The K4 Route

Mansfield Park Estate to Kingston Hospital 

Wednesday July 31 2013

Our last route, the K2 had left us at Hook Library as was, so we set off walking down the rather unlovely Hook Road round a roundabout and taking direction Chessington. We had established that the K4 starts on the Mansfield Park Estate (I had fantasies of this being also Northanger Abbey and Pemberley territory but no, even Jane Austen making it onto the next issue of £10 note does not mean that she has lots of housing developments named after her). We were clock and time-table watching as the K4 only runs twice an hour, so in the end we waited and picked it up just short of where it turns off down Merritt Gardens and twists and turns through a maze of small roads – initially the buildings are small and of recent build, possibly even 21^st century where it was clear that there should be key community buildings included alongside the homes. Having exhausted itself taking several bends and getting close to the Green Belt edge – a field of horses – our bus turned back on itself and found an older pebble dashed estate where the bus eventually came to rest. We leapt off our incoming bus and caught the one in front about to depart, which was how we discovered that it does a bit of a loop round the houses and you only get the horses going one way – so no photo I’m afraid.

Nigel Fisher Way seemed to have been named for an erstwhile Conservative MP so Jo surmised whether Coppard Way was after George Coppard and his ‘With a Machine Gun to Cambrai’ book; there seems no real  foundation for this as he’s not a local lad but you might like the book anyway!

We re-emerged on the main road to/from Hook, where of course more people got on. If we ever needed proof that these smaller routes provide a vital community service to local hospitals, today was the clear evidence as folk boarded with their sticks, clutching X-ray or blood forms and discussing their various ailments.

As the main road is quite busy most of the buildings are set well back – we recognised the North Star pub from an earlier trip, and also the ‘Cap in Hand’ Unusually for the Wetherspoons website they give no history though there is a hint this was previously a Post Office, accounting perhaps for the rather handsome bar fascia?

Jo also spotted the glimmer of a Blue Plaque on a large house of the sort that turns into a residential home, and it is more than likely it was the short-term residence of Enid Blyton, the still controversial children’s writer, who lived here between 1920-4.   

Once past here the route was broadly familiar as we edged into Surbiton (third time today!) and spotted the Maypole Guest House; again we guess visiting parents for students at Kingston University might welcome such a facility, if they want to avoid the more boisterous Kingston Town Centre. There are spacious homes here with some well-tended gardens. This year the hot weather plants are doing well and we liked a bright hibiscus.

The bus was busy through Surbiton which has enough commerce to keep you going without tangling with the major shopping event that is Kingston, and the pace slowed as the K4 negotiates the narrower streets round the more 19^th century bits of Surbiton.

From there it takes the route alongside Fairfield Knights, and the Fairfield Recreation ground which seem to be part of a conservation area (though I doubt it includes the Fairfield Bus Station) and past the rather nondescript theatre – it’s a mark of its blandness that today was the first time we really spotted it. They were showing, and I am not making this up, ‘Aliens Love Underpants’ perhaps spawning a whole series:

‘Aliens Love Cleaning Their Teeth’ or ‘Aliens Do Homework’. We crossed the Hogsmill, I think the only time on this route, using the Clattern Bridge which certainly has robust staying power. The streets are always busy and as we slowed Jo noticed the gym above the Ice Cream parlour ‘8 scoops for £3.99’ thinking you could spend your time putting on weight on the ground floor and taking it off on the first.

After that it was past the pedestrianised area and the ‘other’ bus station before we headed up Coombe Road past the HQ for the Fire Brigades Union,  Norbiton Station and then round the corner to sweep into the forecourt of Kingston Hospital. A 45 minute trip round mainly familiar corners of Kingston borough and its different ‘centres’.

The K3 Route

Wednesday 7 August 2013

Linda and I reached the huge Asda along Kingston Vale after a pleasant walk through sunny Richmond Park, just in time to watch the 13.45 bus leave its stop.  The K3 goes every 16 minutes, to take people to Esher.  The next bus turned up promptly, however, and we were off at 14.01.

Our fellow passengers were a small group of young men who realised after the driver had set off that they did not want to be on the bus, and pinged the bell solidly until the next stop, where they decided they did, after all, want to be on the bus.  Ah, youth.

The route comes out from the Asda, and turns left (no choice, given that the A3 is a scary dual carriage way at this stage) and then forks right at the excellent horse-and-pedestrian crossing at the Robin Hood Gate.

