London Bus Routes: 201 - 300

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 obscure facts about London's Buses is that Route 205 from Bow Church to Paddington serves the most tube stations. Route 207 from White City to Hayes-By-Pass is one of the busiest, and was the last route to use the so called Bendy Buses. The title of busiest bus route used to be the 25 from Oxford Circus to Ilford, but since it's cut back to City Thameslink, I believe the busiest route is now the 18 from Euston to Sudbury. Route 210 takes a scenic route through Hampstead Heath, a very rich part of London, and Route 215 serves the Lee Valley Camp Site just over the border in Essex. It used to only serve the Camp Site during summer, all other times terminating at Yardley Lane Estate, but now always serves the Camp Site, no matter the time of year. Route 216, which also serves Staines, travels near to Kempton Park Racecourse, which is a cool experience when you can visit during no races and sit in the dead empty stands. Route 222, serves Uxbridge, the first time on the challenge and a place which would become familiar later on, but unfortunately doesn't serve Tooting. Route 233 takes a scenic route down to Swanley, just outside the London Border in Kent, and it's an interesting place to explore. Swanley Park is a good one, and there's also an abandoned wedding venue I got to explore, now lost to redevelopment, and an abandoned tunnel too. I was back there recently, and strangely my bus terminated at the ASDA, rather than down at the proper terminus at Beechenlea Lane, despite the fact we weren't even late.

It was around this time on the challenge that I was already a year in to doing this, and it seemed like I kept ending up in Willesden and doing local routes of mine. I had previously done Route 187 to Central Middlesex Hospital, where annoyingly my bus stopped to even out the gaps of the service, the next stop we changed drivers, and then the stop after that the bus behind overtook. Route 185 from Victoria to Lewisham was similar with 2 buses overtaking my one. Route 206 was also slightly irritating because I spent a lot of time waiting at Kilburn Park for my bus only to see all of them turning around and missing the first stop, and when I spoke to the driver, he didn't help me understand why at all, so I went all the way to the other terminus at Wembley Park, The Paddocks to start there, where the second bus stop suggested the route started at that one. Routes 220, 224, 226, 228, 260 and 266 all served Willesden too, so I was starting to get slightly bored of the area. Route 224 strangely had 3 small loops on route around Park Royal ASDA, Twyford Abbey, and Alperton Sainsbury's, and it starts at St Raphael's Estate, where Route 232 begins too. 232 is actually one of my local routes, and because of its use of one of the busiest roads in London, the North Circular Road, it caused my bus to terminate early at Neasden Shopping Centre, an extremely grimy area. Another local route, the 217 from Waltham Cross to Turnpike Lane, where it meets with the other end of the 232 also uses a busy road, the Great Cambridge, which also caused my bus to terminate early at Lordship Lane. However, the bus was so busy, and a lot of people were refusing to get off, the bus actually ended up continuing (the power of the people). Another local route was the 230, which I thought at the time was the only double decker route to use Hail & Ride, a strange feature where there's no bus stops on the road and you can get on or off at any safe point, at the terminus of Upper Walthamstow, which was cool to go to the end of a familiar route for the first time. Other local and familiar routes at the time included the 221 (serving Mill Hill, which 240 also does with its views of expensive mansions), the 231 (my first actual time on it), the 242 (my cousin's local route), the 243 (which shares the road with 242 in Shoreditch), and the 253 and 254 (which also both share the route for a very long time).

