The Number 379 Route

Chingford Station to Yardley Lane Estate (and back) 

Wednesday August 1^st 2012

Back to Essex and Chingford Station for our start on this 4-an-hour route. We are getting very fond of Chingford – friendly staff at the rail terminus, a calm bus station and the High Street, while not superbly smart, retains enough shops, with signature fascia boards,  to make it appealing and interesting. Another passenger who boarded with us gave an anguished squeak as her friend missed the bus but thanks to other plentiful vehicles at Chingford she leapt onto another number and caught us up on the High Street. The Hornbeam trees looked neat but leafy as we passed Chingford Village Green complete with cottages, the war memorial opposite the Police Station and the Bull undergoing something of facelift with the upper stories to be converted into offices – not sure whether they will be let but better than the whole edifice disappearing.

After the Green came a steep downhill (yes Essex can be surprisingly hilly) and the bus launched into ‘Hail & Ride’ mode, meaning all those passengers who had boarded with their shopping could get off as close to home as possible – home being a series of terraced and semi-detached post war homes, well maintained at that. On emerging from the estate we were closer to Sewardstone and could glimpse the grassy banks enclosing the reservoirs. We crossed routes with the 215 and road names such as Antlers Hill and Hawkswood Road conjure up the times when this must all have been part of Epping Forest.

As we climbed back up the hill we were briefly detained by a dust cart coming the other way but it gave us time to admire the view down to the Lea Valley. But not time to pause as this is a circular route and the bus was already on its return journey to Chingford, the shops and station. One way was just about the nine minutes promised and the round trip just over 20 minutes.

The Number 378 Route (Not)

This refers you to a 378 service which does not seem to exist under that number.

BRIDGES

London is a magnificent city, made more so by its river and what better way to appreciate the Thames than by crossing the bridges on a bus, preferably on the upper deck where you have a unique view both ways. This is also one of the main arguments against the Underground as – with the exception of the District Line – the river passes unnoticed unless you remember it is actually above you, which is quite scary when it suddenly dawns on you as a child! We adults are more sanguine about trusting ourselves to tunnels built over 100 years ago.

There are more opportunities than you might think to cross on a bus.

Here are the numbers (in both senses) though they can be skipped for the less number obsessive of you.

FROM EAST to WEST:

Number of Routes	BRIDGE	Bus Routes
3	TOWER	42, 78, RV1
11	LONDON	17, 21, 35, 40, 43, 47, 48, 133, 141, 149, 521
1	SOUTHWARK	344
3	BLACKFRIARS	45, 63, 100
16	WATERLOO	1, 4, 59, 68, 76, 139, 168, 171, 172, 176, 188, 243, 341, 521, RV1 X68
6	WESTMINSTER	12, 53, 148, 159, 211, 453
3	LAMBETH	3, 507, C10
7	VAUXHALL	2, 36, 87, 88, 185, 360, 436
3	CHELSEA	44, 137, 452
5	BATTERSEA	19, 49, 170, 319, 345
3	WANDSWORTH	28, 295, C3
8	PUTNEY	14, 22, 39, 85, 93, 265, 270, 424
6	HAMMERSMITH	33, 72, 209, 283, 419, 485
1	MORTLAKE	190
2	KEW	65, 391
7	RICHMOND	33, 490, 969, H22, H37, R68, R70
9	KINGSTON	111, 216, 281, 285, 411, 461, 481, 513, 515

So there are over ninety different buses that can take you across the River Thames!

Then there’s the whole question of the bridges themselves – are they memorable constructions in their own right? Tower Bridge looks better from the side than crossing it, while Hammersmith is both intimate and proud. Westminster has a lion at one end and Boudicca at the other, and Blackfriars has pulpits. Putney is plain enough not to distract from the view; Vauxhall does the job but lacks charm. Wordsworth wrote the poem about Westminster but for me it’s Waterloo that ticks all the boxes: the best of London views each way, with an ever-changing skyline and a wide open sky, never the same. 

