London Bus Routes: 101 - 200

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, 111 and 140 all serve Heathrow Central, using the Bath Road Tunnel which goes under the runways, and is not permitted to be used by pedestrians, making Terminals 1,2,3 Tube station there the only one where you can't access it on foot. Route 105 also serves Southall, which took ages to get through there, and the exact same thing happened when I passed through again on Route 120. Previously, on Route 95, my bus terminated a few stops early due to an event at Southall, so I didn't have the best first impression of the area. Route 111, however, did pass Hampton Court, which was cool to see, because I did visit it when I was young on a family trip.

Other interesting routes and areas visited was Elstree & Borehamwood on Route 107, home of course to Elstree Studios, a rather unusual experience where the route leaves London into Hertfordshire, only to return to London by the end of the route. It's also evident when you're in Hertfordshire because the TFL bus stops swap out for a green shelter and stand, something I also noted on Route 142 to Watford Junction. Route 108 is also rather unusual because of its use of the Blackwall Tunnel, the only route to do so, and it's no surprise that it is sometimes plagued with delays, and that's exactly what happened on the approach. The delay caused my bus to terminate early at Blackheath, Royal Standard, where I had to wait for another bus to continue to Lewisham Station, although the bus blinds suggest it terminates at the shopping centre. Staines, an unfortunate name, but the place to go to connect with services to Thorpe Park, was another a new place, so the bus station, supporting 4 routes, although it's out of London, became rather familiar. And finally, an exciting one for me was the 121 to Enfield Island Village, a local route of mine, but I had never been to the end, so it was a lot of fun to find this idyllic gem hidden away at the end of a service I used for years.

The Docklands of London is an interesting area to explore, and to travel through on the bus. Functions of the old Docklands are slowly disappearing to new development, and that's evident when in North Greenwich, the terminus of Routes 129 and 132. Route 129 also terminates at Greenwich, Cutty Sark, making it one of the only routes where both terminuses share the same name, so it is a rather short journey, and I luckily missed a downpour whilst on the bus. Route 153 is another example, running between Finsbury Park Station and Moorgate, Finsbury Square. All routes that visit North Greenwich terminate there, apart from Route 108, because of its use of the Blackwall Tunnel. For a pointless fun fact, Island Gardens DLR Station, before the DLR came along, was called North Greenwich Station, and it was situated on the north side of the River Thames, however, the current North Greenwich Jubilee Line Station lies south of the River Thames, but more north than the old North Greenwich Station. Route 135, serving the Isle of Dogs, where Island Gardens Station is situated, also serves Canary Wharf, the obvious example of redevelopment in London's Docklands, and it was a cool experience to see this area from a new angle.

There was a couple of interesting Bromley routes, for example, Route 138 from Bromley North to Coney Hall, a small housing area near to Hayes, a separate Hayes from the one in West London Route 140 runs through on its way out of Heathrow Airport. Something rather unique about this route though is that it doesn't technically terminate at Coney Hall, as it circles around the housing estate and returns to Bromley North almost immediately. Right after Route 138, I did Route 146, another rather short service, running hourly, to a place called Downe. I wouldn't be surprised if there's some Londonders who would be surprised to hear there's bus services that run that infrequently. A single door single decker (again, wouldn't be surprised if some people have never seen one of them), taking some narrow streets to the beautiful village of Keston and then down to the even more beautiful village of Downe, where Charles Darwin used to live, so his house is nearby. There's also an old church, a farm nearby, with a wide selection of animals, and a pub named the George & Dragon, amazing for all the right reasons. Route 146 did become my new favourite route at the time, and because of its rural terminus and infrequent service, I had to return immediately on the route all the way back to Bromley to go home.

I first passed through Becontree Heath on Route 5, and I remember wanting to go back to explore, but unfortunately I didn't have time when I went there to start Route 150, because earlier that day I went to travel on the new Crossrail train which had just started running that week. However, I probably would have had time because my wait for the bus seemed to stretch on for ages, but it seemed no one else was waiting for the bus because we only stopped once the entire time to Ilford. Continuing to the terminus of Chigwell Row, I also wanted to go back there to explore, and I managed to do that after I did Route 151 the following week. I was interested in that route because the two terminuses of Wallington and Worcester Park were places I had never heard of before, deep into South London. There was another route in South London I was more interested in however, and actually quickly overthrowned Route 146 as my new favourite route. Route 166 runs between West Croydon and Banstead every 20 minutes, however, one bus an hour continues past Banstead to Epsom Hospital, again, a rather unique service pattern for a London bus. However interesting the route was, and how much I enjoyed the overall journey, it was plagued with problems from the start with the announcement displays having issues, and the bus in front to Banstead broke down, so the bus was busy, and we ended up getting to Epsom Hospital, outside of London, rather late. From looking at the map that morning, I realised Epsom Downs Racecourse was not so far away, so I walked down to it, a little over a mile away, to explore it and it's genuinely one of the highlights of the entire challenge for me, and has now become one of my favourite places of all time. Returning from Tattenham Corner Station, not Epsom Downs Station because it's strangely further away, I was very satisfied with my experience of Route 166.

There were some routes that went to 'Industrial London', as I call it, which is essentially them places in East London by the River Thames. For example, Route 180 runs from Lewisham Shopping Centre to Belvedere Industrial Area, the clue is in the name. This service runs through Abbey Wood, which I noticed some signs in the area strangely name it Abbeywood, one word, and some bus stops didn't have the route numbers on. Out at Belvedere, the last stop being named Crabtree Manorway North, all that was really there was a storage facility, a strange path that made me curious to walk up it, alongside a bus garage that had a lot of old buses in, which I know now is completely gone and demolished. At the top of the path, I was surprised to find the River Thames, which is pertinent, because the week after I was on Route 177, ending in Thamesmead, a large housing estate that's been crying out for a railway station for years, and I decided to actually walk along the Thames from there back to Belvedere. Of course, that area is very industrial, and therefore, rather quiet and pleasant, and I did do a walk from Woolwich to Erith along the Thames and it is one of my favourite walks. On the other side of the river is Dagenham, where Route 174 terminates there at CEME, a business area near to an Asda storage facility, and the other end of the route is Harold Hill, Dagnam Park Square, which was strange because there was just deer roaming free in the housing estate. Also, Route 175 terminated at Ford's Main Works, clearly a car manufacturer place, in Dagenham too, however, it only ran there Monday to Friday. At all other times, only terminating at New Road, near the Mcdonald's, and I specifically waited till a Monday to go to Ford's, only to find out they have cut the route indefinitely back to New Road. In addition, Route 173 runs nearby, and 173, 174 and 175 all serve Dagenham Heathway Station, making it one of the only examples where the route numbers make sense.

I didn't find Route 200 from Raynes Park to Mitcham to be as exciting as Route 100. Some of the final 100 routes seemed to just keep going to random housing estates, like the 193 to County Park Estate, the 195 to Charville Lane Estate (traffic again in Southall) and the 198 to Shurblands. Route 184 was quite exciting for me as it's a local route so I really enjoyed seeing the terminus of Barnet, Chesterfield Road. Route 192 all passes the Victoria Line Northumberland Park Depot, which was cool because it's the only place where you can see them trains out in the open, rather than underground. I did recently go back to Copse Hill, the part of Route 200 that loops around the houses there, to visit Cannizaro Park and Wimbledon Common nearby, which are very fun to walk around and explore.