Around the Outside of London
Part Two
9 August 2025
ABOVE: Central Connect 509 (YY74 OBS), an ADL Enviro400 MMC, at Epping Station, midway through a journey from Harlow to Ongar on route 20, on Wednesday 30 July 2025. All photos in this article were taken on Saturday 26 April 2025, except where stated.
I'm in Hatfield in Hertfordshire, a town that dates back to Saxon times. It is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as the property of the Abbey of Ely. The town was called Bishop's Hatfield by 1226, when King Henry III granted the Bishops of Ely rights to an annual four-day fair and a weekly market.
The de Havilland Aircraft Company opened a factory here in the 1930s, and aircraft design and manufacture employed more people here than any other industry until the factory's closure, by British Aerospace, in the 1990s.
As a town, it seems a little underwhelming to me, perhaps because I don't find the centre, as I outlined in Part One of this article. But I'm only going to be here for a few minutes.
I've started a circuit of Greater London by bus - but a circuit very specifically staying outside the Greater London Authority border, avoiding using Transport for London services and, as much as possible, also staying outside the M25 Orbital Motorway. I started at 0900 this morning in Slough.
Now, just over four-and-a-half hours later, I am at a stop called "Hatfield Town Centre", which feels like a rather loose descriptor for what is actually on the edge of town right next to a large roundabout.
ABOVE: Uno 514 (SN65 ZGV), an ADL Enviro200, pulls off the roundabout at Queensway, to serve the "Hatfield Town Centre" stop, on route 341 to Broxbourne, running about 14 minutes late.
I'm heading to Harlow, on a very long, and very long-established service - route 724. Arriving nine minutes after its scheduled 1344 departure time - a delay that has been forewarned on a real-time information screen at the stop - the vehicle is a standard ADL Enviro200 MMC.
Now operated by Arriva Herts & Essex, the 724 was originally introduced by London Transport as one of its Green Line coach services in 1966. The first One-Man-Operated orbital service in the Green Line portfolio, it originally ran from High Wycombe to Romford via Watford and Harlow. Today's service runs from Heathrow Airport, via Uxbridge and Watford, and terminates in Harlow. Journeys from end-to-end take about three-and-a-half hours, and my (as scheduled) 1344 departure will have left Heathrow at about 1130.
ABOVE: Arriva Herts and Essex 3791 (MX61 AXA), a VDL SB200 Wright Pulsar 2, calls at Hatfield Railway Station whilst working route 301 (Stevenage, Lister Hospital to St Albans).
Why could I not have used the 724 all the way from Heathrow (or Uxbridge), I hear you cry? Because of my wish to stay outside the Greater London area, which the 724 does not achieve on its western side, although arguably I could have joined it in, say, St Albans.
I have a polite driver for this service, which is always nice, and both the Customer Information Screens and the audio announcements are working properly. It's a perfectly decent bus, and a decent ride, but all very ordinary. A route like the 724 ought to be a flagship service, not just ordinary.
We pass through Welwyn Garden City. Founded in 1920, it was the second Garden City to be built (after Letchworth). A garden city is described as:
"a town designed for healthy living and industry of a size that makes possible a full measure of social life but not larger, surrounded by a rural belt; the whole of the land being in public ownership, or held in trust for the community".
Maurice de Soissons, author and countryside campaigner (1927-2019)
ABOVE: On the roundabout at Bridge Road in Welwyn Garden City, an Arriva bus heads off on another journey as a man in the cycle lane presumably wishes he had brought his bicycle!
The 724 is a limited stop service, and the territory it passes through on this part of the journey looks pretty affluent.
We come to Hertford. Although the bus station looks like a standard reverse-off "sawtooth" design, buses actually pull forward and turn sharp right when they are ready to leave, circling around the front of the remaining bus stands to get to the exit. As one would expect, the manoeuvre is conducted in very slow motion!
ABOVE: Arriva Herts and Essex 6487 (YY16 YKW), an ADL Enviro400 MMC, stands in Hertford Bus Station, awaiting the next departure on route 310 to Waltham Cross
We head east towards Ware, passing under the busy A10 trunk road, under what looks like a rather unsightly flyover:
The town of Ware stood on the Roman Road, Ermine Street, that linked London with Lincoln, and it has been said that Ware is one of the oldest continuously-occupied sites in Europe. The 724 stays on the southern edge, though, not venturing across the level crossing at the station or into the town centre.