We then swung left and were immediately into fine residential housing, with streets named for places in the Lake District. We passed Robin Hood School, hoping they have good double glazing, as the A3 is very noisy.  Why Robin Hood?  We are a long way from Sherwood Forest, but it is close to the Robin Hood Pub, from which the Gate into the Park and therefore the school take their names.  The Robin Hood Gate is closed the motorised traffic, we are glad to say.

So after Bowness Crescent, Ullswater Road, Keswick Drive and so on, we came back to the A3, and headed along it, back the way we had come.  A momentary qualm seized us as we again turned down Robin Hood Lane: were we going to spend the afternoon in tight loops round the houses?  But this time we went on towards Kingston, going at a rapid pace, sufficient to trigger the 30mph warning lights.  Passing the various buildings of Kingston University, we saw notices to tell us we were in the Kingston Hill Conservation area.  Several of the big houses along here have become care homes for the elderly, including one which offered coffee and cake if we wanted to look round....

Warning signs had been erected to let us know of the 'expected long delays' in central Kingston, but we already knew about them from last week's visit.  We came to the hospital (again, sighed Linda) and travelled round two sides of its extensive and confusing spread, to pass Norbiton Station, and get into Kingston itself.

Meeting the 'long delays' road works, and stopping at the traffic control, we were alarmed that two cars just zoomed past us and over the red.  But we were soon passing Tiffin School and the shops of the town centre

We thought being a 'Memorial consultant' was an interesting career choice and also saw The Fighting Cocks, which is a Bar and Venue for which we are clearly much too old.  We liked the sunflowers on the balconies above the Princess Alice charity shop, as well as the mosaics on the wall outside BHS.

Then we were heading out, past the roundabout with the 'paper aeroplanes' sculpture, Surrey County Hall and so on.  We feel we know Kingston better than we did a few weeks ago.  For instance, we know that Kingston turns into Surbiton as seamlessly as Norbiton turns into Kingston, and there we were, over the Hogsmill River and at the Surbiton Clock tower.

(By the way, speaking of rivers, not one of the 5 K buses goes anywhere near the river Thames.  Odd, that)

There was a pretty Art Deco Shop front in Surbiton, now occupied by a bank, which had even changed the ironwork above the door to include its less than attractive logo.

We also noted that Zizzi now occupies what was once something rather finer.

We came out of Surbiton along Balaclava Road.  We have passed many streets named from the Crimean War during the Project, and I always wonder what it was about that particular war that made it so attractive to municipal councils.  I suppose the decades immediately after it were periods of intense housing developments, when many street names were needed, and Alma, Sebastopol and so on were still in the bureaucratic consciousness.  we also passed the end of Seething Wells Lane, whose name hints at the struggle to achieve the clean drinking water which we all now take for granted.


Our bus now took us, rather fast, into Long Ditton, and to Hinckley Wood Station, where we agreed that they had good begonias, even if Linda and I don't like them. Our mother/mother in law used to propagated them and give them to us....

We crossed the A 309 to get into Claygate, which boasts a number of prosperous looking pubs and houses to match, as well as a station.

Once we had gone under the railway, we were in Esher, passing lots of gated developments, and to the High Street.

After a little loop to take in the Adult Education Centre in what appeared to be called Esher Green, we got back to the High Street, where the bus terminated.  


This was certainly the final destination on our list, compiled, after all, some years ago, but the bus had claimed, all the way from Kingston Vale, to be going to Trinity School. The driver was baffled when we asked him about it, so we assume it is a term-time only extension.

We reached the end of the trip at 15.00.  It had been a pleasant ride, through several areas where we were the only bus. 

I'm not going to say much about Esher, but it is a tough place to get out of unless you are in a car.  When we finally went into a clothes shop (with amazing bargains, by the way:  if only I were not too old for silver DM boots!) the charming people said that there were few buses and they were mostly once an hour, but if we walked past Sandown Race Course, we should eventually come to a railway station:  and we did.

The K2 Route

Kingston Hospital to Hook Library  

Wednesday July 31 2013

Kingston was having a ‘moment’ and even before we left Waterloo there were little promotional maps being handed out to support the ‘Prudential Ride’ event this weekend – a road race for both pros and amateurs similar to last year’s Olympic Events. Kingston stars because riders pass through both coming and going as this map clearly shows.

