Tracking the Tube: Jubilee Line 02: Canary Wharf to Green Park

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Weather: Warm and pleasant
Distance Walked: 22.5km
Distance By Tube:10.77km
Stations Visited: 9
Fantastic Place: St James' Park

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It's been a while since I last did a Tube Walk. Since the last one I've found a new job - one that isn't so desk bound as the last. I now spend a lot of time walking from one end of the site to the other, visiting users and often crawling under their desks. The walk to and from work is also far more pleasant, being through very pretty suburban streets of Kew in the leafy borough of Richmond just south of the River Thames. I now do upwards of 10000 steps everyday sometimes reaching the dizzy heights of 16000. On the down side I now work five days a week instead of four which means that the Tracking the Tube project will take a lot longer to complete.

The nine stations on the walk today

Starting back at Canary Wharf I was struck again how much had changed since I worked here back in the last Millennium! In fact there was even change since the last time I walked here a year ago. I walked a slightly different route back through docklands as I headed south, following the west side of Millwall Inner Dock and the east side of Millwall Outer Dock.

These are now surrounded by offices and housing rather than the warehouses and industry that would have been there when the docks were a thriving centre of shipping and trade. Even so there were a large number of narrow boats and other house boats moored in the basins, many brightened up with flowers and vegetables growing in any available space.

On the open water of the outer dock there were small sailing dinghies and wind-surfers making the most of the sun and brisk wind that gets funnelled through the canyons formed by the tall buildings. Because of the mix of housing and office space docklands is still busy and bustling on a Saturday unlike the areas around Chancery Lane and the old financial centre of London which can resemble the setting of a post-apocalyptic wasteland at the weekend.

A little further on near Mudchute (possibly one of the least glamorous names on the DLR network)  there was a small housing development, probably late eighties early nineties) built around a set of private moorings. None were in use by boats, however there was a pair of Great Crested Grebe nesting there and on a semi submerged pontoon a family of Canada Geese). Lots of other ducks and sea birds had made their home in this peaceful little haven - which was nice.

Walking under the Thames via the foot tunnel I headed west past the Cutty Sark on the Thames Path soon coming to a very odd statue of Peter the Great. The proportions are really very odd but it makes a striking addition to an area dominated by drab modern apartments.

Continuing along the Thames path which occasionally swings some way inland I passed through a park with a old, gnarled mulberry tree. I'd love to have one of these in my garden at some point. The fruit wasn't ripe but there was a lot on the tree. I wonder if anyone comes to pick it or if it just gets eaten by birds.

Heading inland at a large marina filled with canal boats and sailing craft I left the Thames behind and headed through Rotherhithe to Canada Water station. This station, like most on the relatively new extension, is a striking modern building. This one resembles one of the vehicles that the Sand People in Star Wars travelled around in collecting scrap and selling faulty droids to moisture farmers!

Passing through Southwark Park I soon came to Bermondsey station which was quite restrained in design on a long road lined with shops and cafés. Passing under the bridge carrying the trains out of London Bridge station the smell of a local craft brewery filled the air bringing back memories of living in Cardiff and the Brains brewery that filled the air with malty goodness most days!

This part of London on the run up to London Bridge station has a large number of very nice streets lined with Georgian and Victorian terraces and old schools turned into flats. Very attractive, if small, front gardens added to the ambience. The nearer I got to the station the more hip the area got with lots of small coffee shops, including one called "Fuckoffee." The National Fasion and Textile Museum is here as are a number of small galleries and craft workshops. London Bridge station is rather large and sprawling but is dominated by the glass and steel of Isengard the Shard that towers over it.

After a quick stop at Hotel Chocolat for some 'emergency supplies my path led back to the Thames and a visit to one of my old workplaces on the South Bank opposite St Paul's. A Quick stop for lunch at Eat reinvigorated me for the second half of the walk, briefly along the Thames before turning off by the reconstructed Globe theatre (well worth going to see a performance there) and heading south to Southwark station. The route I took went behind the Tate Modern gallery at Bankside. This opened soon after Liz and I moved to London and was part of the flowering of art and culture in London around the Millennium. London has always had great art spaces but it just seems to have got better and better. The new gallery space at the Tate is housed in a stunning building which sits well beside the old power station.

The area between Southwark, Waterloo and Westminster stations is horrendously busy especially on a sunny Saturday during the summer holidays. It makes walking at a normal pace almost impossible. The area between the London Eye and the Houses of Parliament is particularly bad with tourists sitting on the steps and waving their selfie-sticks around. It was quite a relief therefore to break out of the congestion and walk through the, still busy but more peaceful surroundings, of St James' Park. I don't think I've even spent much time in this large green lung in the centre of London which runs from the political heart of London right up to the gates of Buckingham Palace. At the heart of the park is a long lake surrounded by flower beds and despite the large number of visitors it still has a peaceful air. The lake has lots of wildfowl (a theme of today!) including some pelicans which you are warned not to feed. This may be why!

