please empty your brain below
I dunno about the less interesting end, the ride on a 464 down Saltbox Hill's quite something. And it's fun going the other way, roaring out of New Addington into what feels like the middle of nowhere.

I had to walk down Saltbox Hill - and back up Jewels Hill - during the summer as I'd just missed a 464. It was a dicey experience....

I was going to Leefest, which is at Highams Hill Farm, just off Jewels Hill. I did manage to get the 464 there on the first night, though - must be the only proper camp-out festival you can get to by red bus.

Darryl | Homepage | 09.01.14 - 12:38 a.m. | #

I've been wanting to ride the 464 down Saltbox Hill ever since I read about it on Casino Avenue (alas, now unlinkable).

diamond geezer | Homepage | 09.01.14 - 1:00 a.m. | #

You read "Concretopia" yet, DG?

Sample chapter: New Addington/Croydon

Kim | 09.01.14 - 1:07 a.m. | #

For an suburban equivalent of Salt Box Hill you could try Chipstead Way on the 166 route.

| 09.01.14 - 1:10 a.m. | #

There was once a plan to bring a railway to Biggin Hill but given the rolling nature of the countryside and how scattered most of the settlements are it doesn't seem like it would ever have been very practical.
http://www.routebus537.veryold.net/cm6.html

Whiff | 09.01.14 - 5:26 a.m. | #

Great post - I went to school in Croydon, and New Addington had a fearsome reputation then! I don't think I ever dared go near it.

I blog too on London at www.lifelonglondoner.blogspot.com

Julian Bell | Homepage | 09.01.14 - 6:56 a.m. | #

My father, who grew up in New Addington, told me of proposals to join the town by rail, tube and even monorail to Central London. Instead they got the 130 bus and its derivatives to Croydon until the tram came along and at least gave them tracks.

| 09.01.14 - 8:43 a.m. | #

So the next bus is a double decker then - that narrows it down a bit!

@anon 0110 - unless DG is going to go to grreat lengths to stay within the GLA boundary, I think we could be savouring that delight in the near future......

timbo | 09.01.14 - 11:03 a.m. | #

Looks like you're heading for the 111

xmb53 | 09.01.14 - 1:09 p.m. | #

Wow, the Google Maps satellite image of Biggin Hill Airport was taken on a busy airshow day, with loads of aircraft, cars and people everywhere.

Greg | 09.01.14 - 2:11 p.m. | #

@xmb53
216 stays near the boundary for longer!

Possibly 64, 412 (or 409, 466), 166, 467, 71 (TfL), (possibly 514, 411), 216, 71 (First Berkshire) and so to Terminal 5.

| 09.01.14 - 5:07 p.m. | #

So we've had two different methods of avoiding buses meeting each other on narrow lanes - only having one bus, and careful timetabling. The K3 in Claygate has another - buses towards Kingston and towards Esher both go round the village in the same clockwise direction, so if they do come across each other they will follow each other rather than meet head on.

| 09.01.14 - 5:20 p.m. | #

@Greg

That was the last one 27Jun,2010. Sadly we don't have them anymore. I am down there somewhere.

James Bunting | 10.01.14 - 5:20 a.m. | #

I used to drive the 464 occasionally - it is a delightfully rural route!

Drivers on the 464 used to have an instruction not to go beyond Biggin Hill Airport until they had seen the other bus.

There was a similar instruction not to go beyond Biggin Hill Valley until you had seen the other bus, as the country lanes from there up to Tatsfield were too tight for two buses to pass.

Presumably these instructions are still in force - there can't be many TfL bus routes with such a rule.

Malc | 10.01.14 - 10:37 p.m. | #

Enjoying your journey around the edge of zone 6. The 464 is one of London's more delightful routes.

Now that the Ladies that Bus are coming to an end, here is another challenge I have pondered. Would it be possible, in the space of one day to have taken a journey on all of London's bus routes, excluding night, school and mobility routes (if only for one stop)? Travel between routes could be done by train, tube and other methods but would it be possible to have every London bus route on your Oyster journey history for one day?

Paul | 11.01.14 - 12:04 p.m. | #

@Paul

Well, there are 1440 minutes in a day, and over 400 bus routes, so that gives you 3.6 minutes per bus. So I think no.

Supposing you caught the 347, you would then need to make your way over to Kingston and catch the K5.

John | 16.01.14 - 6:27 a.m. | #

It'd be a real challenge to do it in a week, I'd say.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 16.01.14 - 6:46 a.m. | #

I'd have to say the Tatsfield end is better - the hill up into Tatsfield is quite something, you don't often get a bus where your ears pop going up the hill!!

Plus, seeing a London bus in a place like Tatsfield is always quite amusing.

Alex | 18.01.14 - 9:05 p.m. | #











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