Sketchy Scenarios

The Strange Numbers: Routes 507 - G1 At this point I've completed every normal numbered route from 1 to 499, but there's still a few remaining obscurities, the first being routes 507 and 521. These are a throwback to Red Arrow, a company which ran a variety of short express style Central London routes which carried the 500 numbers. 507 and 521 are the only ones remaining, which was the first routes to use bendy buses in London, but have since lost the Red Arrow name, the express style service, and the bendy buses, in favour of shorter single decker buses with more space for standing than number of seats, as well as also not having a standard dot matrix screen, and instead an LCD screen packed with information. These routes tend to be very busy linking up with major London rail terminuses like Victoria, Waterloo and London Bridge, and serves a lot of back streets in Central London supporting businesses like the Channel 4 Television Studios, one of which only running on Mondays t...

The Extremities: Route 401 - 499 Route 401 starts off in Thamesmead, a town by the River Thames which I've grown to love and feels cut off from the rest of London. It seemed that on a Sunday evening, with a Greggs sausage roll in hand, the route didn't have much usage as it trundled down to its terminus at Bexleyheath Shopping Centre. It makes sense why when you find out the route has an extra stop Mondays- Fridays to serve an industrial area before looping back round the roundabout, making it seem like its main purpose is to commute workers.  Every time I found myself in Croydon, I always thought the same thing; 'Wow, I'm gonna be here a lot for the 400s', and I was right. I would become very accustomed to West Croydon Bus Station with countless routes starting here, like the 403 to Warlingham, a place I had never heard of, and discovered that it was essentially just a Sainsbury's near a roundabout. Route 405 also starts at the bus station, and just...

No Passing At Passingford: Routes 301 - 400 Despite the fact that the title suggests Route 301 and 400 exists, they actually don't. Route 302 does however, but it's a rather standard affair travelling through uninteresting North West London suburbia from Kensal Rise to Mill Hill Broadway. Route 303 and 305 also runs nearby and again just serves back streets of housing around Edgware, Burnt Oak, Colindale and Kingsbury. Route 307 is the second and final bus to terminate at both of its destinations of Barnet Hospital and Brimsdown. Another North London route, the 313 runs between Potters Bar Station and Chingford Station, and I did do after finishing the 298, the other route to serve Potters Bar. It keeps the same amazing views over countryside near the start of the route until Enfield Town, but unfortunately didn't hold up afterwards because the slow traffic carried on all the way to Chingford. I did have pizza though on the bus, so you know, a silver lining.  I ...

Summer Sundays: Routes 201 - 300 Route 201 from Morden to Herne Hill runs between two places I quite enjoy. Morden, featuring a really nice park, and the southern most tube station, and Herne Hill, which I remember from Route 3 having another nice park called Brockwell, and when I visited it in the future, I really enjoyed it. Route 202 also runs between two of my favourite places, Crystal Palace and Blackheath (that route featured 4 temporary traffic lights) and Route 203 ran down to Staines again. Luckily, I got a double decker, because most of the time they run singles, and I think they should always be doubles as the singles can get packed. It did also rain heavily on route, but Staines can be interesting place to go to because of its close proximity to the River Thames and Staines Moor, well worth an explore. Route 204 also serves Grahame Park, a strange looking estate on the site of London's very first airfield named Hendon Aerodrome. One of the more well known ob...

Down to Downe: Routes 101 - 200 Route 101 from Wanstead to Gallions Reach Shopping Park was a good start for the second batch of 100 services. It offered a good view of the Beckton DLR depot in a rather industrial area of London. This was actually the 100th service because there was no Route 84. However, there actually is a Route 84 inside of London at New Barnet and it travels up to St Albans in Hertfordshire, but it isn't a TFL service even tho it can from time to time use older TFL buses with the oyster readers removed. Even though it doesn't count under the challenge, I did ride this route some point in the future, and it was very scenic throughout, especially if you're lucky enough to catch a double decker, and St Albans is well worth an explore around, especially with the cathedral. There was some interesting areas travelled to on the early 100s, such as the actual main terminals of Heathrow Airport, not the outside perimeter like previously. Routes 105, 1...

The Beginning Of The Challenge: Routes 1 - 100 On the 22nd Of August 2016, after taking inspiration from The Ladies Who Bus, who had ridden the length of every bus route in London, I decided to try this myself by going to Tottenham Court Road to get Route 1 to Canada Water.  This was also the month of the beginning of the Night Tube, so the tube station, I found out, had a specialised Night Tube Map, which I had a look at whilst waiting for the bus. I had never much explored London previously to this challenge apart from where tube stations are located, so it was a new experience to see places such as Bricklayers Arms and New Bermondsey, and I had enjoyed riding Route 1 that I decided to go to Marylebone to then do Route 2 to West Norwood, another place previously unexplored. Both buses used were older types, no longer used in London, and this was evident nearer the end of the challenge where a lot of routes were now using newer types of buses. The new places continued ...