exhibition. We had plenty of time to notice this as the traffic was extremely slow. 

We inched our way along to reach Hyde Park, and then turned right down Palace Gate, and past the Jam Cupboard. This proves to be just a restaurant attached to the Rydges Hotel, rather than a branch of the early days of the Women's Institute. This brought us to the attractive mosaics of Gloucester Road Tube Station. At this stage, it seemed possible that we were heading for the river and might cross Albert Bridge, but on the contrary, we headed east along Stanhope Gardens.  Some graffiti suggested 'to be political it has to look nice' which we thought rather cryptic for a Thursday.

After more crawling, we got to South Kensington Tube Station, and turned down Onslow Gardens, to pass a statue of Bela Bartok, who has a Blue Plaque further down the street. If you fancied hearing his Concerto for Orchestra, you will find it here. Meanwhile, we also noted rather a dusty Porsche with Azerbaijani plates.

 

Theo Fennell's huge premises are the HQ of a remarkable jewellery business, samples of which are on the website.

Turning right onto the Fulham Road made us wonder if we were in for another big, slow loop.  But happily we immediately headed left down Sydney Street, again pointing towards the river. I was pleased to see the box parterre hedges across the road from the Velorution Bike Shop, because one of my (other) sisters in law likes such things.

The Royal Brompton Hospital, like so many, has shrunk somewhat, and new build flats are going up, presumably to help with the running costs of the place.

The route then goes right for a brief way along the King's Road, before turning along Beaufort Street to reach Battersea Bridge.

The tide was very low, as we crossed, to pass the swan sculptures on the corner building.

We noticed that the Royal College of Art here is housed in the Dyson Building, presumably funded by proceeds of the £300.00 hair dryer. As always, we were passing a great deal of new building.

We went along Prince of Wales Drive and turned into Albert Bridge Road. If you remember that I asked you to remember Scarsdale Villas, the reason is this:  Michael Flanders, the lyricist, used to live there, and Donald Swann, the composer for the songs they sang together, lived here in Battersea.  In the spoken introduction to the song about the Gnu, Flanders mentions this, and I thought it was interesting that the 49 route links their two addresses.  Though of course in those days buses were not accessible for wheelchair users, and driving and parking was easy. But enough digression.

We admired the pretty flowers outside the Lighthouse pub.  A lot of shops in Kensington and Chelsea now have those plastic garlands over their doors, so real flowers were a treat.

We were travelling along the so-called CS8, which consists merely of blue paint on the road, with the odd parked Royal Mail van to ensure that cyclists cannot use it; but the traffic was still slow enough to be safe as we admired a ghost sign for F D Finn, and the Dovedale Cottages Almshouses, built in 1841, and still in use for elderly people today. We also noted the Latchmere Pub and Theatre, which we have visited in the past.

We admired the woodwork along the roof of this property as we came to Falcon Road, with the former Arding and Hobbs (now labelled 'Debenhams') and passed the well-camouflaged entrance to Clapham Junction station from where the route twiddles round to finish in Bolingbroke Grove. It was almost 1pm. It's an interesting route, but the lack of progress along a number of roads does dull the pleasure a little.