Tracking the Tube: Central Line 03: North Acton to Queensway

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Weather: Sunny and Very Warm
Distance Walked: 14.59 km
Distance By Tube: 7.40 km
Stations Visited: 7
Fantastic Place: Holland Park

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A shorter gap between walks than has been the norm and so today, on one of the hottest days of the year I returned to North Acton to start the walk that would take me through the heart of London.

The first part of the walk, through numerous building sites almost made me wish for the days of innumerable golf courses earlier in my walks. As before the A40 was never far away and the constant hum of traffic made itself known. Soon I was turning away from the building sites into light industry and finally a return to suburbia. East Acton station lies on the wonderfully names Erconwald Street and off of this is Henchman Road. D&D central! East Acton station lies well below the tracks and is an attractive little building. This leg of the walk has a variety of styles of station and this one is proobably along with Holland Park the most attractive.

Travelling regularly on the benighted Turnham Green - Richmond branch of the District Line I have often thought could I get from one of the numerous Acton Stations to one of their Central Line cousins. Well today I discovered it was possible but probably not a time saver! 

Leaving East Acton behind me I continued east and entered Wormwood Scrubs. No I hadn't been banged up for taking photos of stations, though I could see the high wall and Victorian brickwork of the prison to my right. Instead I was walking across a large area of open space and woodland that makes up the Scrubs. From the information panels it is a haven for wildlife. From the tube line this is invisible despite its size. As well as the wild space there are also sports pitches adjacent to the Linford Christie stadium.

Exiting Wormwood Scrubs I headed south through more building works, this time for HS2, which was causing much backing up of traffic as I passed under the Westway (which is what the A40 is called here). Soon I reached White City, once the location of the Empire Games, now more famous for the BBC Television Centre where Doctor Who and lots of other famous programs were recorded, and more recently the Westfield Shopping centre. It is huge and is served by three tube stations, two on the Central Line and Wood Lane on the H&C line.

The second station that serves the shopping centre, Shepards Bush comes up not long after. This is part of "my London" as Liz and I come here for the movies, shopping and the odd meal as it is convenient for me to get here after work and for Liz to come in from home. The interchange with buses, the Overground and the Underground makes for a busy spot for transport as it also sits on a large gyratory. Also I have been going to gigs at the Shepard's Empire for a long time.

After finding my way through the maze of subways I was soon in a area of leafy avenues and rather more upmarket streets with pillared porticoes and white stuccoed walls.There were also lots of tall blocks of flats from the 20s and 30s which set against the bright blue sky looked very attractive. 

How I have lived in London for 30 plus years and never visited Holland Park astounds me in retrospect. This large park has it all; formal gardens, listed buildings, water features, open space to rest and a cafe. As I walked through the entrance and past the cafe I could hear rehearsals for one of the opera performances that they hold in the grounds of the house.

Exiting back onto the bustle of London after the peace and quiet of the park was a bit of a shock, but after finding Holland Park station, a pretty but understated building set on a busy corner site I continued through Notting Hill and found an attractive street of pastel shades and a pretty local pub.

Notting Hill Gate station is one of those that has no on street presence and it was tough to get a picture as it seemed very busy on a Monday lunchtime. I don't think I have ever left or joined the tube at Holland Park, Notting Hill Gate or the next station along the line, Queensway.

Queensway was only a short stretch along the busy road but on the way I passed the Russian Embassy and I was amused to notice the stretch of the road outside of it had been renamed to Kyiv Roat. 

Queensway is opposite the entrance to Kensington Gardens which will form a pleasant start to my next walk.

I spent much of the journey home trying to work out the remainder of the walk, the loop at the eastern end of the line makes things a bit complicated but I think the five legs will be; Queensway to Liverpool Street, Liverpool Street to Leytonstone, Leytonstone to Hainault via Woodford, Leytonstone to Hainault (the other way around the loop) and finally a long leg from Woodford to Epping. 

 

Tracking the Tube: Central Line 02: Perivale to Ealing Broadway

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Weather: Sunny and warm
Distance Walked: 13.63 km
Distance By Tube: 9.58 km
Stations Visited: 5
Fantastic Place: Pitshanger

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The five stations on this walk

 After a long gap between walks up to the previous episode, we have two in three weeks! This time I'm walking through some areas I know quite well. After walking over Horsenden Hill from our house down to the canal I passed the station and walked over the busy A40 (again).

