Let's try the 199.



199 Canada Water → Bellingham, Catford Bus Garage

A tour of Deptford to start with, then south through Greenwich and Lewisham. I'm certainly getting around.



Outside the bus garage I have two choices, the 47 to Shoreditch or the 171 to, erm, wherever it terminates now. The 171 was one of the routes seriously massaged in the cull of several central London routes last year, and now only gets as far as (checks online) Elephant & Castle.



Let's try the 47.



47 Catford Bus Garage → Shoreditch

This bus retreads common ground, back through Lewisham and Canada Water, but continues to cross the Thames at London Bridge and on to Shoreditch.



At Shoreditch I have two options, the 35 or the 78. Or at least I think I do, my out of date maps aren't definitive. And the 78 is another dead end because it goes to Nunhead and no other bus does, so I have to pick the 35.



35 Shoreditch → Clapham Junction

Sigh, that's London Bridge again and Elephant & Castle again, but this time it's on through Brixton to Clapham Junction.



Three other buses start/terminate on the north side of Clapham Junction station, I think, and that's the 39, 295 and C3. I can't catch the 295 because that goes to Ladbroke Grove Sainsbury's which is a dead end, and I can't catch the C3 because Earl's Court Tesco is no better. So the 39 it is.



39 Clapham Junction → Putney Bridge

The 39 takes the very long way round to Putney Bridge via Wimbledon Park. Not normally one to ride all the way.



Putney Bridge is one of southwest London's major bus termini, so from here I could go all sorts of ways...



85 → Kingston

270 → Mitcham

378 → Mortlake

414 → Maida Hill



By my calculations the 85 connects to the 371, the 270 connects to the 355, the 378 connects to the 209 and the 414 connects to the 228. But this is all getting quite complicated now, branching inexorably out of control.



209 → Castelnau

228 → Park Royal

355 → Brixton

371 → Manor Circus Let's try the 171.



171 Catford Bus Garage → Elephant & Castle

The 171 used to go all the way to Holborn, which would have been déjà vu, but instead after Peckham and Camberwell it now stops short on the road outside the Imperial War Museum.



The 171's last stop on Lambeth Road is also the last stop for the 155 and the 363, so it's got to be one of those next. Neither are dead ends.



Let's try the 155.



155 Elephant & Castle → St George's Hospital

The 155 shadows the Northern line through Clapham and Balham before veering off to stop in the grounds of the big hospital in Tooting.



The two other buses starting at St George's are the 264 and the 280. But the 280 terminates alone on the edge of London in Belmont, so instead I can only take the 264.



264 St George's Hospital → West Croydon

The 264 heads southeast through Mitcham to Croydon, roughly parallel to the trams. It used to terminate in the town centre, but now stops at West Croydon bus station.



TfL undertook a mass switcharound of termini in central Croydon last year to save a bit of cash. Trying to confirm which routes now start at West Croydon has been a bit of a pain, but my word there are a lot of them. I could go all sorts of ways...



154 → Morden

166 → Epsom Hospital

194 → Lower Sydenham

367 → Bromley North

250 → Brixton

450 → Lower Sydenham

X26 → Heathrow Central Let's try the 363.



363 Elephant & Castle → Crystal Palace

This follows the 63 through Peckham to Honor Oak, but extends further south to the bus station on Crystal Palace Parade.



Crystal Palace bus station is another of those spots with a ridiculously high number of terminating routes, so from here I could go all sorts of ways...



3 → Whitehall

122 → Plumstead

157 → Morden

202 → Blackheath

227 → Bromley North

322 → Clapham Common

358 → Orpington

363 → Elephant & Castle

410 → Wallington

417 → Clapham Common

Let's try the C10.



C10 Canada Water → Victoria

A circuitous pootle round Rotherhithe, then some twiddly backstreets.



At least ten different routes start/finish at Victoria station. But the C10 doesn't serve the bus station, only Buckingham Palace Road, so I should concentrate instead on the two routes that share the same final stop which are the 44 and the C1. The 44 looks promising - it heads to Tooting station where I could swap to the 77, but the 77 is a dead end - so I can only switch to the C1.



C1 Victoria → White City

A single decker serving Knightsbridge and Kensington on the way to Shepherds Bush, terminating round the back of Westfield.



White City bus station attracts few passengers but several bus routes, so from here I could go all sorts of ways...



49 → Clapham Jn

148 → Camberwell

260 → Golders Green

316 → Cricklewood

607 → Uxbridge