Tracking The Tube: Central Line: Leg 7: Loughton to Epping

 

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Weather: Very warm and sunny
Distance Walked:  20.2km
Distance By Tube: 7.9km
Stations Visited: 4
Fantastic Place: Farmland between Debden and Theydon Bois

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The stupidly hot weather in May has continued into June and July! We've not had any rain for over a month and the landscape through which I walked was dry and parched, more akin to the Mediterranean rather than London. To be honest this was the least Londony walk I have done. Apart from the small regions around each of the stations, I saw very few people and 80% of my walk was either through open farmland or forest. It felt more like a walk I would do on holiday, apart from having to cross the M11 a couple of times!

The Four Stations On This Leg

The walk started as most do with a bit of suburbia before entering a park with tennis courts and parched grasses. The path led down to a pretty stream and then some light woodland before emerging into a road with some light industrial units just north of the M11. This could have been anywhere on one of my walks in east, west, north or south London!

Debden station is rather nondescript and led into a narrow path beside the track with lots of buddleia in flower which had attracted dozens of butterflies of at least four different types. 

 

The next section of the walk was the least inspiring as I wound my way through an ugly industrial estate before passing a large building surrounded with tall chain link fences with coils of barbed wire on top and more security cameras than you could shake a stick at. Large scary signs advising "no parking" and "no photography" meant I hurried on in case I be mistaken for a wrong-un! It appears that this is part of the Bank of England. Bank notes are printed here and when they reach end of life, stored and shredded here as well. 

Bank of England Building (not my photo!)

 Historic photos of construction of the Debden site. 

After leaving the industrial landscape behind I entered my first patch of farmland. Here only stubble remained but it was still a bit of a surprise so close to the factories before and the roar of the M11 to my left. I soon had to climb up to a bridge over the motorway that allowed a farm track to cross. On the other side the track continued with farmland on either side and no sign of other walkers or people of any sort to be seen. Eventually the track reached a farm building and a proper surfaced road that became busier as I approached the village of Abridge. Quite a pretty place with at least 3 pubs, a florist, bistro and a funeral parlour. An odd mix!

I got a bit lost as I missed the footpath turning off the road just before the bridge as it was overgrown with nettles and brambles. The next couple of hours of walking was through open fields and gentle rolling hills, small streams and patches of woodland. This was so unexpected and also very relaxing walking. Most of the walks have been stop start as you cross roads, dodge lime bikes, and pedestrians while this section I could get into a good rhythm just checking every 15 minutes or so which way to go at field junctions. Apart from the odd bramble patch where the paths crossed tracks and minor roads, the path was clear and way-marks were fairly well maintained. This is not always the case on some of my wilder rambles. Wheat was waiting to be harvested and the smell of hot straw and the sound of birds and crickets was everywhere.

 

This time the path went under the M11 via a busy road with limited sight lines making it a bit tricky to cross. The the path climbed up to a ridge, the first proper climb for a while but it was worth it with a stunning view across to the towers of the city and docklands on the horizon. 

 

The path then returned to civilisation including crossing the tube line via a footbridge and soon entered the village of Theydon Bois. Probably the most interesting fact is that it has no street lighting. It does have a very nice bagel shop where I refuelled with a cracking salt-beef bagel with lashings of mustard and pickles before heading off to the final stop on the journey.

After a short stretch of road walking I plunged off road into Epping Forest. This was pleasantly shady and cool after the baking sun of the open farmland of the previous leg. A wide clear, level track meant I could relax and just walk. In town I tend to have my ear buds in, listening to music while I walk to take away the noise of traffic, but on this walk I just had the sound of birds and the breeze, and the occasional dog having fun chasing balls and sticks, to keep me company. There were a few more people in this section but still not busy.

The M25 runs through a tunnel in this section and you can hear the roar of the traffic a short distance away as it enters the tunnel. Before long I was walking through Epping and the terminus of the line, though of course before 1994 the line continued to North Weald and Ongar. Perhaps I might walk that section on another day.

 

 

 

Tracking the Tube: Central Line 06: Leytonstone to Loughton

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Weather: Very warm and sunny
Distance Walked: 15.3km
Distance By Tube: 8.70
Stations Visited: 6
Fantastic Place:Lord's Bushes and Knighton Wood

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May's weather had been record breaking and I was dreading that it would wither continue today or switch to thunderous downpours, For once it was a happy medium and although it was hot it wasn't has hot as the previous week.

The Six Stations On The Walk

Soon after leaving Leytonstone station I passed the rather impressive 1911 buildings of Leytonstone school. Looks quite posh for a comprehensive. The nearby church is also quite striking, built in the late 1800s and featuring a lot of flint. 

 The first area of open land, Leyton Flats was soon upon me. A wonderful open space with ponds and woodlands. The walk was already better than I thought it was going to be

 

Leyton Flats

After the woods a fine pond with more swans than you could shake a stick at. At work we have pons with two swans. When the cygnets emerge the cob has a murderous habit of drowning any other duckings or goslings that may be minding their own business. This bunch however were very friendly!

