Tracking the Tube: Northern Line 02: Kennington - Euston - Kennington

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Weather: Very warm for the end of September with lots of sunshine.
Distance Walked: 20.75km 
Distance By Tube: Technically 0km  but 13.43km in reality.
Stations Visited: 18 (or 19 if you include Kennington twice!)
Fantastic Place: Borough Market

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A perfect day for walking on what turned out to be one of the most enjoyable walks so far in this set of Tube walks. This is partly because of the lovely sunny weather and also it took me through what I regard as 'my London'.

18 stations on this leg

I started out from Kennington, again getting confused by the lift where you get out of the same door you enter through unlike most lifts on the underground. The dome on top of the station was designed to house all the heavy lift machinery - it is nice when function produces an attractive form. Its a shame that some of the tower blocks I saw on today's walk didn't achieve this goal (yes I'm looking at you Mr Walkie-Talkie building).

First up was the maze of streets, roadworks, underpasses, coned and fenced off walkways that make up the Elephant and Castle roundabout.

Pink Elephant before 10am and I hadn't been drinking

Obviously they are doing improvement works and hopefully things will be better soon but at one point I didn't think I'd escape and I wasn't sure where I should be heading.

Anyway I soon put this behind me and it wasn't long before Borough Market came into view. I used to work in the area and one way of relieving the stress of the day was to pop down and stroll around the stalls and perhaps pick something up for supper. If anything the market has got larger and busier in the past few years and is a great place to spend an hour or two. Buy some cheese, some cured meats, some bread,

Borough Market Greengrocer Stall

olives, fruit, vegetables, oils, wines etc etc etc! I had no room to carry anything back today but I have tucked it away for a morning trip with my wife, perhaps combining it with a visit to a gallery or two.

Continuing along the high street I passed the George Inn, the last galleried inn in London and it does good food and drink as well though it was far too early to stop there today!

London Bridge station is a sprawling mass of underground and overground lines spread over a large area right next to London Bridge. London Bridge itself has seen many incarnations from the famous one with houses and shops lining it as seen in many a picture of the Frost Fairs on the Thames to the version that a rich American bought and set up on a lake somewhere in the USA to the bland modern version that stands today.

Here be dragons

As you step onto the bridge you are greeted by the symbols of the City of London, a city within the greater city.

A short distance across the bridge is Monument station named for the monument to the great fire that stands nearby. Next up is Bank named for the Bank of England, the Old Lady of Threadneedle street which stands pretty much on top of the station.

The streets here still follow the old medieval street pattern and they twist and turn, zig and zag in the shadow of the towers of the banks and other financial institutions leaving the streets shaded like canyons.

More extensive roadworks and diversions around Moorgate for the long planned Crossrail project that will hopefully reduce some of the load on the Central line in a few years time follow before I reach Moorgate station.

Continuing North and West in a series of long dog-legs towards Old Street station I came across Bunhill Fields a non-conformist burial ground that is the last resting place of William Blake and Daniel Defoe amongst others. Well worth a detour if you are in the area it is a peaceful oasis amongst the hustle and bustle that surrounds it.

Old Street was where I did my initial training in IT after I left teaching. The area has developed since then and is now known as Silicon Roundabout because of all the tech startups there are there now. A bit further north-west along the City Road, opposite my old office, is  the Eagle pub. Famous for being the pub mentioned in pop-goes-the-weasel. In my day it was a bit of a dive and we used to use the cafe nearby, the Shepherdess,  which also seems to have gone up in the world in the last twenty odd years!

Regent's Canal

More dog-legs followed along with a short stretch of the Regent's Canal just before Angel station.

The route between Angel and Kings Cross took me through the picturesque Percy Circus. Built on a very steep hill the houses around the circular green are very attractive and there is a blue plaque nearby commemorating Lenin who lived/stayed in one of the properties for a time.

A very windy and dull stretch along the Euston road followed where in quick succession Kings Cross, Euston and Warren Street stations were ticked off the list but I had passed half way.

