We made our way up into Chesham, where we spun round the roundabout to enter Chesham Broadway, for a brief stop.
We went on, up through the village, and straight on up the country lane towards Cholesbury Common, climbing out of the suburbs and uphill through lovely Chiltern countryside. Damp today though, with a dull overcast muting the colours.
We reached the road junction on Cholesbury Common, where the road turns abruptly to head for Tring. Despite being apparently in the middle of nowhere, the route had a terminus here, presumably because it was possible to turn the bus (around the junction triangle) and stand without obstructing traffic. Several of us alighted to take photos, and the blinds were duly changed to show the return journey.
However, we were only going back to Chesham Broadway before taking a turn round the 394, so the blinds for the circular 394 were put up before setting off.
We rolled back down the long hill into Chesham, and again turned in to the Broadway, where we made connection with GS17 on the 348 to Buckland Common.
While we were there a Marshall bodied Dart, R708MEW, once of MTL London, then Metroline and now Carousel Buses, came through on service 4 to High Wycombe. (I presume this is the modern equivalent of the 362). RF308, one of the ex-Country buses converted and renumbered to Greenline, before returning to Amersham as Country buses, arrived on the 316 to Ley Hill.
We climbed up to Chartridge, and on along to Swan Bottom, before turning down through The Lee.
We wriggled down the narrow lanes to Lee Common, Ballinger Common and South Heath - a string of attractive villages - and emerged onto the B485 to head into Great Missenden. We crossed over the A413 and turned in to the station, where a mis-parked car forced a reversal on the turning circle. We were followed by RF673, which was going round the route clockwise.
We headed back for Amersham, continuing our anti-clockwise progression. We went along the old road through the village and on past the Hospital before turning out onto the main valley road. After another mile we turned off again, to serve Little Missenden.After that there was a short stretch of dual carriageway to reach the outskirts of Amersham Old Town. We met RLH32, in Ledgard blue/white livery, but again the small digital camera was too slow to catch it before it flashed past.
We passed the site of the old Amersham bus garage, and turned up the hill to reach Amersham Station. We made our way round the long turning loop, and pulled up alongside the bus-park..
Photos by Ian Smith. Click on any of them for a larger picture.
Back to Ian's Bus-stop Part Two: An hour at Amersham