Harlow Running Day

Sunday May 5th 2013

Prepared by Ian Smith, 14th May 2013.

805 Epping Church to Little Parndon: RT1700

I checked my timetable. There should be a Harlow-bound 805 in about five minutes. RT1700 came along Epping High Street from the Harlow direction, heading for Epping Underground Station. It passed me and turned down Station Road. Was it my bus, or was there another coming up from the station? I checked the running number on my photo and in the programme. Number 2: it should be my bus. I waited for a few minutes more. The RT peeped round the corner, then came bowling up to the stop. I climbed aboard, and took a seat in the lower saloon.

As we climbed up out of Epping, just, before the junction with the road east to Ongar, we met yet another Green Line RT, the third of the day. RT3228 was not part of the Running Day, but one of the regular Sunday buses run by the Epping Ongar Railway between Epping, North Weald and Ongar on registered route 339.

We continued up by the edge of Epping Forest. Timebus' RML2310 came rumbling down the hill on the next 805 to Epping Station.

WE motored on along the high road, through the village of Thornbury and up to the big roundabout above the M11, where we joined the A414 Colchester-Harlow road. We quickly turned off it into Potter Street. From the village , now on the edge of the Harlow conurbation, we turned west along Southern Way, but soon turned off to serve the Brays Grove estate, circulating round Tumbler Road to emerge on Tilwicks Road. We crossed over Second Avenue onto Howard Way. That took us to First Avenue, where we turned left to run along towards Velizy Avenue and the Bus Station. We passed RML2323, in the light green and yellow London Country livery worn by only a few of the vehicles.

We turned up into the bus station, and negotiated our way up to the turning circle and back down under the bridge behind RF354.

There was an exchange of passengers at the Bus Station, and I moved forward to the front seat (probably losing my hat in the move). We promptly set off north again, down to Harlow Town Station. From there we returned up to the roundabout, then briefly west along Elizabeth Way, before turning up Rivermill into the Little Parndon Estate. We worked our way west along through the estate, to the terminus stop in Hobtoe Road, where we had a few minutes layover.

805 Little Parndon to Harlow: RT1700

The route back to the Bus Station was not the same in reverse. We went forward round the loop, climbing up round the hill to reach Hodings Road, which took us out onto Fourth Avenue. We climbed the hill past the large hospital, then drifted down past the packed Network Harlow bus garage to the roundabout at Velizy Avenue. Approaching the bus station we met RF308 emerging on an 804, and Regal Busways 211 on local route 11.

I alighted at the bus station. RT1700 loaded up again for another trip to Epping, and backed off the stand. It was only after it had gone that I realised that my hat was missing. I checked my timetable. No, I wouldn't have time to wait for it to return before having to leave for the north by train.

In fact I only had six minutes to wait for my bus north to Bishops Stortford..

Part 6: 397 to Bishops Stortford