Cow Parsley beside the path over Horsenden Hill

The Hoover Building from the A40 footbridge

Once over the A40 the path runs on a path between golf courses and over the River Brent, which looks very pleasant at this point rather than the concrete banked monstrosity it becomes later.

The River Brent

I don't normally like golf courses on my walks but this one was nicely landscaped with the river running through it. It runs past the pretty little church of St Mary with it's neat white painted planked exterior.

St Mary's Perivale

It wasn't long before I emerged into Pitshanger Park. This nice park was busy with joggers, some pushing prams and walking dogs all at once which is multitasking to the max! The small cafe was very busy with parents who have brought their children for tennis lessons. I have happy memories playing cricket with my young god-twins when I was still able to beat them (they have become quite talented at it!).

Pink Hawthorn in Pitshanger Park

 

Pitshanger itself is lovely, no other word for it. We often pop up if we want to do a bit of shopping as it has an independent bookshop, a fishmonger, a butcher, a baker and lots of coffee shops and a nice pub. Back from the bustling high street, the roads are lines with pretty houses which are part of the Brentham Garden suburb built in the early part of the 20th century. Each has a small but well maintained garden but no off street parking which must be a nightmare with people coming to the area to shop (yes, that includes us!).

Typical Pitshanger Garden

Leaving the charm Pitshanger behind the walk moved towards Hanger Lane, a nightmare of a junction between the A40 and the North Circular roads along with a couple of other routes. The fumes and noise of heavy traffic replaced the birdsong and flowers of the gardens. 

The station itself is situated at the middle of the Gyratory and there is a maze of tiled of passages under the station and unsurprisingly I came out the wrong one and stood around looking lost for a while. I thought it was bad going round it in a car! 

After eventually finding the correct route I passed through another small park and new residential development before entering the rather depressing light industrial area of Park Royal (boy am I'm looking forward to going through this again on my Piccadilly Line walk).  

Someone has made an effort amongst the grimness

Eventually the industrial desolation is left behind and I arrived in North Acton. This area has undergone a lot of development with lots of tall residential blocks being built over the last few years.

North Acton or Manhattan?

Once I found my way out of the crazy labyrinth of the building sites to find some way across the A40 (again) the walk got better as the route led through a small park and then the strange area of "Tudorbethan" houses that are very popular with the Japanese. There are specialist food shops, schools and so on dedicated to the large population of Japanese that live here.

A Tudorbethan building

The walk then became more and more familiar as I approached Ealing Broadway as we used to live here before moving to Greenford and before long the modern Ealing Broadway station appeared. It has been enlarged and redeveloped to cope with the Elizabeth Line extension and is now a lot less crowded than it was when it was our local station.

Next leg I'll return to North Acton and head east into the city where I will probably encounter more building sites and the A40 again!

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

Tracking the Tube: Central Line 01: West Ruislip to Perivale

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Weather: Unseasonably Cool and Grey
Distance Walked: 18.73 km
Distance By Tube: 8.65 km
Stations Visited: 6
Fantastic Place: Northolt Village Green

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So the penultimate line of the tube line walk project - almost two years since I completed the Victoria Line. Alongside the usual reason of work taking up so much time, last summer we got two new kittens after our beloved Fitz died at the age of 21. This meant I 'had' to stay at home with them to make sure they got acclimatised to their new home. Suffice to say they have and now rule the roost, every day they commit a new crime!

Six Stations on this Section of the Line

 

Anyway, back to the walk. I decided to walk west to east along the line to make the most of starting close to home, it is going to be interesting to see how I break up the loop at the eastern end of the line.

The walk started at the western end of the line at West Ruislip, an uninspiring station in the middle of an uninspiring area, I actually got a bit lost leaving the station, not a good start! The first section of the walk was through dull suburbia, in fact the walk kept returning to the same busy road before diving off to one side or another to gain respite. Ruislip Gardens station is if anything even less interesting than West Ruislip, but it does lie opposite the entrance to Northolt Aerodrome, pretty unique to be walk past the end of the main runway of the RAF base. It is the oldest RAF base in the UK, created in 1915 and was the first to take delivery of Hurricanes in WW2. It is now the base where the royals fly into and out of and I often see planes coming in when working in the back garden.

More suburban dullness leads to the excitement of crossing the busy A40 (which the Central Line follows into the centre of London) at the Polish War memorial roundabout (the Poles had a squadron that flew out of Northolt during WW2). 

