#YearoftheBus SlideShow

Thought I'd make a little slideshow of all the buses we visited on the Year of the Bus Trail.

Enjoy




BBB

#YearoftheBus Olympic & Croydon Trails

Today me Daniel finished off the 2014 Year of the Bus Sculptors that have been placed around London. There are 58 of them all together and we wanted to take photos of our B's next to all of them.

We went though the Olympic Park trail again as Daniel hadn't done them yet but was fun doing it this time with someone else.

'Moquette'

'Ding! Ding!'

'Journey to Anywhere'

'Time Travel'

'English Herbaceous Border'

'Hold Tight'

'Union Jack'

'The Paralympic Bus'

'The Paralympic Bus' ©2015 Daniel Robinson

'Invisible to the Environment'

'Invisible to the Environment' ©2015 Daniel Robinson

 

'Invisible to the Environment'

'CumulonimBUS'

STOP theft :D

'Dazzler' & ArcelorMittal Orbital

Right then that's the Olympic Trail done now off we go to the Croydon Bus Trail. Daniel had worked out a route which I had downloaded onto my Garmin Edge 800 and between that and his iPhone we set off.

Passing the Thames River

Been past the Three Mill studios on many a ride.

Three Mill Studios

We've been past this bridge so many times but never noticed this sculptor here before, maybe its new?

Ugly head on pole

As we was on our way to Croydon we passed Compton Cycles and just had to pop in for a little look. Daniel, Chris & me had a nice little chat, even got some advise about a little niggling problem I've had with BBB's rear hub.

While we was there I was finally able to check out the new colours of the Bromptons. I have to say there are very nice in person but I'm still going miss yellow though. *cries*

Daniel & Chris talking Bromptons

Finally we got into Croydon and started the bus trail. We was going to have something to eat first but the light was starting to fade so we got on with navigating and finding the buses on the trail.

'Diversity'

Just as we found the Pearl Bus which is right next to a college there I overheard one of the students saying " That bike is just SICK!"

I guess that's a good thing right? ;)

'Pearl'

'The Magic Carpet Bus'

'At the bottom of the Garden'

Well what did we discover here? A bumble bee with a very sad face. Tried to to an impression, I don't think Daniel wasn't impressed though.

'At the bottom of the Garden'

'Croydon Layers'

'The Library'

"Surrey Street Market" Bus was placed in an odd area, pretty much out of the way in a very quiet spot of the market, but then again I guess you don't want to be tripping over it in a busy market place.

'Surrey Street Market'

Daniel taking a shot of our boys & 'Trammin'' :D

'Trammin''

Next to the "Trammin'" Bus there was this stencil artwork of three people. I thought it was pretty nice actually.

Some odd looking characters around here

Friendly people of Croydon

Reminds me of the KFC Coronal

'Queen of the Sky'

'Do The Locomotive'

'Wild Ride'

'The '75' to Crocus Valley'

'Circuit Bus'

The last three buses where inside Whitgift Shopping Centre. So we had to fold our bikes up and wheel them though.

'Crystal'

'Poppy the Party Bus'

'Moquette'

'Flower Fairies'

Well that is ALL 58 buses done. A well earned dinner so we retired to the Milan Bar and I had a great chicken burger with pulled pork (I can never stop giggling at that) with chips & onion rings.

Well earned meal

Lots of fun doing it and can't wait till 24th - 25th January when all 58 buses will be on show before they are auctioned off for charity at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, East London.

I will be there at the park to catch them all again as the London Brompton Club is having a ride that passes though the Park.

I'd like to thank my fellow transport buddy Daniel for his navigation and company on this adventure as it made it even better than just doing it on your own like I was planning when I first heard of the sculptors.

If you hear of anything like that going on in your city why not do it on your Brompton eh? :)

Garmin Data: Year of the Bus - Olympic Park to Croydon

BBB

It's broken again....

Well after getting B & M Toplight LineTec Brake Plus Rear Dynamo Light back in November 2014 we was fully dynamo'd up and thought we would never have to worry about batteries or lighting again.

Well we was wrong.

The first rear light broke after about a month of use. The "standlight" function stopped working so anytime we stopped the rear light would go completely out instead of staying on for about 4 mins. I sent it back and got a replacement (under warranty) just before Christmas.

