please empty your brain below
It's too early for me to begin to work out where you might've gone, but that's quite the journey. my best guess is that it was south of the river.

Gunnersaurus | 26.03.22 - 7:25 a.m. | #

Croxley Green?

Southern Heights (Light Railway) | 26.03.22 - 7:38 a.m. | #

10 buses and 5 trains in 7 hours. Quite an impressive total. And also bluebells and waiting times. And presumably a bit of time at the extreme destination. Which we will probably read about soon.

Malcolm of Kent | 26.03.22 - 7:53 a.m. | #

This is fun and intriguing!

I'm guessing (Train 1) you got the DLR from Bow Church to Canary Wharf, (Train 2) Jubilee to North Greenwich, then maybe the 132 as Bus 1. After that I've got rather unstuck. I have some ideas for the last few trains and 'not train' but they don't entirely work.

Thanks for the excellent post - it really got me thinking. I wish I recognised the picture - that might have helped!

JP | 26.03.22 - 8:49 a.m. | #

Ok, I assumed train 1 was DLR from Now Church to Stratford, then train 2 was the DLR to Woolwich - and then I was completely beaten. And I'm not even convinced I'm right about the first two.

Phil J | Homepage | 26.03.22 - 9:15 a.m. | #

Thanks for the ideas for my next articles 😉

Callum | 26.03.22 - 10:52 a.m. | #

An entertaining description of your experiences even if it didn't impart any specific information.

That is the core of why you have a dedicated readership, writing a daily journal. Very few writers can achieve this. Hopefully all of your output will be preserved as a cultural reference for future generations, in the same way that early modern "commonplace books" and later diaries are now so treasured by social historians.

One of the few books that I have read which comes close in style and lived experience is "Depot Days" by H A Stimson (out of print but findable).

MilesT | 26.03.22 - 10:57 a.m. | #

I also like to walk ahead along the route until a bus catches up but was always frustrated that Citymapper's route guidance doesn't seem to 'understand' that behaviour. Transit, a Citymapper competitor, gets this spot-on and will automatically assume you intend to board at the next stop en route if you walk past one.

As a Northerner, I don't know if Transit's general coverage in London is as good as Citymapper's, though.

sjhoward | Homepage | 26.03.22 - 10:58 a.m. | #

Completely baffled. DLR trains don't have "guards" unless they've changed the terminology again so I can't even get started. It would help to know if the multiple buses were necessary or if the trip could have been done more simply by train.

Andrew S | 26.03.22 - 11:47 a.m. | #

Oooh Bluebells

Michael | 26.03.22 - 2:17 p.m. | #

Wondering if not train 4 was at Edgware Road....

...thinking further re east and westbound it can't have been as your home is east of there.

ap | 26.03.22 - 6:27 p.m. | #

Ah the joys and (frustrations) of public transport! Hopefully all will be revealed in tomorrow's post.

Bluebells? Blimey!

Cornish Cockney | 26.03.22 - 6:34 p.m. | #

I’m not a MWLB so am not going to attempt the bus arithmetic, but as a west Londoner I’m going to guess that at least one of the buses had an E- prefix and that the bluebells are in Perivale.

Mike on a bike | 26.03.22 - 7:56 p.m. | #

Mornington Crescent must feature somewhere.

Betterbee | 26.03.22 - 11:01 p.m. | #

Fairly confident you've been to Leith Hill. It's got a waterfall, a search of the blog suggests you've been there for bluebells before, and the 465 bus back from Dorking would be Bus 5 as it passes a stop called Regent Park.

As for the rest of it I think it'd take me all night to work that out!

Ted | 26.03.22 - 11:46 p.m. | #

One very good guess, several way off beam, and one potentially spot on but lacking confirmatory subtext.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 27.03.22 - 12:15 a.m. | #

Not sure if my guess was the 'potentially spot on' one or not but my reasoning for picking the 132 was that that it departs from bus stop D at North Greenwich bus station and it sounds like you headed the wrong way to bus stops A/B/C unlike all the other Ikea bound routes. It then travels non stop from Ikea to Shooters Hill Road which ties in nicely with your 'buses that travel over a mile between stops' narrative.

JP | 27.03.22 - 8:06 a.m. | #

I started keeping a diary on my computer before Christmas and yesterday recorded a difficult journey we made on the same day as this likeably mysterious post. I'm struck by the overlap and the differences. My wife has Long Covid and has to use a mobility scooter. The additional difficulty was the suspension of the - line:

1. We arrive at A which is indicated as a fully accessible station. We wait for a member of staff to meet us at the station entrance (not sure why he couldn’t just meet us on the platform), he then goes down with us to the Overground platform. We miss the first train because he can’t get through to staff at the next station to inform them of our arrival (not sure why he has to do this as he assures us that B is fully accessible). He sets down the little ramp and we board.

2. We get off at B and take the lift down to the - line platform. It’s quite busy. We see when the train arrives that there’s a gap and the floor of the carriage is not level with the platform. This is despite our being told by the staff member at A that B was fully accessible, there wasn’t anyone there to meet us so I’m not sure why we had to miss a train because the man at A had to inform someone at B). We don’t take the first train that arrives as a result of seeing the gap. H walks onto the next train and I steer the scooter on myself.

3. H is really worried by the number of people and the possibility that she will contract Covid again. By C the tube is packed and more people try to squeeze on. We decide to get off. We discuss whether to turn back, but H decides to push on. We go to the far end of the platform in hopes it will be quieter. It is a bit and we get off at D.

4. It takes three lifts to get to street level. We debate walking/scootering the rest of the journey and set off accordingly. However, H is worried about the scooter’s battery level and we decide to wait for a bus. The first (Boris) bus arrives and starts to lower its ramp. Each time it does so, the ramp extends and then retracts again. The driver attempts this three or four times, then we volunteer to wait for the next one. However, the doors won’t open at all so he declares the bus broken down and the passengers have to get off. This is the second Boris bus to break down on me in a week. The next bus arrives a little later and we successfully get on that one.

5. We arrive at E with both of us feeling pretty exhausted. There's still the return journey to do and the - line still isn't running when we set off.

C | 27.03.22 - 2:40 p.m. | #

Presumably this was the Gerrard's Cross trip then - will we get a full breakdown?

dg writes: no and no.

Ted | 28.03.22 - 1:14 p.m. | #

So far I’ve worked out:

You went to Woolwich via Canning Town
- Got on a bus to Sidcup
- Changed atthe junction onto an R11 (the B14 is backwards here)
- went to Croxley Green and changed onto an R1 (boy do they rattle)
- A while later I think you changed onto a 353?

How am I doing?

Southern Heights (Light Railway j | 02.04.22 - 8:50 a.m. | #

Wrong at step 1.
The only bus you've got right is the R11.

(also see clues in Wednesday and Thursday's posts)

diamond geezer | Homepage | 02.04.22 - 8:53 a.m. | #

Got Thursday's clue (and a bit surprised that no-one else has commented on it), but Wednesday's, while read, didn't click.

Unfortunately my (lack of) knowledge of London's current bus network makes working that out a bit hard.

Betterbee | 02.04.22 - 10:25 a.m. | #

I wish they would fix that damn Oyster pad too.

Webby | 03.04.22 - 4:07 a.m. | #











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