Of the ladies who bus, only Jo cycles, Linda not being altogether reliable in traffic, so we had arrived at Kingston hospital, situated on a large block between Kingston Hill and Galsworthy Road, after both a train ride and the K1 into Cromwell Road bus station. We managed to get somewhat lost in the back buildings of the hospital which is a not unusual mixture of some new blocks like the William Rous building (erected in the memory of Sir William Rous, a former Quartermaster general and Chair of the Hospital) and the older crumblier looking buildings housing laundry and bloods and supplies... However, we emerged blinking at the front of the hospital, admiring its loos and logos, and climbed almost immediately onto the frequent single decker service of the K2 (not to be confused with the Himalayan peak of the same name).

After leaving the piecemeal hospital behind we turned right and back down the hill through Norbiton , passing its station and the usual shops which cluster round a commuter point. Of particular joy was ‘Woofs a Daisy’, a pet parlour, and that sustained us till we reached the familiar Kingston landmarks of the Tiffin School and Lovekyn Chapel, both of which have long histories detailed here for anyone who wants to  walk 'Royal Kingston'. Though the seat of local kings such as Athelstan from the first Millenium it did not get its ‘Royal’ label until 1927. Having never really noticed before today we became aware of the town’s coat of arms – three fishes under a tun – and there were plentiful examples on buildings, street signs etc. Helpfully Kingston also tells you which part of the borough you are passing through on each road sign. After the less historic Fairfield Road Bus station we did the circuit of the shopping streets – those which are not pedestrianised – and came to the conclusion that, although like Hounslow Kingston has many through bus routes, a station and a modern shopping centre, it feels altogether more cohesive and less confusing.

Kingston University attained full University Status a mere 10 years ago but has really thrived in terms of student popularity and spreading campus buildings – it looks as though former empty office blocks have very usefully been taken over by different faculties. The other landmarks on this trip are Surrey County Hall and the Crown Court, which we had ample time to admire as the traffic slowed on our approach to the Surbiton roundabouts. Also the excellent roundabout art for which see the K1.

It was here that this route became a true ‘letter bus; namely serving the hinterland of areas already well served by number routes.   Thus it was, or more biblically and ‘then it came to pass’, that the bus turned up Surbiton Crescent just by Mr Marx’s hairdressing salon. I was rather puzzled as I do not associate the original Communist thinker with personal grooming but Jo reminded me the Marx brothers were famous for their hair amongst other things.

After the rather grander roads called ‘The Ridings’ where some spacious front gardens remained – we had a little spat about the relative virtues of choisiya bushes – it was all very much residential streets and then arriving in the smaller more concentrated homes of Berrylands, which sounds like the kind of name property developers would think up after too many drinks on a Friday night – however  it is all quite genuine and named, as so often on these outer London trips, for a farm which once stood here. They have a station on a more major route than you might expect and there is a small parade of shops, the first since Surbiton’s thriving centre, and the now defunct ‘Berry ‘pub.

The route from here back to Tolworth was a tale of snaking past double parked cars, negotiating frequent road and pavement works (Kingston is clearly no slouch in this department) and slowing past the frequent K2 coming in the opposite direction until we emerged back onto Tolworth Broadway, another busy point for losing and gaining passengers. Just beyond the Tolworth shopping opportunities comes the Tolworth roundabout where the A240 is carried over the A3 below… there seemed to be  major works going on inside the roundabout – all this scheduled to finish by September.  And I quote ‘Tolworth Broadway is set for an exciting new look and feel that puts pedestrians and shoppers at its centre. Particular attention is being paid to improving Tolworth Broadway as a high street and to balancing the priority between pedestrians, cyclists, and vehicular traffic by creating a more inviting and friendly environment and reducing traffic speeds.’

Fortunately the K2 finds its own space after this and heads down Jubilee Way alongside King George Playing Fields, which will tell you it was not in the current monarch’s reign that these were laid down.  After this breath of fresh air we were quite surprised to then arrive in the middle of an industrial estate with several car repair places, storage facilities, and, best of all, the Brick Library’ ‘Do you get fined if you hang onto them for more than three weeks?’ Jo asked – and indeed do they have ISBN numbers. I was not able to find out much more so can only assume they offer a ‘brick matching’ service (cue jokes about speed dating perhaps).

