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

Tracking the Tube: Metropolitan Line 05: Moor Park to Watford

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Weather: Sunny and Warm - Perfect walking weather
Distance Walked: 12.9 km
Distance By Tube: 7.6 km
Stations Visited: 3
Fantastic Place: Grand Union Canal

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This is where it all gets a bit complicated! The Metropolitan Line starts to bifurcate and deciding which route to go is complicated. Decided, as I was wearing in a new pair of walking shoes (last 'pair' was a mismatch - one was size 8 the other size nine meaning that I had a shoe full of blood and bruised toenails by the end of the walk as I hadn't noticed until near the end), to do a short leg this time.

Some thoughts on a rather complicated journey which in involves two changes to go quite a short distance. At last after 20 years the platform indicators at Sudbury Hill station tell you when and where the next train will be rather than the rather useless "Westbound", "Eastbound" information they used to give! Pinner station has a kiosk selling comestibles on the platform, not many stations have that these days. Northwood station has some very nice flowerbeds

This Walk's Tube Stations

Starting from Moor Park I headed west and then north. I hadn't gone 100 yards before I was stopped by someone asking for directions. This always happens when I'm out walking in somewhere I don't know - do I look like a geography teacher or something? In this case I could help as I had a page from the A to Z with me and was able to point him in the right direction. Heading west along Sandy Lodge Road I was struck by the size and the splendid variety of the properties (once the son of an estate agent, always the son of an estate agent!). Some were huge but all had nice mature gardens and with the spring flowers, sunshine and blossom all looked rather fine. I could almost hear the security cameras whirring and focussing on me as I walked along the deserted road with my camera and notebook!

This idyllic stretch soon changed as the lane joined the busy A4145 which lacked a pavement, in fact in places lacked even a verge to walk on and was very busy.

Pill box in Withey Bed Nature Reserve

I considered walking through the attractive Withey Bed nature reserve but there didn't seem to be a way out on the far side and was looking very damp after the heavy rains of the past three months. Instead I pressed on along the main road for a couple of hundred metres, dodging from side to side as appropriate, being buffeted by the large vans and lorries rushing along to the various light industrial estates that led off from the A4145.

Eventually I turned off into one of these light industrial areas, not the most welcoming of places where there were a number of signs pointing out several local footpaths. including the one I was interested in that would take me across Croxley Common Moor to the Grand Union Canal.

After the busy, noisy, polluted road the moor was a pleasant enough space, it will probably look a lot better in a month or two when all the wild flowers are out. As it was with blue sky overhead it made for easy enough walking and soon I crossed the bridge over the River Gade followed shortly by a second, older bridge, over the canal next to a lock.

Grand Union Canal; Croxley Green Locks

Heading away from the canal for a few minutes I climbed steeply up a narrow lane to the main road and Croxley Station. This station, and Watford later on on this walk, have a distinctive style, more like a pair of large semi-detached houses than a tube station. Retracing my steps I returned to the canal for most of the rest of my journey.

Old car used as a cabin on a barge.

Guardian of the tow path

Peaceful scene on the Grand Union

Willow curtain

Perhaps a project for another day

This was one of the best bits of the walk so far. I like walking by canals as it is hard to get lost, however I also find expanses of still water quite disturbing.

In some places the adjacent river had burst its banks and the canal and river were as one. Lots of birds on the water, I may have glimpsed a kingfisher at one point flying fast and low above the surface of the canal.

Lots of cation on the canal, people fettling their boats after a hard winter and even one or two working boats chugging along carrying supplies of Calor gas from Cassio Wharf and marina to teh boats along this stretch of the canal. Some new houses have been built along this stretch fronting on to the canal while older ones on the west side have gates in their back fences leading down to the tow path. Several people had brought out chairs and some tables to have a morning cup of tea in the warm spring sunshine.

Eventually after passing under major road and rail bridges I climbed up an old canal bridge and walked into Cassiobury Park. A very attractive open space with tree lined avenues and more importantly a very nice cafe by the exit towards Watford station. Very busy at lunchtime with about thirty mothers with attached toddlers I still managed to snag myself a pair of very filling bacon baps and a cup of coffee before heading the short distance to the final stop on this branch, Watford Station. This part of the line is scheduled for closure with a new branch joining up with the mainline station in the centre of Watfrod (this station is some way from the centre). Lots of local protests about this, I may have to revisit if I have time when the new stations are opened.

Next walk will probably be from Croxley to Chalfont & Latimer as this will avoid any more walking along the A4145!

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.







 

A New Project

I've been looking for a new project for some time - since I finished the London LOOP. For a while I thought about walking the Grand Union from London to Birmingham but wasn't sure if the transport links would be suitable. I could do part of the Thames Path from Oxford eastwards but west of Oxford transport gets too time consuming (and expensive!) so that one will have to wait, I may do the western sections when I'm visiting my relations in the Cotswolds.

So I was just browsing in the wonderful Pitshanger Bookshop a week or so ago and I came across Walk The Lines by Mark Mason. This details his walk along and around London's underground network. Within a few pages (while still in the bookshop) I had been inspired to do the same. I'm not as hard-core as Mark so I won't be doing 30+ miles in a day, instead I'll be splitting it up into smaller sections (6-10 miles a day) so it will take me a few years to complete.

Once I got home I found someone else, with the confusingly similar name of Mark Moxon had done the same thing and detailed it on his website. This is divided up into legs of a more manageable length and it is this approach I will take, but I won't be following exactly the same route. Instead I will look at the area around the line and see what interesting sights I can find and the route is likely to change as I walk the route as I get distracted easily! It will be interesting to see how I feel about:

• A walk that is predominately urban in nature
• A walk that I will be planning myself rather than following someone else's route
• A walk that will revisit some places more than once (the Jubilee and Metropolitan lines share the same route for example as well as some stations being a nexus for several lines).

I'll be starting with the Metropolitan Line from Aldgate to Finchley Road.