There are of course other crossings – memorably the footbridges at Hungerford and St Paul’s to Tate (the erstwhile wobbly Millenium Bridge), the foot tunnels at Woolwich and Greenwich and road tunnels at Blackwall (all hail to the 108 bus route) and Rotherhithe, plus the ferry at Woolwich – but as far as I am concerned none of them has the romance of a good bus-on-bridge transit.

And here's one to remember (but not taken from a bus) 

 

The Number 377 Route

Oakwood Station to Ponders End

Thursday January 12^th 2012

Oakwood Station proved to be a very pleasant rendez-vous and we were both there before 10AM – however the ‘20p for charity’ station toilets were very rejecting of our cash so we had to tailgate an operative, with his permission.

This mattered as by the time we arrived at the bus stop we realised the 377 goes twice an hour on the half hours and we had therefore missed the 10AM bus. Fortunately compared to our last two Januaries today was mild enough for this not to matter.

At 10.30AM our bus drew up, having waited behind the station, and we asked the driver if she was heading to Ponders End as her blind said Enfield. ‘This is my first time on this route,’ she said; ‘I’m not sure how the blinds work!’ We were in fact very impressed with her driving of this quite convoluted back-streets route with no fewer than three ‘Hail & Ride’ sections. In some ways these buses navigate themselves as clearly ALL the passengers are very familiar with the route and got on and off at their leisure, mostly being elderly and on their way to the shops. The houses and a fairly large church that we passed are ‘all of a piece’ with the station and therefore part of the 1930s expansion generated by the Piccadilly Line.

Both sides were substantial homes with garages, though even then many owners had gone for additional off-street parking rather than maintain their front gardens. The pavements however were generous with additional hedging of different shrubs between pavements and road, presumably maintained at Enfield’s expense ? 

This is an old website but I am sure we passed over the Salmon's Brook. More interesting was the sign by 

Boxer's Pond  saying ‘Beware Wild Fowl on the Road’ – I was about to snort derisively  when Jo spotted quite a few swans, actually her least favourite bird, crossing the road. Swans do not scuttle and take no prisoners and all credit to the driver for her calm handling of the vehicle.

Soon we emerged from what is known locally as World’s End to come out at the very familiar ‘Jolly Farmers’ pub on the route between Trent Park and Enfield Chase, where we were heading. The road names are quite rural hereabouts – Windmill Hill and then The Ridgeway of which there are about 15 in Greater London, usually aptly named as they offer a straight road atop a hill. I only say that as we lived on one once and ‘wrong post’ was a frequent feature of life – less likely now with post codes, but even so.

Enfield’s delights came quick and fast today – Enfield Chase station, followed by the war memorial, crossing the New River (landscaped hereabouts), past the Thursday market and then right after the ‘George’ pub and another ‘Hail & Ride’ section as we entered Bush Hill Park, which has quite a long history back to Roman times. The 377 seems to be the only route calling at the station of that name so commuters using the line must know when they can catch it or not. There were few takers today and there are some narrow corners to negotiate before, rather to our surprise, we debouched onto the A10 at the major Southbury Road junction. The Travelodge building is making progress and I am sure will be properly sound insulated. Rooms are promised from £19, which may be so but if London City sight seeing is your plan quite some cash will go on fares to get you there. (Up and running by Olympics 2012 obviously) 

As befits a small local bus we turned away again and ‘Hailed & Rode’ through Southbury to come out at Ponders End and the end of our journey, which had taken barely 35 minutes and took us from the more affluent end of Enfield through its heart to the more Inner London-looking areas east of the A10. The novelty lay at the beginning of the route but we enjoyed all aspects along the way.     

The Number 376 Route

Thursday 26 April 2012 


Beckton Bus Station is pretty well part of the car park of a huge ASDA, a stone’s throw from the even more capacious Sainsbury’s where the 325 had dropped us. 


Well, it would have been a stone’s throw if walking were possible, but we had to get on a passing bus to negotiate the blocked off roads and business parks of the area. Still, by 11.35 Linda, Mary and I were onto the single decker, bound for East Ham.