As we leave Ware, we run parallel to a stretch of the New RIver. This is an artificial waterway, opened in 1613 to supply London with fresh drinking water from the Chadwell and Amwell Springs near here.
We're due into Harlow at 1453, but we're still clearly some way from the town centre at that point. On the outskirts of town, my attention is caught by this road sign:
This street is the UK's first road to be named after the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky. The new name was unveiled in July 2023. It is reported that Ukraine's ambassador to the UK, Vadym Prystaiko, had been due to attend the unveiling, but had been dismissed from his role by President Zelensky just hours before the ceremony.
We reach Harlow Bus Station at 1510, 17 minutes late. Not bad, actually, given the length of the route.
ABOVE: Three ADL Enviro200 MMCs can be seen in the forecourt of Arriva's Harlow Bus Garage, including one that is preparing for service on route 724.
Harlow's Bus Station has been closed since the end of November 2024 as part of the redevelopment of Harlow Town Centre, and a temporary facility has been established on a car park site nearby. To be honest, it's better than one or two permanent facilities that I have stumbled across in the course of my travels - fully fit for purpose.
There doesn't seem to be much going on at the old facility, five months after its closure:
After a meal break (Wimpy), I am heading off to Ongar on the 1630 departure on Central Connect route 20. The bus is a nearly-new (74-reg) ADL Enviro400 MMC. The outside is very smart, but the front upper windscreen could do with a clean, and the inside could do with a sweep-out:
|
|
Departure from Harlow brings lots of signs of redevelopment activity:
We venture into the residential suburbs:
Once free of the town centre, we're into open countryside. We cross the M11 motorway and join the London Road, but there's not much around for the next few miles.
Epping sees a lengthy double-run for route 20, as buses pass the junction with The Plain, which leads to St Margarets Hospital. It's about one mile on from here, through the town centre and to the station. Buses then retrace their steps all the way back to The Plain.
The town itself is 17 miles north-east of Charing Cross, the nominal centre of London. When I was young, red London Transport buses used to come here on routes 20 (later 20A) and 250. The red routes 20/A were nothing to do with the route 20 that I am riding on today. The London Transport route 20 ran in the opposite direction, to Walthamstow, and still exists today from Walthamstow, although it now terminates at Debden, three-and-a-half miles south. It features in my 100 British Bus Routes series. The red 250 ran to Romford. Any trace of that route is long gone; it merged into the old route 247 (the modern one was the 247A in those days), creating a route from Brentwood to Epping via Romford, with a peak journey time of 108 minutes end-to-end!
But there is still a red bus here - sometimes... The London Bus Company runs route 339 (Epping - Ongar - Shenfield), in connection with the operation of the Epping-Ongar Railway. Old London Transport RTs and Routemasters, red and green, are used on the service. More on all of this shortly, but a Routemaster catches me briefly unawares as it passes along Epping High Road.
ABOVE: Through the filthy window of the Central Connect vehicle, former London Transport RM 2217 (CUV 217C), passes along Epping High Road bound for North Weald, on heritage route 339. RM 2217 was the last standard-length Routemaster to be built for London Transport, with all of the 543 that followed being the longer 30-foot version.
Epping stands at the end of the London Underground Central Line, and is one of only two places on my intended route where we find an Underground station (the other being Amersham, which I passed through earlier).
Until 1994, a London Underground shuttle service ran between Epping, North Weald and Ongar as part of the Central Line, and most of this route has been taken over by the Epping Ongar Railway (EOR), a heritage operation. It's all about as far as a typical London tube as it's possible to be!
The base of the EOR is at North Weald station, where buses on route 339 connect with the trains. The 339 was a traditional London Transport Country Area service, running from Harlow via Eppping, Ongar and Brentwood to Warley.
ABOVE: Former British Railways 4953, "Pitchford Hall", is a Great Western Railways 4900, or "Hall" class of locomotive, designed by Charles Collett and built in 1929. It is seen in North Weald station on Wednesday 30 July 2025. For more details of the locomotive go to https://www.eorailway.co.uk/the-railway/rolling-stock/4953/
Back to route 20, which is the modern descendent of the 339, we come to North Weald Aerodrome. This opened in 1916 and is famous as one of the main fighter bases in the Battle of Britain. I used to come to bus rallies that were held here when I was young.