Turning south I enter what I regard as part of my London and it has been pretty much ever since I moved to the city after completing my teaching qualifications in Norwich. This is a landscape of galleries, bookshops, theatres, opera houses and places to eat and I think I know my way around here fairly well.

A Home Form Home!

Goodge Street is followed quickly by Tottenham Court Road which at last is beginning to open up again after all the work needed for Crossrail. Heading down towards Leicester Square I popped up Earlham Street to Orcs Nest where I have spent many a happy hour (and quite a bit of money) on D&D books, figures, paints, dice etc. They also stock a wide range of other games and so a visit is always worthwhile.

The Home of the ENO

Shortly after Leicester Square station I passed the Colosseum home of the English National Opera and the national Portrait Gallery - two more of my favourite places in this part of London. 

Carrying on south past Charing Cross station and through Embankment I recrossed the river via Hungerford Bridge and then dropped down on the south side of the river towards Waterloo.

The South Bank was busy with fun fairs and performers which it seems to be more often than not these days which goes some way to hide the rather unattractive concrete buildings of the Festival Hall etc built for the Festival of Britain back in the 50s.

The roads around Waterloo were busy and I got a bit lost as I have done in the past, though I did manage to spot an unusual sculpture outside one of the hotels.


Turning back towards Kennington I looked back and caught a fine view of the Houses of Parliament framed by the London Plane trees that line this part of the river near Lambeth Palace.

The Houses of Parliament

I was ready for a break when I got back to Kennington tube after what was quite a long walk, made longer by the crowds in the centre and the number of stations and points of interest to take photos of.

Next leg will see me heading north but not before I do a 25km sponsored walk along the River Lea with some friends in aid of the Samaritans.

Tracking The Tube: District Line: 02: Edgeware Road to Wimbledon

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Weather: Nice and sunny but with a bit of a lazy wind
Distance Walked: 20.8
Distance By Tube: 15.09
Stations Visited:15
Fantastic Place: West Brompton Cemetery

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15 Tube Stations on the leg of the walk

For the second leg of my District Line walk I skipped a bit eastward so I could do the other north-south branch from Edgeware Road to Wimbledon, fifteen stations including a detour to take in Kensington Olympia on it's seldom used branch line from Earl's Court.

There are two Edgeware Road stations, this is the more attractive of the two and has what appears to be the standard, for this part of the line, pale cream glazed brickwork frontage. Interestingly this station was originally part of the Metropolitan railway but now serves the District, Circle and Hammersmith & City lines. Just outside the station was the first of two interesting pieces of public sculpture I was to see on this section of the line.

 The stretch down to Paddington Station passes through the sprawling buildings of one of London's teaching hospitals, St Mary's, very useful if you are playing a game of Pointless in your head trying to find words beginning with a vowel and ending with 'ology'.

Another sculpture outside of the hospital of a cyclist checking his shoe. Odd.

Through the seemingly endless streets of Bayswater lined with stylish mansion flats and squares filled with spring bulbs and early cherry blossom in shades of pink and white and on the corner of one of these streets, the rather fine bust of George Kastrioti-Skandburg.

Bayswater station followed soon after and I was soon in little Athens with a domed Greek Orthadox cathedral and lots of Greek grocery shops.

After Notting Hill Gate station my path took me along Kensington Palace Gardens, part of the Crown Estate, and signs told me in no uncertain terms not to take any photos. Again this was useful practice for Pointless as I tried to guess the embassy from the flag flying outside. Some were simple, Japan, Finland, Russia, others less so, Nepal for example. Israel's was probably the easiest to identify as it was the only one with two Met police officers armed with semi-automatic weapons standing outside.

I moved swiftly on...

High Street Kensington was busy as lunchtime was approaching and there were plenty of interesting buildings in the Art Deco style to admire as I headed back west towards Kensington Olympia. The most striking building was probably Barkers.

The old Commonwealth Institute is being knocked down / refurbished to become part of the design museum. It was one of the first museums I went to when I moved to London, an interesting building but prone to leaks if I recall correctly. 

Kensington Olympia doesn't have a proper sign so I included in the montage the sign that gives it's original name Kensington Addison Road instead.