We passed the spacious grounds of Cribbs the Funeral Director’s, and had time to admire the narcissi which had replaced the daffodils along the road before turning left into the Winsor Park estate. 


 We were pleased to see that the varied houses and apartments were served by a small parade of shops, though they are not likely to thrive with all the giants round about. After nipping round part of the estate we got back onto the main road to Cyprus DLR station.

There is lots of green space around here, and we saw the Will Thorne Pavilion. Linda remembered my lecture from an earlier bus, so got a smiley face on her chart, and was spared a repeat history lesson about the gas workers. Will Thorne is here if you have forgotten and want to know.  Then we came to the Newham City Farm  before heading alongside and then over the A13 to reach Newham Hospital. 


 Brampton Manor School, or rather Academy has splendid looking raised vegetable beds in its grounds, though it’s clear that its priorities lie more with sports and performing than with horticulture. The route now brought us over the Greenway (or Northern sewer outfall). It is closed at the moment I post this because of the Olympics, but it is an excellent walk for the autumn  Soon we were among terrace houses, some with lovely plaster work, and many extremely improved, with new windows and porches and roof extensions. This was the week when East London boroughs were in the news for shipping their poorer families off to Walsall or Stoke on Trent, so we were interested in the housing stock that we could see. 

Next, of course, is Upton Park, home of West Ham, and the Bobby Moore memorial (or perhaps we should say a Bobby Moore memorial as I am sure you know that there is another at Wembley. On past Upton Park Station, we were impressed by the number of beauty shops of various kinds, including one offering weave-on eye lashes, something we had not heard about before. 

More residential areas followed, and we liked Plashet School’s over-the road walkway  before we found ourselves in East Ham. Passing East Ham Station, we pursued the 325 route round Ron Leighton Way (named for the long standing MP for the area)  and Pilgrims Way before turning back towards the High Street to terminate at Newham’s amazing Town Hall, at 12.30. Very little of this route had been new to us, but it was all very enjoyable with the sun coming out between heavy showers. (And of course we were pleased about the showers because we had been warned of impending drought, which brings on a hollow laugh a few soggy months on)

The Number 375 Route

Romford  to Passingford Bridge

Wednesday July 25^th 2012

The last few trips have seen us working our way round Essex and today we had a ‘cunning plan’ that involved a late start and a nearly country walk. Although we had to route through Stratford two days before Olympics Opening Day all went smoothly and we arrived at Romford Station with a full 25 minutes before our time-tabled bus – Jo had researched the times as this route only runs once every 90 minutes so there was no room for error. Time for a leisurely stroll to the Liberty centre for some loos – you might think – but in the end as the loos turned out to be more or less on the way out to Brentwood the gentle amble turned into something of a scramble. As we had expected, this was a single-decker but at least it had 2 doors and a good dozen passengers boarded.

The route round Romford was very familiar, taking in the usual shopping centres and market (not today), a nostalgic glimpse of the Number 5 bus, and regrettably the usual quota of empty offices. Some of the Pasties joined us on the bus though.  Havering Borough plant up their verges and roundabouts in a cheering fashion and today we were duly cheered encouraged by, at last, some good hot weather. We did enjoy Mr William Muskett (Optician) feeling with a name like that he ought to be a highwayman stopping the (Stage) Coach bus between Chase Cross and Havering.

Also amusing were a series of Cadbury’s adverts for different Olympics events suggesting one might have to jump 80 Twirls to equal the long jump or lift several hundredweight of Dairy Milk bars. Do try this at home perhaps?

Still paired up with several other routes we made our way across the A12 passing reassuring terraces of 1930s semis until we reached Collier Row where we took a path less travelled – namely the Havering Road through Chase Cross and past Bedfords Park, a local resource for the local community –  I note they offer a Caterpillar Club for budding biologists: do you suppose they offer Slug Slaughter sessions also ??  

