Eventually Claire and her clippy arrived to take out the bus. She was understandably not pleased to find that her bus had been invaded by a sizeable crowd in her absence, and asked them all to get off while she went round the block. Then she reloaded, with me ensconced behind the driver's window to give some navigation.
We were away, along the top of the town, and left past the War Memorial down St.Botolph's Road. We called at Sevenoaks Station, then headed on to Riverhead and Dunton Green. We turned up the old road to climb Polhill, roaring up the hill onto the North Downs at Badgers Mount. Having decided to take the old road down past Knockholt Station, we missed the exit at the roundabout, and had to go right round and try again. We rumbled down the hill, and turned out onto the new road for the final descent into Pratts Bottom and Green Street Green. Still no GS at the pub! We started the climb. Claire decided to use the Farnborough by-pass rather than deviate through the village. We paused to let some folk off, and continued to Locks Bottom and down the dip to Bromley Garage. Traffic was quiet at this time on Sunday evening, and we were almost to The Crown on Bromley Common before a red bus came the other way: a Metrobus Omnidekka on the 261.
We growled along into Bromley. Neither Claire nor I could remember the wording on the Buses Only section past The Glades, but suspected that it was "Local Buses Only", which could be construed as debarring our use. So we turned onto Kentish Way, missing Bromley South Station, and stopped at the next bus stop: almost to Widmore Road.
Claire pulled up opposite Bromley North Station for us to alight.
I crossed over and waited for a 119 to Croydon. It had been a long but excellent day.
Many thanks to those who organised and participated, in particular the CBR team who spent months planning and getting permissions, and who in some cases forewent riding on their buses to provide us with programmes or to supervise at Sevenoaks. Especial thanks too to the owners, drivers and conductors, many of whom had long tiring days to give us the enjoyment of riding on their buses.
Buses:
RF28, RF315, RF429*, RF489*, RF633, RF679
RT3148, RT3183, RT3228
RMC1500, RML2330, RCL2260
MB90, XF3
SO308, SC390, 900SAF
Photos by Ian Smith. Click on any of them for a larger picture.
Ian's Bus-stop
Part One
Part Two
Part Three
Part Four
Part Five