Advance Notice: That’s all Folks!

Followers of this blog over the past five years will realise that we are nearly at the end.  We estimate that there will be two more ‘W’ trips: the first, to mop up the W13 and the W14, all around Woodford; and the second to take us from Hackney Central (or yessss! as we Overground people say) to Walthamstow on the W15 and out again on our last remaining W bus back to Ilford, which we have visited often, since as long ago as the 25.

Then there is the slightly less than exciting – in the sense that other routes cover every inch of its journey – X28 from West Croydon to Heathrow; and finally the X68.  This is a commuter bus: it runs early in the morning from West Croydon to Russell Square, and then only runs back in the mid afternoon:  fine by us, especially as real workers will not be catching the first one.  So, as a fitting end to our bus Odyssey, we shall catch the 15.50.  We think this historic trip will be early in February, probably the 5^th or 6^th, but this will become clearer in a few weeks.

There are several reasons for this post:

    1)   to say that if anyone would like to join us on the X68 to mark our last end-to-end bus ride, that would be lovely.  You will recognise us by the logoed hoodies, notebooks, cameras and our genteel-but-determined wish to reach the front upstairs seats;

    2)   to point out that it’s not really all, as we intend to travel the three tram routes of Croydon from end to end;

3)   indeed, we may write a few posts reflecting on the whole experience;

4)   to say that we are open to ideas for a further set of weekly outings by public transport.  We are considering visiting every museum in London: we understand from Wikipedia that there are more than 240 of them, which will last us a while.  As Tim says: a single letter change would make us the Ladies who Mus.  But some of you may have other thoughts, which you are welcome to share with us.

Of course we shall still be travelling on buses:  just not end-to-end, except perhaps the 63 which links all of us, or the P4 which is useful if you are in Brixton and want to be in Lewisham.

And we have had amazing amounts of fun and seen a lot of changes.  For instance, I now live along a route using the new design of bus.

The W12 Route

Sunday 22 December  2013

 We never do buses at weekends:  never, that is, unless an earlier co-traveller expresses a wish to do one more before the end of the Project.  So it was the Linda, Tim (who does the index) and I met at Wanstead Station to catch the 10.14 from Woodbine Place, destination the Coppermill Estate in Walthamstow.

 

Since this is a bus that goes only twice an hour, we were pleased to be on time. Of course, if we had had to wait, Tim could have shown us where the Wanstead Go Club meets, since he has played there in the past. As it was, we admired the smart outfit of one of our fellow-waiters.

It was a teeny weeny bus, but quite busy for much of the journey.  We turned left along the High Street and then right to pass the church; the number of cars parked outside was a reminder that it was Sunday.  Tim and I noted the monkey puzzle tree in one of the front gardens, and gave a thought to the late great Araucaria.  (Since I’m sure anyone who cares has already read the Guardian tributes, here is the Daily Telegraph.)

The Nightingale Pub has both a bird and a Highwayman  - or at least a horseman - as embellishments but I have been unable to discover why (the horseman, I mean; I do understand why there might be a bird). 

This brought us to a hail and ride section, and we stopped quite frequently as we passed residential properties to reach South Woodford with its station and charming arcaded terraces with green areas in the middle of the road.  Along George Lane, we saw the George Pub. 

We thought the Lane might be named for it, but since it used to be The Horns, the naming is probably the other way round.  South Woodford also has a rather good looking cinema. 

Snaresbrook Road passes Eagle Pond, with various sea birds, geese and ducks enjoying themselves, and to the beginnings of Epping Forest.  There was only one footway along here, but it was wide enough to be shared with cyclists and indeed, we saw a few, enjoying the unexpected lovely sunshine.

The next event was Whipps Cross Hospital;  first we went round the front (or back of it) on the main road, then turned down James Lane.  Linda saw a royalist pattern emerging, what with George and then James, but we were doubtful.  We turned into the hospital and did a long sweep round the many blocks, wards and entrances, passing the main entrance eventually.  Nobody wanted to get off or on.  Presumably that will change when consultants are available on Sundays. 

We could not help but admire the Pont du Gard look of some of the older wards:  Francis Sturdy, the architect, in the 1880s, apparently had in mind the Italian Renaissance;  he also clearly had a lavish budget.

 Almost immediately we were into the outskirts of Walthamstow, passing a house which must look really festive in the evenings although its embellishments do not show up well in a daytime photo.  
The Mary Squire Almshouses  are here, though she herself was living in Surrey at the time of her endowment.  We also passed the old Watch House, which used to cage criminals.

