Weather: Mild becoming very warm and sunny as the walk progressed
Distance Walked: 18.2 km
Distance By Tube: 11.9 km
Stations Visited: 12
Fantastic Place: Kennington Oval
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| Northern Line Map |
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| Stations on this leg - spot the missing one! |
Decided to walk from south to north to give me more time to consider how I was going to handle the odd branching nature of the 'top end' of the line. I'd never been as far south as Morden before and I was very pleasantly surprised. The station itself, like many of the others has a Modernist design by Charles Holden as do many of the others on this leg of the walk. In fact there is a Charles Holden pub opposite Colliers Wood station. The interior of the station is dominated by a large octagonal skylight, while the outside is unfortunately marred by the busy bus depot and shops. My next surprise was Morden Hall Park, a National Trust property (and a cafe) which will probably get a visit of it's own at a later date.
A stroll through wild meadows and across the tram lines (trams are very nearly silent and they can catch you unaware) leads you to a peaceful stretch of walking along the River Wandle.
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| River Wandle |
I hadn't realised that this area had such strong link with Nelson but there were several pubs with his name, the Victory and Trafalgar and then in a small area of open space this memorial stone.
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| Memorial Stone |
South Wimbledon and Colliers Wood stations come and go as you move from the peace and quiet of the Wandle to the hustle and bustle of a main road that climbs gentle but continuously past shops and markets from Wimbledon to Tooting.
Branching off the high street after Tooting Bec I walked through Tooting Bec common where today's root crossed that of the Capital Ring, I thought the park looked familiar.
Returning back to the high street at Balham the climb continued to Clapham South and the wide open expanse of Clapham Common. The tube stations here (Clapham Common, Clapham South and Clapham North were used as deep-level shelters during WW2. Above ground there is little to see other than the drum shaped shelter entrances.
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| Clapham North Deep level Shelter Entrance |
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| Clapham Common Bandstand |
The road continues on and on and now into more familiar territory for me as I have worked in the Vauxhall area for several years now. Stockwell Station is one of the few on this leg that is not to the Charles Holden design. Oval station is of course near the Kennington Oval cricket ground (England was winning the Ashes elsewhere as I was walking past it). The ground itself is not visible from the road but the old stands and the gasometers (a sight that I remember from my childhood watching the cricket on the telly during the summer school holidays, when the Vauxhall Road End sounded a lot more exotic than I know know it to be) are. The last station on this leg, Kennington is a pretty little one with a domed roof and a very cramped ticket office with little room for the lifts that need to serve the deep level platforms.
Next leg will be the Kennington - Euston - Kennington loop.