ABOVE: North Weald Aerodrome
There's very little else around here except open fields and a scattering of small villages, including Bobbingworth...
ABOVE: This is the stop for Bobbingworth Mill - the village of Bobbingworth is some way to the left of here.
Just under an hour after leaving Harlow, the 20 arrives in Ongar.
Ongar was an important market town in the medieval era. It houses the remains of Ongar Castle, which was a Norman castle built around 1086 and demolished by 1603.
St Martin's Parish Church dates from the 11th Century. A small window in the chancel is believed to indicate the existence of an anchorite's cell in medieval times.
English poet and novelist Jane Taylor (1783–1824), who wrote the words of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", is buried at the United Reformed Church in Ongar.
ABOVE: Central Connect 505 (YY74 OBN), an ADL Enviro400 MMC which has brought me to Ongar, is seen in Ongar High Street, heading back to Harlow.
My next bus, on NIBS route 21 to Brentwood, doesn't leave for another 40 minutes, so I have time to wander down the High Street. I stumble across the EOR station here. It has been an operational day for the EOR, but it's now 1800 so everything is quiet. To think that, at one time, you could have boarded an Underground train here and, with one change at Epping, made your way to Oxford Circus or Shepherds Bush!
The only timetable in the bus stop opposite Ongar station is for the 339, and it's out-of-date.
My bus is due at 1808, but it hasn't arrived, and the incoming service (buses run to the "Four Wantz" roundabout at the end of the High Street) hasn't gone through either.
At least there's a 339 to give me something of interest to see:
ABOVE: Former London Transport RTL 1076 (LUC 253), a Leyland Titan PD2, pulls out of the layby to Ongar station, heading for Shenfield
There's a gradual realisation forming in my mind that my NIBS service 21 isn't coming. It's now 20 minutes late and the incoming service hasn't been through. I have a look at BusTimes.org to see if it's around.
It isn't; there are no buses in evidence. I check the timetable and there's definitely an 1808 service listed. I check the NIBS Twitter feed, but there's been nothing posted on that for nearly four weeks. I look at Bus Times again later and there's no suggestion that my service, or the incoming trip, ran.
|
|
|
ABOVE: Screenshots from BusTimes.org. No sign (left) of any buses on the 21 route, but there is definitely a scheduled service at 1808 (centre) that should still be out at 1831. Later, I check the vehicles used for the day on the route (right), and there's no sign of the last bus having run in either direction.
The really bad news is that the 1808 is the last bus of the day on route 21. There are no more to come. So how can I complete my itinerary and get to Brentwood now?
Quite simply, I can't. It looks like I have to abandon the journey here and pick it up again from here next time. That will have an adverse effect on the subsequent schedule, plus Ongar isn't as quick to get to in order to restart my journey. For Brentwood I would have used the Elizabeth Line.
But it turns out that there is another way, although it will mean replanning the next stage of the route significantly.
The Stephenson's service 32 to Chelmsford is due at 1842 and, unlike the NIBS service, the incoming journey has just arrived!
ABOVE: Stephensons 425 (MX62 APK), an ADL Enviro200, at Ongar Station working route 32 from Chelmsford.
So, 34 minutes later than scheduled, and after over an hour in Ongar, I am back on the move - albeit in completely the wrong direction to the one I intended to be travelling in!
The bus is a short ADL Enviro200, but it's quite a busy service at times. Much of the route is, once again, open countryside. Where there are houses, they are detached and have fields behind them rather than gardens!
This view through the front of the bus gives a flavour of the route:
Gradually the country lanes start to morph into the city of Chelmsford. There's a decent crowd by the time we get to the City Centre. It's not been a long run - just 36 minutes - but I have ended up in a rather different place to where I intended to be! So this is where I will have to come back to in order to resume my circuit.
ABOVE: First Essex 67167 (YY66 PBV), an ADL Enviro200 MMC, stands in Chelmsford Bus Station on Saturday 17 May 2025, working a local service
As it happens, ending up in Chelmsford instead of Brentwood has turned out to be a lucky break in some respects, for reasons I will cover in Part Three. Having said that, it will also result in me branching out a little further east than I had been intending to on this trip. At least by doing so, I'll be able to have another Wimpy lunch en route...
TO BE CONTINUED...
BELOW: An approximation of the route covered in this article, also showing the M25 motorway, the Greater London boundary and the Epping Ongar Railway (EOR) for context