B & M Toplight LineTec Brake Plus Rear Dynamo Light

After week the same thing happened to the replacement. From what people have told me is that with some rear dynamo lights component that stores the charge for the standlight function sometimes isn't held in place properly so with normal bike use after a while that component breaks loose and breaks its connection. It certainly seems the case for this one as you can actually see what I'm guessing is what's making the rattling noises and can see moving about inside the light itself. Other than the "standlight" function it still works fine.

Another member has had the non brakelight version of this for over a year without any problems.

We may just have really bad luck with getting 2 bad rear lights or maybe there was a bad batch from the manufacturers B & M.

I'll return it as I really do like this light as its pretty bright and the brake function is really cool too.

Maybe the 3rd one will be the charm?

A Chilly Eastward Bimble

We have missed a couple of the  pre Christmas rides due to work I was unable to go. My cycle partner suggested a ride this weekend. At first it was going to be a night ride but due to work changed to a day ride instead.

So with that in mind we arranged to meet up at Trafalgar Square 07:00 bright and early, ok not so bright ;)

Waiting outside National Gallery

Once we met up we headed towards St. Paul's Cathedral with the dawn following us.

Christmas lights infront of St. Paul's Cathedral

St.Paul's Dome

Mr. Orange in action

In front of St. Paul's was the Millennium Bridge to the TATE Modern.

As you can see the lighting was pretty awesome, sunrise seemed to take a long time which was fine with me as we was able to catch some pretty good shots.

The Shard & Tower Bridge at sunrise

Not many people where about at this time of the morning but there was other residents running about as you can see with this urban fox just ran right past us without batting an eye.

Hello Mr. Fox

As we continued eastward there where still Christmas decorations in different forms dotted around London.

Ceiling of stars

Global Christmas Tree

Been to this water feature next to City Hall many times and just had to get a shot but without getting wet.

The Legend within a water feature

I noticed that I seem to be drawn to the simple shapes of builds, especially if they where curved.

City Hall, London

Off we went towards & across Tower Bridge. I remembered one of my friends saying there was a glass floor when you went up the Tower and could see the traffic below. I mentioned this to my partner and made a mental note that we should come back at some point and go up and take in the view for ourselves.

Glass floor at Tower Bridge

Not far from Tower Bridge we came across a statue that I have seen a number of times on rides but the sun this time was so low that you could block the sun behind it. I thought this would make a different kind of shot and I was actually a little shocked at the results I actually got.

"Girl with a Dolphin"

Giant Sundial

Just before we got here, there was some EXTREMELY slippy decking. I slipped a little and just as I was warning my partner he also slipped quiet badly but like a trooper he kept on with the ride, just took it abit more gently.

Mr. O putting chain back on

Sneaking up on some seagulls

Mr. O & his shadow

On we went to Canary Wharf, I'd known there was a fountain here but never really took the time to take any photos of it.

While I was photographing the fountain I found these two characters.

HE & SHE

From what I could tell their are speaking sculptures & on the ground there was a website address you could scan to "hear" them speaking.

Canary Wharf was a basically a ghost town with the workers still on their Christmas holidays it was just us a few tourist & security guards. We pushed on to the Greenwich Foot Tunnel which again was pretty deserted compared to how its been in the past.

Almost deserted Greenwich Foot Tunnel

The dome of the Greenwich Foot Tunnel

The Cutty Sark was waiting for us at the other end of the tunnel and with the sun still pretty low in the sky it made for a great shot.

The Cutty Sark

We then decided to head to the O2 dome for a little break but just before we left I spotted this famous gentleman and couldn't resist taking a shot especially with the sun still so low in the sky.

Lord Nelson

Shadow of the legend

Mr. Orange, my cycle & photography partner

O2 Dome

When we reached the O2, we was abit surprised that it was quiet full. Seemed to be some kind of Frozen event going on as there was alot of Frozen Princess running about with parents.
We managed to find the "Slug and Lettuce" which wasn't too busy & had a pretty big all day breakfast which hit the spot. After our meal we decided to head back to Embankment via The Thames Clipper River Boat. I think my partner's knee was bothering him a little so was a good decision not to cycle all the way back. Seeing we had been over & under the Thames it seemed fitting that we went on it too. Not long after we got to Embankment we headed out separate ways home.

Ride Data: A Chilly Eastward Bimble

Once again its always good to ride with my cycling partner, Mr. OrangeBrompton, to slow it down a little to take photographs of this great city of ours.

Bring on 2015 I say.