I confess to a long held yen to visit Havering atte Bower, mainly because there are few place names which retain their medieval spelling and this one seemed handy for London. I was not to be disappointed with lots of signs to said Bower. It seems it was once a palace and certainly the Green stands on high ground with excellent views both back into London and out wards. Nor surprisingly three walkers got off here and there are options beyond the London Loop, which passes close by.

You had to be quick as this driver took no prisoners and whirled on as fast as the width restrictions allowed him, just about slowing for ‘squeezes’, so we did not see, and certainly could not photograph, as much as we might have wished. The Dame Tipping school reminded us that often schools were started by local ladies for the benefit of the poor, but like ‘atte’ the name does not always last. This school was founded in 1891 which is quite late when you think that the village sign dates from 1042. Out of the centre of the village the homes were fairly recent builds and quite swanky – think metal gates and automatic garages (his/hers) and you get the picture of East Enders who have done well. The bus descended down to Stapleford Abbots, passing farms and stables, with ‘The Rabbits’ (though a dropped letter ‘t’on the building suggested a rather more surprising name for a pub with such a rural setting) a popular destination with the passengers greeting each other as they got off. Stapleford’s Primary School had moor chicks walking up the roadside banks, but they will have to learn some good road sense if they are to survive.

We were of course the only passengers left as we reached the roundabout that marks the Passingford Bridge. The time-table indicated a 6 minute break for the turnaround but in the event the driver did not turn off the engine but swung straight round to pick up those waiting to get into town. I can tell you that the bridge crosses the River Roding and it would have been nice to see it but we did not dare leave the vehicle. Our fear was substantiated as he screeched to a halt well past the stop at ‘The Rabbis’ where a woman had stuck out her hand. After passing back through Havering and enjoying two bright red ‘Skip A-hoy’ lorries we dinged the bell at Kilnwood Lane, from where we were able to walk straight to our next route alongside the Havering Country Park, in fact all part of the same once royal hunting grounds as was all of this route. 

An excellent trip for green spaces but you need to give yourself time to enjoy them and hope for a more relaxed ride than ours. 

The Number 374 Route (not)

This is only the second time in the life of the Project that we have had two non-bus routes running.  It will not be the last.

The 374 used to ply between Harold Hill and Romford but seems to have stopped around 2005, as far as I can understand from the 'graveyard timetables' website.

With no bus to talk about, I want to recommend what Wallace would call 'a grand day out'.  I experienced it courtesy of Eliza, as a birthday treat for Andrew.  It was the day before the Olympics got going.

First we went on what the great Diamond Geezer, gold medal standard blogger, calls the Arabfly Dangleway.  You may know it as the Emirates Airline.  Wonderful views over the river, and really not too expensive if you have an Oyster Card (sadly, trips are not available on a freedom pass!)

It brought us to North Greenwich, and the large dome shaped structure which, for the next few weeks, we must not call the O2.  There we admired Antony Gormley's Quantum Cloud, which has apparently been there since 1999, and is -also apparently - all about fractals.

After a sumptuous picnic, during which the tall ships passed along the river for our viewing pleasure, we wandered around a bit, taking in such sights as the 'Not-G4S' security staff, before climbing up the Dome.

The views were spectacular, and unlike the Dangleway and the London Eye, once we were up we had about 20 minutes to look before heading back down.

It is pretty steep and, because the walkway is open at the sides,  climbers are attached by harness to a safety rail, and serious H and S instructions are given before you set off.  Also they warn that you must not be drunk or in high heels.

You may say that it is not the business of this blog to advertise commercial enterprises, but it was such fun I thought you might like to know about it.

The Number 373 Route (Not)

I believe this was once a route between Upminster and Grays, Essex, which ran until 2007. It is no more.

In the spirit of the Olympics we offer you a London Bus disguised as a promotion for the forthcoming Brazilian Games to be held in Rio de Janeiro, spotted at Crystal Palace apparently as the mobile HQ for Brazilian TV or LOCOG equivalent recording how it should or should not all be done.  (SHOULD: torch relays are fun; SHOULD NOT: using overpriced private security firms is not such a good idea.)

Also spotted several Welsh Police cars but that’s another story…