Swantastic

 Snaresbrook station has a wonderful wildflower and wildlife garden, very well maintained in a small very steep space. 

Wildflower Wonders

There were some splendid front gardens on this walk and one had an absolutely huge, what I assume to be, banana!

Is that a banana in your garden...

 After South Woodford the walk descended beneath the North Circular, for about the tenth time on this series of walks. The underpass here was quite pleasant however. 

 

Light At The End Of The Underpass

On the way from South Woodford to Woodford there is an odd dual carriageway that leads to a bridge that is out of use for cars due to structural issues. Looking down the road is quite spooky in a post apocalypse day of the triffids sort of way!

After Woodford station and several roads with big detached houses with big expensive cars parked out front the path goes through another large open space, Lords Bushes and Knighton Wood. Easily the best part of this very enjoyable walk, this mixed woodland offered welcome shade and the opportunity to chat with many dogs and their walkers.

After Buckhurst Hill station an area of sports fields and parklands lead to the final stop at Loughton and it's very attractive architecture.

 An interesting point is that the variety of designs of stations on this walk. There was no unifying style unlike some of the other walks I've done on this project.

 

 

    
 

 

Tracking the Tube: Central Line 04: Queensway to Liverpool Street

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Weather: Sunny and Very Warm
Distance Walked: 12.37 km
Distance By Tube: 7.68 km
Stations Visited: 11
Fantastic Place:Grosvenor Square

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Stations on this walk

 

 

I wasn't particularly looking forward to this leg of the walk as I assumed that I would be trudging along the length of Oxford Street - the Central Line runs underneath it for some way. Also the crowds would make walking, and taking shots of the stations hard. Thirdly this was a part of London I know well, shops and galleries we often visit so there wouldn't be any surprises. 

I was wrong.

The walk started in the wide open expanses of Hyde Park. I have lived and worked in London for almost forty years and for some reason have not frequented this huge open space much during that time. The start of the walk took me down to the round pond and the Watts statue of Physical Energy.

Physical Energy

The Round Pond

 

We recently visited the Watts Gallery in Surrey a few weeks ago and saw the model for this and other sculptures by Watts so this was an interesting coincidence. The pond was full of birds, swans, geese, ducks etc, most with young in tow (unlike our ponds at work where the swans kill the other young waterfowl).

From here the path took me to the Serpentine, another large lake. At the north end of the water is a fine Italianate garden with fountains. Very busy with tourists but still on a warm sunny day a relaxing place to stop.

Italianate Gardens

 

Italianate Gardens

 

There are some interesting sculptures in the park at quite varying scales. The statue of Physical energy, a Henry Moore arch and a smaller scale carving of insects. 

 Leaving the park at the busy Marble Arch, which is being refurbished at the moment due to water getting in and rusting the iron supports, I entered the frenzied chaos of Oxford Street. Whatever day of the week, which ever season of the year, no matter the time of day, it is busy. Also no matter which way I am walking there always seems to be more people coming towards me than walking in the same direction. How does that work? It has got worse since the wide use of mobile phones as everyone is glued to them (despite Oxford street being a phone snatcher's paradise) so you always have to be aware to make a last minute side-step to avoid walking into someone.

 

I was glad to turn off the main drag and drop south to Grosvenor Square, former home of the American Embassy. This has now moved down to Nine Elms and the former building is now being converted into posh apartments it seems.

 

Statue of Eisenhower Outside the Former Embassy

 

The gardens are due to be refurbished soon but it was still a nice place to pause and take a water break. There are other statues in the gardens as well as a memorial to the 67 victims of the 9/11 attacks.

 

My route took me briefly back to Oxford Street for the next few stations (Bond Street, Oxford Circus and Tottenham Court Road) and in between each following the winding narrower streets south of the main shopping streets. 

 

Heading south towards Holborn I crossed the viaduct that carries the road over the now hidden Fleet River.

 From the viaduct you get a good view of the former meat market at Smithfield which is now closed and is due to become the new site of the Museum of London.

 

The next part of my walk took me through part of London I didn't know, the Inns of Court. Fabulous buildings and open spaces between Holborn and Chancery Lane

 

 

Onwards towards St Paul's past the Old Bailey where I almost did jury service (summoned for duty but not called to serve) and onwards to Bank where the old and new architecture stand cheek-by-jowl.

 

By now it was time for those working in the Square Mile to knock off work for the day and have a drink, so all the little cafes, bars and pubs had a flock of city types hanging around outside, more obstacles for a tired and hot walker to avoid!

 

Saw a few interesting sculptures and things on the last leg to Liverpool street, including a statue of a cordwainer (made shoes, cobblers repaired shoes) and possibly the worlds smallest TARDIS. 

 

The Doctor would never fit in this

 

Selfie in a Sphere at Liverpool Street

 

The next leg takes me away from "my London" into the badlands (ha) of East London.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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