Heading south east the streets are busier and everything appears a little more shabbier as I arrived at Earl's Court. This was where I saw my first gig, Pink Floyd performing "The Wall." Now the whole exhibition centre is being knocked down to provide non-affordable housing. Shame, many great memories have seeped into the concrete walls of that edifice.

West Brompton is the next station, from the top floors of the nearby Empress State Building (a former client was based there for  time) you have a great view down onto the pitch of Stamford Bridge, home of Chelsea Football Club.

The next stretch takes you through the slightly wild and overgrown West Brompton Cemetery. Lots of  family tombs, vaults and mini-mausoleums line the main route including the grave of Emmeline  Pankhurst. Some of the tombs would make great entrances for a Dungeons and Dragons game!

After leaving the cemetery you walk round the perimeter of the football ground which sprawls around a bit. The outside of the complex itself is rather an ugly monstrosity at ground level and looks better from above.

The original Fulham Broadway station was a grand brown stone building but this is now closed and the station is buried within a steel and glass shopping centre. Ho hum.

Passing over the interestingly named Eel Brook Common open space, past Parson's Green station and then Parson's Green itself I felt a little deja vu as this reminded me of the Turnham Green and Chiswick Park section with small common areas with the tube line running on an embankment close by.

Putney Bridge station followed soon after and then up a flight of steps to a footpath that runs alongside the train tracks across the Thames, the tide was out, with great views down the river.

South of the river the stations change in style, becoming quaint brick built buildings with the logo of the London and South West Railway above the entrance in carved brickwork along with the date of opening (around 1889-1890) the same date as the building of the railway bridge. Past Southfields the route enters Wimbledon Park which I visited on the Capital Ring walk. The pond was full of ducks and swans being fed by young children well wrapped up against the wind that blew unobstructed across the water. But with the sun reflecting off the ripples and the bulbs and blossom on the trees this was a very enjoyable respite from the suburban streets surrounding it.


Somehow the rod climbs steeply from Wimbledon Park station up Arthur Road to the last stop on this leg of the walk Wimbledon Station.

Next I will return to Turnham Green and explore the District Line as it follows the line of the Thames through the city and out the other side into the lesser known, to me anyway, reaches of Dagenham and Upminster.

Tracking the Tube: Metropolitan Line: Leg 02: Finchley Road to Wembley Park

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Weather: Hot and Sunny
Distance Walked: 8.7km
Distance By Tube: 7.24km
Stations Visited: 2
Fantastic Plaice: Ever Fresh Fish Cricklewood

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The second leg of the Metropolitan Line starts, unsurprisingly, from where I left off. The challenge this time for a walk that only includes two stations was two fold. First to avoid the Jubilee Line stations  that lie on the long stretch between Finchley Road and Wembley Park and how to get across the North Circular road without going too far out of my way.  Leaving Finchley Road and heading north past the wonderfully named Finchley Road and Frognal overground station I was glad to swing west off the busy A41 and enter the shaded and rather attractive side streets of this part of hilly Hampstead. Returning very briefly to the Finchley Road I spied across the busy thoroughfare one of my favourite eating places, Koi Sushi. Many a happy evening has been spent there after a long D&D session and it can be highly reccomended.

Heading down hill past many attractive Edwardian(?) mansion blocks and a very picturesque fire station dating from 1901 you reach Mill Lane which has a very nice village feel. That is something that you pick up when you walk through London, although everything at first appears to be one huge homogeneous metropolis, on the ground many places have kept a part of their original village feel. Hampstead is one of these and even within Hampstead there are different sub-villages and districts.

As the road turns north-west to follow a deep railway cutting there is a small nature reserve tucked into the side of the road. Westbere Copse is quite small and I should have spent a few minutes exploring it but I wasn't sure at the time if there was another way out.