After waving at the queen I turned north through another of London's large parks, Green Park to the station of the same name. As a geologist I like what the designers have done with the walls of this station. They have used fossiliferous limestone in which you can see the calcified remains of ammonites and other extinct see creatures. The designers have then carved larger stylised versions in the walls.

The last stretch from Green Park to Bond Street station is one that I've walked many, many times with my wife when we visit the Royal Academy of Arts and you pass many swanky shops and galleries before arriving in the throbbing heart of Oxford Street with all it's department stores and other shops.

That was enough for today and I could feel that I hadn't done a long walk for a while in the backs of my legs. It was however one of my favourite tube walks of the project so far. It was a transect through time and space showing the various parts of London. It started in the new heart of financial London, moves through the old dockland and commercial centre, through art and culture, political London, Royal London and finally shopping London. All of these areas have their own flavour and architecture and the route is well worth a walk if you have half a day to spare.

New tower looms over a floating restaurant

Interesting sculpture near Canary Wharf station

Standing tall

Parts look more like Amsterdam than London!

Great Crested Grebe at Mudchute

Philip the Great and Small Friend

Storm Clouds over the City

The Shard

The new galleries at Tate Modern

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: Bakerloo Line 02: Kilburn Park to Elephant and Castle

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Weather: Grey & Cold
Distance Walked: 15.1 km
Distance By Tube: 10.2 km
Stations Visited: 15
Fantastic Place: Little Venice

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I'm a bit late in blogging this walk (about a month!) so my memories are not as clear as they could be. What I do remember is that walking through the centre of London including Oxford Street on one of the busiest shopping days of the year, a couple of weeks before Christmas, was perhaps not my smartest idea! Fifteen stations today on this section so plenty of stop starting which added to the lack of flow and enjoyment on this leg.

I was going to take a short detour at the start of the walk to visit Brondesbury Road where one of my favourite groups King Crimson began but I forgot! The stations on this leg of the walk are an interesting mix of styles, most have the ox-blood red tile frontages while others are hidden below ground level and others are the terminus of one of the major suburban railways. This made things interesting for taking photographs especially as the streets were very busy!

Maida vale station has an interesting mosaic roundel in the foyer above the stairs that lead down to the platforms and the streets nearby are full of what I assume to be Edwardian mansion blocks each with distinctive plasterwork or possibly moulder brick decorations, very attractive. There are a number of blue plaques on this walk including in this area one for David Ben Gurion and another for Alan Turing. After the well hidden Warwick Park station (no buildings above ground just a pair of stairwells, you reach Little Venice which to me is more Little Amsterdam as I've never been to Venice. Narrow bridges over this arm of the Grand Union canal lead to a wide basin full of attractive barges.

Leaving the canal and a modern 'urban living' quarter with shops, offices and probably very expensive flats behind there is a labyrinth of roads to negotiate before arriving at Paddington Station (another blue plaque nearby indicates where penicillin was discovered) followed by more busy streets, ugly flyovers and then Edgeware Road station. The fact that there are two Edgeware Road stations must cause endless confusion for tourists!

A stroll along Marylebone Road leads via a detour to Marylebone Station itself which is linked to a nearby hotel by a ornate glazed covered walkway. Baker Street and Regent Park follow in quick succession.
Before reaching Oxford Circus I passed Broadcasting House, the headquarters of the BBC. It gets a lot of bad press from some quarters but I would certainly prefer to live in a country that has something like the BBC rather than one that didn't. The area around Oxford Circus was absolutely rammed with people grabbing a quick lunch and shopping for presents and it took ages to get a snap of the station that didn't have a bus in the way!

A quick stroll along Carnaby Street with its range of fashionable shops that I would never be seen
dead in (those who know me and my idiosyncratic fashion sense will understand this!) but the area is attractive with several interesting murals and mosaics.

Piccadilly circus is another station that doesn't have any above ground presence - surprising for such an important interchange. On then to Charing Cross, another terminus and then a very short walk down to Embankment station before crossing the Thames to Waterloo.

The wind along the Thames was cold and penetrating but the skies were starting to clear, but not the crowds packing the Southbank.

After Waterloo the crowds thinned slightly and the last two stations as well as the Imperial War Museum came up quickly. Got a bit lost and confused in the maze of tunnels around Elephant and Castle but eventually managed to find the right set of platforms for my journey back up the Bakerloo Line to Oxford Circus and thence back home.

Two lines down now, both diagonal from north west to south east. The District line follows for a more west to east alignment but with several branches to add complexity to the planning.

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.