Walworth bus garage open day

This year, TfL have been having a series of Open Days at various bus garages around London, but for a variety of reasons we haven't been able to get to any of them until today.  I should have liked to have visited Stockwell, as it is supposed to be a fantastic building, but we were otherwise engaged.

Today, it was Walworth Bus Garage's turn to be Open.  It is in Camberwell New Road, but is called Walworth Bus Garage to avoid confusion with Camberwell Bus Garage, belonging to another company, which is just across the road. 

There was a great deal to see - buses old and new, in service and out of it, from B-types to the very newest Borisbus. 

We were allowed to go on a bus going through the bus wash

and we ended our visit by taking a Routemaster along Route 40 to Dulwich Library, and back as far as Goose Green, where we stopped to have some lunch in a restaurant called Le Chardon.  I had steak and chips and the Swan Whisperer had chicken livers, and very good it all was, too.  We watched the heritage buses attracting attention as they went up and down:

 

 

Then we decided to go home on a 37, and it all went horribly wrong.  Partly, I think, because of huge demand for the route due to the Lambeth Country Show, but first of all there wasn't one for ages - the apps kept saying 4 minutes, but then when the 4 minutes were up they were still saying 4 minutes!  Anyway, eventually one came and I managed to grab a seat, but half way home it suddenly broke down!  We got off and walked to Herne Hill, which wasn't that far by then, stopping off for an artisanal ice-cream when we saw one, and then the Swan Whisperer decided to walk through the Lambeth Country Show, but I had already decided I had had enough.  However, just as I got to the bus stop, an empty 37 came along - I am not sure if it was the one that had broken down, or another one - and I got on.  It didn't stay empty for long, and was overloaded again by the time we got to  the top of Dulwich Road.  And by the time I got off, there were already two buses immediately behind it, and the one I was on had decided to turn round at Clapham Common.

So a quick dash round Lidl - well, they had women's T-shirts at £1.99 or three for £5, so it would have been rude not to - and then home to a nice cool drink!