As quickly as we had entered the industrial zone we came back into a residential area and then turned onto the main Hook Road, stopping at what was once Hook Library but is now the Hook Centre offering a wider range of public service loan options.  This circa 45 minute trip, in a strange way, proved less annoying than Hounslow but less memorable also. We got off carefully avoiding more pavement improvement works.

The K1 Route

Wednesday 31 July 2013

Having polished off the Hs, with their rather random numbering, we move on to the more orderly Ks.  There are only five, all around Kingston.

The K1 goes from New Malden Station to the Cromwell Road bus station, one of two in the Royal Borough of Kingston.  Linda and I arrived in New Malden in plenty of time to catch the 10.01 bus.  The station at New Malden is dwarfed by large office blocks, but we were soon out and left along the High Street.

The roundabout with the fine lamp stand on it is flanked by pubs:  the Watchman Free House looking across the road towards the Fountain, which shares its name with the Roundabout.

Almost immediately, we were into handsome residential streets, with houses so large that some had been turned into care homes;  we admired a number of tamarisks and hydrangeas, flanking the hardened front gardens.  We also passed the New Malden Tennis Club, which had as a member one of (!) our Wimbledon Champions.  We enjoyed passing the club in the first year for decades that we could write that.

The houses grew somewhat smaller as we headed along Amberwood Rise, though the owners of these semis had mostly put in roof extensions.  When we turned right into Sheephouse Way, we noted the only kind of traffic calming measures that really work, namely narrowing the road to single track every now and then.  We also noticed, from the road names, that we were entering Old Malden, and we came to Morden Manor Station.  We noted with regret that The Manor Pub is now defunct, and expect it will become dwellings in due course.

We passed Richard Challoner School named, as so many Catholic schools are, for a convert (Richard's father was a presbyterian).  We were interested because many of 'his' schools are called Bishop Challoner, rather than Richard.

We ran alongside the A3 for a while, wriggling between the parked cars, and went over the Hogsmill river.  This stretch of the river forms a part of the London Loop.  A range of different house styles was what we had to look at, since there were very few shops, until we wriggled back to the A3 and joined it for a while to get to Tolworth.  The huge office block at the Tolworth Roundabout has been available for rent since we first visited this area (on the 71, I think) so we continue to be baffled as to why people keep building more;  it probably has something to do with tax efficiency?  Works are going on in and under the Roundabout, as part of a major new look for Tolworth Broadway.  I note they are planning a 20mph speed limit and can only say 'good luck with that' as I live in an area where such limits are imposed and ignored.

Tolworth Broadway has an interesting range of shops, including some Asian ones, but we did not linger, heading out past the rather bleak looking exterior of Our Lady Immaculate Catholic Church to turn left down Red Lion Road, rather than heading straight towards Surbiton.  However, a right turn along Thornhill Road and another onto the Hook Road brought us there.

Both the Surbiton Day Nursery and the Surbiton YMCA had been about to hold onto all their signage, but Isobel House, the Surbiton Business Centre, had mislaid a lot of its letters.

The Surbiton Flyer Pub indicated to us that we had reached Surbiton Station, where Harry Potter once sat in the cafe to read the Daily Prophet.


We also saw a publicity car for a glucose drink, and wondered whether it was setting itself up for the cycling events of the coming weekend.

There are some striking buildings in Surbiton, and we liked the fine brick and plaster work over the shop of Roberts the Cleaners, as well as the former Assembly Rooms.  We enjoyed Surbiton's Clock Tower, built in 1908 to remind people of the Coronation of Edward VII six years before.

There isn't much of a break between Surbiton and Kingston, though we did cross the Hogsmill River again, and we soon came to the Fairfield Knights Park and open space, as well as The Cricketers Pub.

The art on the roundabout, the work of two Kingston University Students, made us smile as well as bringing us into Kingston itself.  We made our way through the one way system and the shopper, to pass the Rose Theatre, which clearly has a wide ranging programme.

Once we had passed Kingston Town Hall (its fish could do with a lick of paint, by the way) and a branch of the Halifax Bank with some - presumably spurious medieval writing above the door, we again failed to get a good photograph of the art-work phone boxes, though you can look at them here, and rolled up to the Cromwell Road Bus Station at 10.50.