Our driver managed the narrow road and parked cars with skill and soon we were at the former Co-op with its fine plasterwork.

 

There was quite a long pause at the central station before we turned into the bus station for a quick visit.  Then it was out past the library and the green area that surrounds it.  We noted that the Council had planted very attractive winter baskets, with pansies as well as greenery.  Then we went on down Mission Grove, passing the Primary School and a very jolly mural and noting with some Watford based nostalgia a street called Cassiobury Road. 
 



We wiggled around these residential streets, before reaching the Coppermill Pub; we drew to a halt just where the bridge crosses the streams go over the reservoirs and get to the Lea Valley Park.  

By this time we were the only passengers, so we explained to our charming driver what we were doing, before getting off to return to the centre of Walthamstow.  It was just before 11.00.  

The W11 Route

Walthamstow Bus Station to Chingford Hall Estate
(Rowan Avenue/Silver Birch Avenue)

Sunday December 22nd 2013

Note: Well this at least makes sense as a W route, starting as it does in Walthamstow, whereas we struggled to find a W link in our previous three Enfield area routes.

No, we don’t usually travel on a Sunday, let alone one so close to Christmas, but Tim, who has provided much if not all the technical support for this blog, wanted to join the LWB for one more ride before the Project ends, and with it already being halfway through the Ws, it was now or never. So the three of us met at Wanstead Station, having had to stay alert to make sure of getting a Hainault loop train.  From the station we caught the W12, which left us in the picturesquely named Coppermill Lane in Walthamstow.  From there we walked back through the road where Walthamstow Market, supposedly the longest in Europe, usually happens. Many of the shops and nail parlours were open but we were too early for the promised music.

We have long been fond of Walthamstow Bus Station, which provides clean loos and had persevered with their classical music rather than putting on a seasonal tape. Ambulance and Police staff, and some bystanders, were clustered round a young man on a bench, who seemed rather ‘out of it’ and he eventually went off in the ambulance presumably to the nearby Whipps Cross Hospital. The bus station had winter flowering hanging baskets so was looking well cherished. But it is a hardworking station as the worn rumble strips at the exit testify.

Our progress up Hoe Street was no faster for it being a Sunday, so there was plenty of time to observe that all the estate agents seemed to be sitting tight, as was the Hoe Street Working Men’s Club. There some newer retail in the shape of Polish shops whose nostalgia extended as far as covering the window with life size photographs of beautiful scenery, as if to underline the pure origins of their products?

We went left at ‘The Bell’, marvelling that the Victorians had built such huge pubs; I suppose you have to imagine working men and women living in quite cramped accommodation with few home entertainments. There has been a recent refurbishment, but there needs to be a little more information on their website. 

Heading down Forest Road we were still far from being the only route and of course the main attraction down here is the also recently refurbished William Morris House which won some sort of award earlier in the year 

The bus turns down right into an area known as Higham Hill which seemed mainly to consist of public housing built in different eras, some of it known as the Priory Hall Estate the reasons for which are nicely set out here. Essentially there is post-war building to re-house more inner London folk who lost their homes. This area fills the streets between the more major roads of Forest Road and Billet Road where we emerged after taking on yet more passengers. Again the bus joined the Route 158, and we passed Roger Askham Primary School. I am not entirely clear about any local connections but Roger was a long-time scholar, who taught both Latin and Greek to Princess then Queen Elizabeth I, as well as making sure that a book on archery was readable in vernacular English. There is also a new build Walthamstow Academy along here, not to mention some well tended homes complete with resplendent pampas grass.  Further along there was a Blue Plaque, probably not an English Heritage one, commemorating the site of a former school which it is believed Benjamin Disraeli attended.

We then negotiated the Crooked Billet roundabout avoiding more intimate tangling with the North Circular road, today flowing freely but loudly. The W11 is one of the routes which serves the Sainsbury’s and sure enough more passengers left here. Progress slowed again as the bus tried to weave its way through the parked cars, pylons, and the North Circular slip road.  Tim spotted the next W11 which had caught us up – there should 15 minutes between buses but we were getting behind schedule.  We passed the very boarded-up Walthamstow Dog Track: how to redevelop has long been under discussion/dispute and this, probably our last tour, still leaves the issue of its future unresolved.   The nearby houses are from the same period and have some good decorative plasterwork which we had spotted on  earlier trips but today looked aptly Christmassy.   

By now the sole route, the W11 then wriggles along to the Chingford Hall Estate where the streets are not only named for different tree specimens, but as far as we could see planted with the eponymous varieties. We were of course the last passengers on board as the W11 made its final whirl. A shortish not altogether thrilling route which joins the Walthamstow Hub to some extensive areas of housing.