The further north-west I walked along Westbere Road the less attractive the buildings on either side became, you really feel a sense of leaving Hampstead behind and moving into Cricklewood. Ah Cricklewood, this was one of those place names that had a magical attraction for me in my youth as it was the home of The Goodies. I had no idea where it was or what it was like so I made sure that today's walk passed through it. It is quite a busy, bustling place built around and along the A5, the old Roman Road that became in Anglo Saxon times, Watling Street. No sense of ancient history remains in the shop lined street of today though one shop Ever Fresh Fish had one of the finest displays of fresh fish I had ever seen. Fish from all corners of the globe (OK why do we say 'corners of the globe'? Globes have no corners!) bright eyed and very fresh looking. Didn't buy any as I think they may have been a little less fresh by the time I arrived at the end of the walk - it was beginning to get very hot indeed now and the shelter provided by the tall blocks either side of the road was balanced against the fumes from the lorries, buses and cars.

Beyond Watling Street the walk became more peaceful, with parallel streets of residential terraces running south of Olive Road, one of the houses had a very fine dragon finial on their roof which I coveted. I've seen them for sale in reclamation yards, including one near my office in Vauxhall, but they are too expensive (and too heavy to pop in my rucksack) so perhaps in our next house. One of these side streets had my favourite name so far, Dicey Avenue. It would be interesting to find out why that name was chosen, there is no pattern that I could determine; Sneyd,Wren, Dawsons, Blackstone and Heber are the others nearby. It all seems like a difficult Only Connect wall.

A very pleasant walk through Gladstone Park followed, lots of nice trees and . This is one of the numerous municipal parks that are dotted throughout London and which made walking the Capital Ring and this latest project so pleasurable. We are very lucky in London to have so many of them and we need to make sure that in this era of austerity we don't lose them or let them fall into disrepair.It had an interesting bird sculpture which reminded me a bit of some of the art in Barcelona's Park Guell.

Leaving the park, with great views of Wembley Stadium ahead, you enter Neasdon and not far ahead the drone of the North Circular starts to make itself heard. After all my worries it was actually very simple to cross. Following Neasden High Street leads to a very attractive underpass (yes they do exist and not all smell) with tiles depicting canal boats, trains and other forms of transport. I realised as I emerged back into the sunlight that I had been across the top of the underpass on the North Circular hundreds of times but never thought anything of it. A slow climb and walk along a rather busy main road followed before diving south west again towards the station at Wembley Park which has a very attractive frontage. It has obviously been upgraded recently to accommodate extra visitors for the new Wembley Stadium and this has been done very nicely giving the station a nice open feel.

That completed this leg of the walk and next time I need to make a decision as to which branch of the line to tackle first: south to Uxbridge or north to  Chesham, Amersham and Watford.

Tracking the Tube: Metropolitan Line: Leg 01: Aldgate to Finchley Road

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Weather: Cloudy and Humid becoming Sunny and Warm
Distance Walked: 12.2 km
Distance By Tube: 10.0 km
Stations Visited: 10
Fantastic Place: Primrose Hill

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Metropolitan Line Map (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_line)

The 10 Stations

So the first leg of a new challenge. I'm not sure if I've ever travelled to Aldgate before, I certainly didn't recognise the area when I got out! Turning around the first thing I saw was the skeleton of a wooden framed building.

According to the plaque on the ground this marks the location of the historic Aldgate where Chaucer lived from 1374 to 1386. Behind it is one of the iconic new buildings that are dominating the London skyline - the Gherkin. The timber building is inspired by two poems by Chaucer while resident in the two rooms above the now long demolished gate.

The route between Aldgate and Liverpool Street is made more complicated by the amount of building work that is taking place in the heart of London at the moment. Below ground you have the Crossrail project that is well under way now. This means that streets are blocked off as they build new stations, extend existing ones and insert new ventilation shafts and what not.

Around Liverpool Street I found my favourite street name of the walk; Frying Pan Alley. The area has gone upmarket a bit since Jack London wrote about it and there are now parts of the University of East Anglia nearby, many upmarket sandwich shops, wine bars and other services for those travelling into and out of London via one of the busiest mainline termini.

As a part-time baker and the son of a professional baker I liked the images above a sandwich shop near the station. It's a narrow street and I wonder how many people spot these on their rush to buy lunch?