There were some 200 routes which didn't exist, like the 218, 239 and 278, and from this point forward, a lot of numbers didn't exist. However, the 200s did provide me with my new favourite route again, the 246. It regularly runs between Bromley North and Westerham, and I'm sure you might make the connection with a previous favourite route of mine also starting here. It runs through Bromley Town, through residential streets to Hayes and Coney Hall, and then cuts through some beautiful woodland back to Keston, reminding me of how much I enjoyed Route 146. Down to Biggin Hill afterwards, which feels a world away from London, hosting an airport, and the bus even travels right alongside the open expanse of the runway, providing amazing views. The route then continues through some scenic countryside till we leave London and the M25 boundary, reaching the picturesque village of Westerham. However, on a Summer Sunday, every hour, the bus actually continues beyond Westerham down some very narrow roads in the middle of woodland,  the driver being rather skillful to swiftly navigate his way, down into the car park of Chartwell, where it terminated. Chartwell is a National Trust owned property, and is actually the site of Winston Churchill's House, so definitely one of the most obscure terminuses of a London bus, and it is truly one of, if not, my favourite.

Other terminuses and parts of routes I really enjoyed was the 248 at Cranham, a place I had never heard of before, which featured the Upminster District Line Depot, meaning that's the easternmost point of the tube network. Route 251 was also pretty scenic through Totteridge Common, and 252 when it passes Hornchurch Country Park, on the site of an old RAF base and one of many country parks in the Borough of Havering which are fun to explore. Seeing the infamous school in the quaint village of Harrow on 258, the second and final route to go Watford Junction, travelling back through the industrial area to Gallions Reach Shopping Park, and beyond this time to East Beckton Sainsbury's on 262, and down to Fulwell on 267, seeing a personalised railway sign for Strawberry Woods nearby and my first experience of South Western Railway, after its rebrand from South West Trains was all notable experiences too. Pollards Hill on 255, Noak Hill on 256 and 294, Havering Park on 294, Chiswick, Grove Park on 272, Broadfields Estate on 288, Woodlands Estate on 291, Borehamwood, Rossington Avenue on 292 was all just terminuses in the middle of a bunch of houses, even tho the 288 and 291 ones were just a loop back around to where the routes just came from.

Some more interesting routes include the 274 from Islington Angel to Lancaster Gate, mainly because it's the route to pass London Zoo and Primrose Hill, one of the best view points of London. Route 282 is a unique service for running between two hospitals, Ealing and Mount Vernon, whilst also passing through Eastcote Village, and 285 is too. This is because it runs between Kingston and Heathrow Central, providing the same good views of the perimeter of the airport as Route 90, which is exactly the same as Route 111, meaning that they are some of the only routes to start and end at both the same places.

Route 289 from Purley to Elmers End also passes Croydon Airport, which is no longer a thing, but you know where it was because of the plane situated on the outside of its building. I should also mention Route 290, seeing as it's the last Staines route and I've mentioned all the others. The other end of the route is Twickenham, where some event was taking place on the day, but is an interesting place when you know where to look. Another interesting experience was Route 293 from Morden to Epsom Hospital, a unique bus that I didn't see running on any other route, and of course I went to visit Epsom Downs Racecourse again afterwards.

Another one of my favourite routes is 298, which starts in Arnos Grove. It travels underneath the amazing Piccadilly line viaduct nearby and up to Southgate, calling at one of the best bus stops name ever, 'Ye Olde Cherry Tree.' Up to Cockfosters afterwards, the terminus of Route 299 from Muswell Hill and an unfortunate name, before going straight up one of my favourite roads of any bus route, Stagg Hill, offering amazing views across the northern tip of London's countryside. Over the M25, and you reach the terminus of Potters Bar Station, or at least, it is now. It was pot luck that I was at that point of the challenge because I found out that 2 weeks later, the route would forever be cut back to the station. At the time on Mondays to Fridays only, the route carried on to Cranborne Road Industrial Estate nearby, which nobody used, was situated right next to the East Coast Main Line, and had an abandoned bus stop stand hidden in the bushes. Finally, Route 300 ran between Canning Town and East Ham Station, forming part of a 4 bus day where all routes terminated at Canning Town Bus Station, and were all short, local buses serving nearby housing estates like the ones around Poplar on 309, Bromley-By-Bow (a separate Bromley to the one in South London) on 323, which also serves ProLogis Park, a business estate which shares the same name as one in West London, as well as offering a view of the West Ham Bus Garage, and Wanstead Park on 330.