We had an opportunity to see more of the Chingford Hall ( and their football loyalties) estate as Tim’s ‘exit strategy’ involved a walk down the River Lea.  First find your river. We took a couple of turns in what we thought was the right direction but ran into high brick walls till we eventually asked a local resident who pointed us towards a very narrow exit gap in the wall flanked by two painted beasts: were this a treasure map it would say ‘Here be Dragons’ but I suspect it is a warning about the ferocity of the six-lane North Circular Road. We crossed in haste and silence, conversation being impossible, and thereafter took Folly Lane, which led us to the River Lea and hangers on which we could follow back to Tottenham Hale Station.

The W10 Route (or Sam’s bus)

Crews Hill (Rosewood  Drive) to Enfield Town (Cecil Road)

Thursday December 19^th 2013

Today was an adventure for both of us. We met at a very busy Highbury & Islington and then caught a train which took us to Crew’s Hill, a place of which we had never heard until this week, in just about 30 minutes. For once some accurate map reading meant that we found the very narrow footpath that parallels the railway line and emerges into a pleasant hilly residential development, where the preferred Christmas decorations seemed to be icicle lights hanging from garage eaves. It was bright and sunny so we had to imagine them twinkling away later in the day. The area was pretty deserted (the station unstaffed for starters) but we found a man raking his front gravel (which tells you a bit about the kind of housing) and asked after the bus as we could see no stop. He waved vaguely across the road and said it stopped about there (or where we wanted) so we settled down on a garden wall to wait 20 minutes or thereabouts for this once an hour services (and then only between 11 and 3), hearing the faint but steady noise of the M25 – that’s how far out we were. (‘Pretend it’s the sea’, said Jo).

Sooner than expected the bus appeared and we asked if we could board and got chatting to the very charming driver, name of Sam, who confessed her W10 is known as ‘Sam’s bus’. She had already waved at two local residents and when a third boarded she asked how the ‘re-decoration’ was going; it transpired this passenger had suffered water damage in the recent storm and the decorators were even now putting the finishing touches to the repairs. Her handbag, and that of the 4th passenger jingled with those sturdy bells the police give out to senior citizens with handbags. That and nearby house front Santas and Snowman added to the Christmas cheer.

Sam told us how much she enjoyed this route and how friendly everyone was (in part I’m sure to her own friendliness) and she certainly missed people if they did not ride for a while. She brings the bus up from Northumberland Park where it is based, but it spends its nights outdoors, at the Go-Ahead garage, meaning it can be pretty chilly when she picks it up. Still it is very petite 1-door bus and once underway warmed up quickly.  We left punctually at 11.05 .

Even the modern A-Z shows this area to be full of nurseries (the plant kind) and some piggeries, which we had seen from the train and sure enough Clay Hill proved to be a fertile (pun) source for

Acers, which my other half cannot resist, multiple deaths to the contrary, and Mediterranean plants which I love but they too sulk in our neat London clay. Talking of Clay the route follows Clay Hill and passes the entrance to Whitewebbs Wood and Park.

Interspersed between the Garden Centres and Riding Stables there had only been one proper bus stop since the start of our route, but we had steadily gained in passengers, all of them Freedom pass holders. On the whole we kept moving which made photography a little tricky but here’s one of the Fallow Buck, a pub actually on the route.

Soon after passing this we saw a sign advising us that it was ½ mile to the New River, which features from now on along this route.  The bus seemed to take something of a loop possibly to serve an Ambulance Station (but not for long according to this) or maybe just to be able to use the roundabout to turn left. By now were in a far more built-up area which street signs indicated liked to be known as Carter Hatch. There was even a sign to Ponders End which we know from our previous riding of routes is but a stone’s throw from Brimsdown; though Jo had threatened me with a trip home from Brimsdown this was not the way to go.

We slipped into Enfield Town, the bus now over half full and slowed by traffic for the first time, and after passing the station came to a dignified halt between the Civic centre and a large Argos Store. Here we said good bye to Sam, who could probably rest for 15 minutes or so before heading back on the 11.50 so she proved to be the only vehicle on this route – a bit like the 146, another rural ride.

We had enjoyed our country outing and smooth ride and took the opportunity to look briefly at the Civic Centre’s little exhibition to celebrate 400 years of the New River, and then looked down at the real thing, here called the Enfield Loop as it was ‘straightened out’ in the 19^th century. Both river and path have received some TLC during the course of our Project and we can remember on one of our first trips here how green and weedy and neglected it looked compared to today’s altogether fresher presentation.