Moving on past Liverpool Street I encountered the first of many diversions due to building above ground as well as more Crossrail works. New office towers are being squeezed into whatever space is available, whether it be by demolishing an ugly 1960's block or into the space between existing towers. One of the spaces I was looking forward to seeing was Finsbury Circus, an oval oasis of green in the glass and concrete world of the city. However this was currently occupied by some of the aforementioned Crossrail works and only a small part was visible. What was open to view looked very nice though and my walking of another of the lines may bring me back.

More diversions on the route to Moorgate station and then a trudge past, around and under the Barbican centre  to Barbican station. I should have walked through the centre rather than around it but I missed the entrance! I always fancied living in the Barbican if I had to live in the centre rather than being able to live in the suburbs. Lots of culture including the Museum of London on your doorstep and some interesting, others may call it ugly and brutalist, architecture.

Between Barbican station and Farringdon I walked along the appropriately named Cowcross street, appropriate as this leads from the fabulous edifice of Smithfield market, the largest meat market in the UK and one of the largest in Europe. There has been a market on the site since the Middle Ages and the current building dates back to the 1850s.

It was also the place that Wat Tyler, leader of the Peasants' Revolt was executed. Sadly there are plans at the moment to demolish part of the historic market as part of a redevelopment plan.

From Farringdon you enter Clerkenwell, a arty-crafty part of London and as I have been before, I was surprised to come across St John's Gate which spans St John's Lane and which was part of a priory owned by the Knights Hospitallers. It's not often I manage to go on a walk that combines two of my favourite hobbies - cooking and Dungeons and Dragons!


After the pretty and historic area around Clerkenwell its a bit of a shock to emerge into the busy, bustling and rather shabby area around King's Cross and St. Pancreas and it is a relief to get off the main drag and into some side streets for a moment, though not before you pass two of my favourite buildings; St Pancreas Station and the British Library.

In one of the quiet squares south of King's Cross there is a statue of Gandhi, a nice peaceful reflective space in amongst the hubbub of the city.

However before long you are back on the main drag to visit Euston Square station and then not much further along, but feeling it because of the busy Euston Road, Great Portland Street station.

More trudging along this busy arterial route follows but at least there are some interesting buildings on either side, along with a huge queue of people outside Madame Tussauds. Now as a Londoner there are many of the famous tourist destinations that I have never got round to visiting, but I will do one day. This however is one that wild horses wouldn't drag me into! Especially when I saw how expensive it was - phew!

Baker Street station is just off of Euston Road and outside it is a plaque celebrating that this was part of the original underground network, built some 150 years ago. Humming Gerry Rafferty's Baker Street as I turned up the street of that name I passed a crowd of tourists taking photos of the actor dressed as a Victorian bobby outside of the famous detective's house at 221b before heading off into Regent's Park. The direct route would have taken me along the busy Finchley Road to the next station but this walk isn't about following the shortest route, but one that leads me through new and interesting places where possible.

Now Regent's Park is one of London's great open spaces and one that I had never visited before. It is a lot larger and in some places wilder than I imagined especially once you have crossed the bridge across the lake and headed into the northern half of the park. There are some nice sculpture in the park as well as great views of the Post Office tower.

Exiting the park past the London Zoo, no I've not been there either, not even as a kid when I was brought up to London by my long suffering elder sister as a birthday treat, you enter another fabulous open space Primrose Hill.

The views from the top of the hill are amazing and you realise how hilly London is with Hampstead and Harrow also on the walk on other parts of this line and elsewhere it won't be a flat trudge that's for sure.

Primrose Hill

After finding my way out of Primrose Hill you pass through residential areas, in the garden of one house was a statue of Sigmund Freud,  before plunging down a narrow and rather steep alley to rejoin the Finchley Road and the station of the same name.

Possible idea for my next D&D adventure...

This is one of my regular stops as I have friends nearby but it was interesting to approach it from a new angle.

All in all a very enjoyable walk, it was good to get my boots back on and stride out after far too long thinking about what I was going to do rather than doing it. Looking forward to the next leg northwards along the line towards Wembley.