The H98 Route

Hayes End (Kingsway) to Hounslow Bus Station  

Thursday July 18^th 2013

Having missed our weekly outing last week (work and other family commitments taking up all spare time) we thought we should press on and complete two H buses this week, as Hounslow was beginning to lose its charms. Our previous route, the H28 had left us at the Bulls Bridge Tescos and the original plan had been to walk along the canal to Hayes and Harlington, find some other sort of bus and then get lost looking for the H98 start.   In the end, after a certain amount of faffing we called a cab from Tescos and a rather surprised driver delivered us to the resting place of the H28, tucked away in a corner of Hayes called Wood End. Extravagant yes (Linda never takes cabs) but not in the scheme of things when you think we have spent about £10 over a more than 4 year period, so this has been a really cheap hobby. It was hot and we had started later than usual due to Linda’s detour back to Feltham YOI – see the postscript for the H26. Another excuse? We had been rather traumatized by getting lost trying to follow the Crane, and did not want a repeat trying to follow the canal.

Hayes End, or possibly Wood End as it seems to be locally, was a spacious residential area with a triangle of (by now parched) green adjacent to which the buses had a stand. We were really pleased to see the H98 was a double decker and were about to leap aboard when the driver explained he was not going anywhere as he had broken down and while we were chatting the single decker behind drove off without us. We asked why some were single and some double and he told us he had started this morning on a single decker, which had broken down, so they (Hounslow Bus garage) gave him a double decker. We said they were unlikely to be giving him a third bus by which time another single decker rolled up and let us sit on board while the driver had a 6 minute break.  From this you can see it is a pretty frequent service, though also not busy at mid-day.

Leaving the residential area with its intermittent parks, floral roundabouts and other delights behind we drove away from what clearly used to be country lanes to join a straight dual carriageway, bordered by some shops and other civic buildings such at Hayes Police Station and handily close Uxbridge County Court for quick dispensation of justice (or not).

The bus turned right off the main road, passing down the rather pleasant Church Road complete with Church Green and a distant view of St Mary’s Church – apparently the oldest building in Hayes, which was largely farmland or brickfields until 20^th century manufacturing firms set up shop here and the housing followed.  The Fountain House Hotel had some sort of plaque, which we could not see but it probably relates to its earlier history as a school where the totally unqualified (in teaching terms) Eric Blair aka George Orwell taught.

Much more 21^st Century is the Holmesgate Place development.  And I can see anyone moving there would need the H98 to get to more important transport links.

As we joined Botwell Lane there was some traffic queuing but the driver let both doors open to cool the bus, which made it a more pleasant ride than our previous 1-door only trip.  As well as St Mary’s we had passed a chapel and then came one of those really recognizable RC modern churches that seem very typical in the suburbs all round London’s fringes, this one dedicated to the Immaculate Heart. Hayes Town has probably been spruced up; the roundabouts were newly paved and cobbled and there was an exuberance of hanging baskets and quite a few local shoppers as well. Traffic is managed too with a bus only lane taking a service road behind and crossing over the Grand Union canal. Here is where the various lighter and heavier industries developed and flourished as this part of outer London offered a choice of routes from the West into London: road rail and canal. Just past the bridge there is a large building labelled YMCA though from this website it seems more about local Youth work rather than cheap accommodation??

At the station – Hayes and Harlington – more people got on and the smell of coffee was very evident, not surprising as the Nestle factory is just nearby, though unfortunately for Hayes not for much longer.

The railway station’s name implies it serves both localities though I would have to say it seems nearer to Hayes but sure enough the bus, having crossed over the M4, then arrives at Harlington  Corner, and much slower traffic along the Bath Road. Being on the main road we saw little of what remains of old Harlington save for the White Hart. The proximity of the airport means there is that mixture of bargain accommodation – Travelodge, Premier Inn – airport parking and warehousing type facilities.  Although a Red Route, traffic seemed very slow today and combined with the heat led to a kind of torpor in your author which meant that after several trips in this area it took till today to twig that Cranford, as in Cranford Technical College is named for the River Crane.

Once we left the slow moving main roads behind this was in fact a very pleasant approach into Hounslow – residential with enough shops to serve the locals and the usual sprinkling of schools and places of worship. They also have the only other Mornington Crescent outside of Camden, the Northern Line and Radio 4. This route calls at all the key Hounslow stops: tube, shops etc and is one of the few routes to finish at the Bus Station – actually more of a garage with stops than a true bus station.

This is a long route combining old lanes with major arterial roads and as a result the times given on the bus stop – 32 minutes is way off the mark as today we took 50. And so we say goodbye to the H routes from Harrow through Hatton Cross to Hounslow...