The weather has been very wet over the past few months and this caused me to take a detour when the path through the woods back to Northolt station crossing the A40 again this time via a high footbridge. This area is starting to be recognisable to me, we quite often need to go to the Post Office sorting centre here to pick up parcels and the vet hospital is near by as well.

After the station with the busy road pounding outside it was pleasant to pick up a sandwich and a drink for lunch and sit in the peaceful Northolt Village Green with ducks looking interested in my sandwich.

This quiet location is overlooked by the 13th century church of St Mary with St Richard. 

The path drops down from the hill towards the Grand Union Canal which winds along under road and rail bridges. Lots of barges moored against the tow path in a variety of conditions of repair! The walk would be more peaceful if it wasn't for the bikes speeding along often not ringing a bell as they approached from behind.

Leaving the canal to walk up to Greenford station via the new housing development on the old Glaxo factory site I spotted a swan nesting beside the canal. Returning to the tow path once more for the last section towards Perivale I walked through a section of fenced off land where beavers have been reintroduced, sadly none were visible on this trip but I will keep an eye out for them when walking down to the shops. Then I retraced my steps, over Horsenden Hill back home

View along the canal at Perivale

Cormorant drying off by the canal

Eyes peeled but none spotted

Caterpillar Hedge

Occupied Canal-side Residence

Dinosaur at the Golf Course

Northolt Clock Tower

Walking the Thames Path: Section 6.1: Culham to Dorchester

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Weather: Sunny, Very Warm
Section Length: 13.5Km
Fantastic Place: Dorchester Abbey Tea Room

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The Route

A very sunny day for this section of the Thames Path.Lots of wild flowers everywhere along with birds and insects - in particular mayflies and dragonflies. After being dropped off in the sleepy village of Culham the first stretch of the walk is beside wild flower strewn meadows alive with mayflies. Flying above red kites and buzzards circle looking for prey.

Shortly after passing under the railway bridge there is a WWII pillbox. Not sure what it would have been guarding. There is another at the end of the walk on the approach to Dorchester so I guess they were there to defend the river. Now this one would make a good bird hide as flocks of geese were grazing on the grass in front of it.

    

Pillbox.

In several sections, the main, winding path of the Thames are bypassed by cuts, and at the entry and exit of each there is a weir <shudder>. 

At the end of the Clifton Cut there is a fine lock keeper's cottage. The gardens are very well tended (and there is an option of purchasing an ice cream if you fancy it).

Clifton Lock

 

Shortly after the lock you come to one of the most attractive bridges on the river, this one was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott.

Clifton Hampton Bridge

Crossing the bridge for a short detour you I walked to the Barley Mow, a thatched pub built in the 14th Century and mentioned in Three Men in a Boat. 

The Barley Mow

Back to cross the busy bridge (busier than normal as there was a road closure that caused Liz to get diverted, ironically, past this spot) and back along the Thames. The houses on the far bank of the river are very large and look very expensive. Some of the boathouses probably cost more than our house.

Modern Boathouse

Modern Riverside Residence

 This stretch of the Thames has some environmental management programs in place. Side channels and pools to support wildlife include snipe and otters. The meadows were full of buttercups glowing in the sun. The long curve of the river bends round to the south giving great views of the hills south of Dorchester, one of which is capped with an Iron Age Hill Fort.

Wittenham Clumps

Cows modelling for a Cuyp Painting

Buttercup Meadows

 

One final weir leads to the final stretch and a return to Dorchester alongside the Thame. The gardens of Dorchester Abbey are worth a look at and if you are there in the afternoon the Abbey Tearooms provide a fine selection of cakes. I had a well deserved slice of Lemon Drizzle and one of Orange Fruitcake. Both were very tasty. There is also a small museum in the old abbey guest house that is worth a look.

Walking The Thames Path: Section 6.2: Dorchester to Wallingford

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Weather: Sunny, Heavy Showers
Section Length: 8.4Km
Fantastic Place: Shillingford

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The Route

This blog entry is a bit delayed (OK very delayed as I did the walk back in 2022!)

Outside of weeks away from home, or long weekends, most of the Thames path will be walked in short sections such as today. I get a lift to the starting point from Liz, who then goes for a mooch around a pretty town (in this case Dorchester and Wallingford).

Dorchester is a pretty little town/village with an ancient abbey at its heart and several pubs. The walk starts with a pleasant stroll along the River Thame to its confluence with the Thames. On the approach to Shillingford the path leaves the river for some tedious road walking into the village. The return to the river is via a pretty lane beside gorgeous gardens and at the end a thatched boathouse. 