The journey home from Enfield Town was slightly quicker but nevertheless more than three times the length of this entrancing 20 minute jaunt through outer Enfield.

We wish you all a happy festive season and if you are a London Bus Driver a good break.

The 'Ladies Who Bus' will be riding into the New Year, just, so watch this space.

Thanks are also due to the proof reading support of '63 Regular' and Tim's technical expertise and input throughout.  

The W9 Route

Southgate Station to Chase Farm Hospital

Thursday December 12^th 2013

Jo had  cleverly knitted* together a very complex  travel sequence  linking some of the unridden W routes. Our first bus of the day had left us within earshot of the North Circular at its busiest. We managed to cross via a subway and also avoid the Cambridge Roundabout to look for the W6 somewhere along Hedge Lane. The absence of stops but a bus disappearing into the distance led us to deduce that this was a Hail and Ride Section so we sidled up to some likely looking gents, who had the same idea in mind, and very soon all five of us were all squashed up in a very busy W6, a route we recognised once we were aboard.

We rode it to the ever modern-looking Southgate Station and located the stop for the W9, the next bus ‘de jour’. It’s very easy to go in circles round here, but all was well and the countdown gave us 8 minutes in which to swap cameras and have some peppermints before climbing onto a single decker at 11.40 so the clock in the photo is right!

The first landmark we passed, after the Southgate town centre hub has petered out, was the Inverforth gates entrance to Grovelands Park, not highly visible on a slightly misty day. I am not quite clear why a Scottish shipyard owner, later a Minister for Munitions (Mr Big Guns in other words), has a gate named for him – perhaps swords into ploughshares or similar? Apparently the park houses one of The Priory resources which treat all kinds of addictions.

The W9, which is of course a back streets bus, takes a little circular loop round Fox Lane to reappear further down Bourne Hill – the junction is apparently the site of a former cattle pound. Fox Lane was largely Hail and Ride with few takers as is almost always the case in the more affluent neighbourhoods; it may be different at rush hour times.

We also passed the rather un-cherished looking Palmers Green High School which proves to be a private educational establishment catering for girls 4-16 so maybe times are not too good??

Climbing again we were on or approaching Winchmore Hill which appears to be one of the more inaccessible London ‘villages’ complete with a village green and independent coffee shops – not a chain to be seen. Victoriana or Mistress Appleby's shop promised Antique wedding and engagement rings rather than anything racier, as befits this corner of Enfield, seemingly preserved in another age.

The bus continues and after some twists and turns we took a detour that we originally thought was to serve a new looking Sainsbury’s – however what it was really accessing was the Highlands Estate, which had been developed from the former  buildings of the Highlands Hospital where patients were treated between 1887 to 1998, originally those who needed isolation because of ‘fevers’ – scarlet, diptheria and those other illnesses which penicillin and antibiotics have made history of, then later TB. Jo and I were pretty impressed with the conversion – clean London brickwork, small Queen Anne style blocks interspersed with lots of trees, a nursery and a residential home so my guess is that the developers more than recouped their £20 million pound investment. A few blocks still remain unconverted or shut up but by and large it looked much better than the hospital which was our final destination. We could not decide whether the blocks were named for prominent persons (Rutherford – physicist or Mary Seacole – nurse), former ward or doctor names or bits of Scotland – Pringle and Ballantyne .

We retraced our ride and headed further into the area between Winchmore Hill and the next station on the railway line (the Underground feels a long way away), Grange Park, built on some land bought from the Grovelands Estate – as in the park we passed right  at the start. We could see little except some generic greenery but Bush Hill Park houses a golf course and park, and the New River runs through it.

If it’s the New River it must be Enfield, where it is always at its most visible, and sure enough we were slipping quietly into Enfield past Enfield Chase station and along Church Street. The New River celebrated its 400^th birthday this year making the Underground at 150 years look like an upstart, and there is further exploration of it here.

We lost most of the passengers to the delights of Enfield Shopping and saw the market was still thriving. Another run slightly uphill took us through one of the first areas of social housing on this trip, and thus to the final destination of Chase Farm Hospital – as Jo said it was looking pretty tired with bits of plastic over broken windows in the stair wells, though the outpatients department was still clearly active, and we spotted a ‘Pre-Admission Assessment Unit’. The finishing point of the buses is at a different place from the starting point so we crossed the campus-like hospital site for one of the easier change-overs of the W series, this one crossing the outer edges of Enfield borough.

*PS You should see her real knitting..