Shillingford bridge is quite impressive (it has road signs warning of ducks). The river, once you return to it, is wide and peaceful at this spot until you approach Benson where there is a busy marina and my great fear - a weir.

The Dreaded Weir at Benson

I don't know what it is about weirs. They are crossed usually by sturdy bridges with high hand rails but there is something about the mix of still deep water and rushing water over the weir itself that gives me the heeby-jeebies! 

The river on the far side of the weir returns to a peaceful tree lined stretch on the run into Wallingford. Wallingford has another fine Thanes bridge. A great spot to stop, meet up with Liz and scoff a very good sausage roll while watching people swim in the river.

Rather Fancy Boathouse

Wallingford Bridge

Fine Tree on Wallingford High Street

Tracking the Tube: Victoria Line 2: Walthamstow Central to Kings Cross

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Weather: Blooming Scorching!
Distance Walked: 17.85 km
Distance By Tube: 11.4 km
Stations Visited: 7
Fantastic Place: Woodberry Wetlands

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Only 7 stations so I've added the old H&I station for fun.

 

 

My tube walks are sadly becoming annual events rather than monthly as they used to be. I need to take time out to do more a year, perhaps shorter legs rather than the long ones I've done in the past. 

Today saw the completion of the Victoria Line and I was pleasantly surprised by what I found on this hot sunny summer day. Those of you paying attention may have notice that this year has been one of the hottest and driest on record (a week or so ago we hit 40c which was rather too warm for my tastes!). So the 27c temperature and clear blue skies were not a surprise, I was thankful for the modern water fountains installed by our current London mayor so I could top up my water bottle at regular intervals. Patches of grass on roadsides and parks were a uniform khaki colour and trees, especially horse chestnuts, were already shedding leaves.

The walk started in Walthamstow, former home of William Morris, there is still a museum dedicated to him near the start of the walk. One striking feature of the area are bollards.Most of them seem to have been dressed in woolly jumpers to protect them from the cold - they must have been sweltering in the heat!

Bollards keeping warm

Walthamstow - proud of its heritage

Just past Blackhorse Road station, where there are a lot of new residential tower blocks being built the route continues along a level, straight causeway between two large reservoirs, part of the Lee Valley Reservoir chain. These provide drinking water for London and are also now a important site for water birds such as cormorants. I could see there were footpaths leading around the edges of the water which may make for an interesting visit for the future. On the west side of the reservoirs is the Walthamstow Wetlands. Even from the side of the road I could see that this would be a great place to visit if you like wetlands and wildlife (also a nice looking waterside pub!).

 

Heron on guard duty

 More building and development could be seen near Tottenham Hale station and much light industrial. At this point I should mention that the stations on this leg are nothing to write home about architecturally - the 60's eh!

 

The next leg along Seven Sisters Road was fairly grim, I may have gained a kilo from all the pollution I breathed in so I was quite glad to turn off the road and go rural for a bit . In fact the next section was one of the best bits of any of my tube walks so far. The Woodberry Wetlands is a little lung in this polluted and overcrowded part of London. Two large reservoirs and waterways with birds and plants providing a welcome respite. It also provided lunch at the Coal House Cafe.  I had a very nice cup of coffee and a cheese and fig chutney toastie that set me up nicely for the rest of the walk. The cafe and the wetlands are well worth a visit and are only a short walk from Manor House station (Piccadilly Line - hmm perhaps I will pop in again when I do that line!)

 

The wetlands have been built in conjunction with a housing development, lots of flats with balconies overlooking the water and a rather nice water feature.

 

 

 

It was back to the Seven Sisters Road for the next station Finsbury Park and the more suburbia before a detour to one of the temples of football the old Arsenal football ground at Highbury (the other is of course the magnificence that is Fratton Park home of the mighty Pompey). Now converted to flats the listed stands still tower above the streets. Down the hill the new Emirates stadium can be glimpsed awaiting a future walk. 

 

The path continues through Highbury Fields, very nice open space but looking very scorched and brown in the sun at the moment. I then got rather twizzled around at Highbury and Islington station, the heat getting to me at last! The last few kilometres were a bit of a grind at the end of a long hot walk but I did pass through a very pretty square surrounded by flats, possibly Edwardian in age which had very nice Gothic details around the windows and doors. 

So that brings to an end the Victoria Line. Now to decide which of the remaining lines to do next and how to break them up in a sensible way!