Tracking the Tube: Central Line 03: North Acton to Queensway

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Weather: Sunny and Very Warm
Distance Walked: 14.59 km
Distance By Tube: 7.40 km
Stations Visited: 7
Fantastic Place: Holland Park

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A shorter gap between walks than has been the norm and so today, on one of the hottest days of the year I returned to North Acton to start the walk that would take me through the heart of London.

The first part of the walk, through numerous building sites almost made me wish for the days of innumerable golf courses earlier in my walks. As before the A40 was never far away and the constant hum of traffic made itself known. Soon I was turning away from the building sites into light industry and finally a return to suburbia. East Acton station lies on the wonderfully names Erconwald Street and off of this is Henchman Road. D&D central! East Acton station lies well below the tracks and is an attractive little building. This leg of the walk has a variety of styles of station and this one is proobably along with Holland Park the most attractive.

Travelling regularly on the benighted Turnham Green - Richmond branch of the District Line I have often thought could I get from one of the numerous Acton Stations to one of their Central Line cousins. Well today I discovered it was possible but probably not a time saver! 

Leaving East Acton behind me I continued east and entered Wormwood Scrubs. No I hadn't been banged up for taking photos of stations, though I could see the high wall and Victorian brickwork of the prison to my right. Instead I was walking across a large area of open space and woodland that makes up the Scrubs. From the information panels it is a haven for wildlife. From the tube line this is invisible despite its size. As well as the wild space there are also sports pitches adjacent to the Linford Christie stadium.

Exiting Wormwood Scrubs I headed south through more building works, this time for HS2, which was causing much backing up of traffic as I passed under the Westway (which is what the A40 is called here). Soon I reached White City, once the location of the Empire Games, now more famous for the BBC Television Centre where Doctor Who and lots of other famous programs were recorded, and more recently the Westfield Shopping centre. It is huge and is served by three tube stations, two on the Central Line and Wood Lane on the H&C line.

The second station that serves the shopping centre, Shepards Bush comes up not long after. This is part of "my London" as Liz and I come here for the movies, shopping and the odd meal as it is convenient for me to get here after work and for Liz to come in from home. The interchange with buses, the Overground and the Underground makes for a busy spot for transport as it also sits on a large gyratory. Also I have been going to gigs at the Shepard's Empire for a long time.

After finding my way through the maze of subways I was soon in a area of leafy avenues and rather more upmarket streets with pillared porticoes and white stuccoed walls.There were also lots of tall blocks of flats from the 20s and 30s which set against the bright blue sky looked very attractive. 

How I have lived in London for 30 plus years and never visited Holland Park astounds me in retrospect. This large park has it all; formal gardens, listed buildings, water features, open space to rest and a cafe. As I walked through the entrance and past the cafe I could hear rehearsals for one of the opera performances that they hold in the grounds of the house.

Exiting back onto the bustle of London after the peace and quiet of the park was a bit of a shock, but after finding Holland Park station, a pretty but understated building set on a busy corner site I continued through Notting Hill and found an attractive street of pastel shades and a pretty local pub.

Notting Hill Gate station is one of those that has no on street presence and it was tough to get a picture as it seemed very busy on a Monday lunchtime. I don't think I have ever left or joined the tube at Holland Park, Notting Hill Gate or the next station along the line, Queensway.

Queensway was only a short stretch along the busy road but on the way I passed the Russian Embassy and I was amused to notice the stretch of the road outside of it had been renamed to Kyiv Roat. 

Queensway is opposite the entrance to Kensington Gardens which will form a pleasant start to my next walk.

I spent much of the journey home trying to work out the remainder of the walk, the loop at the eastern end of the line makes things a bit complicated but I think the five legs will be; Queensway to Liverpool Street, Liverpool Street to Leytonstone, Leytonstone to Hainault via Woodford, Leytonstone to Hainault (the other way around the loop) and finally a long leg from Woodford to Epping. 

 

Tracking the Tube: Victoria Line 2: Walthamstow Central to Kings Cross

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Weather: Blooming Scorching!
Distance Walked: 17.85 km
Distance By Tube: 11.4 km
Stations Visited: 7
Fantastic Place: Woodberry Wetlands

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Only 7 stations so I've added the old H&I station for fun.

 

 

My tube walks are sadly becoming annual events rather than monthly as they used to be. I need to take time out to do more a year, perhaps shorter legs rather than the long ones I've done in the past. 

Today saw the completion of the Victoria Line and I was pleasantly surprised by what I found on this hot sunny summer day. Those of you paying attention may have notice that this year has been one of the hottest and driest on record (a week or so ago we hit 40c which was rather too warm for my tastes!). So the 27c temperature and clear blue skies were not a surprise, I was thankful for the modern water fountains installed by our current London mayor so I could top up my water bottle at regular intervals. Patches of grass on roadsides and parks were a uniform khaki colour and trees, especially horse chestnuts, were already shedding leaves.

The walk started in Walthamstow, former home of William Morris, there is still a museum dedicated to him near the start of the walk. One striking feature of the area are bollards.Most of them seem to have been dressed in woolly jumpers to protect them from the cold - they must have been sweltering in the heat!

Bollards keeping warm

Walthamstow - proud of its heritage

Just past Blackhorse Road station, where there are a lot of new residential tower blocks being built the route continues along a level, straight causeway between two large reservoirs, part of the Lee Valley Reservoir chain. These provide drinking water for London and are also now a important site for water birds such as cormorants. I could see there were footpaths leading around the edges of the water which may make for an interesting visit for the future. On the west side of the reservoirs is the Walthamstow Wetlands. Even from the side of the road I could see that this would be a great place to visit if you like wetlands and wildlife (also a nice looking waterside pub!).

 

Heron on guard duty

 More building and development could be seen near Tottenham Hale station and much light industrial. At this point I should mention that the stations on this leg are nothing to write home about architecturally - the 60's eh!

 

The next leg along Seven Sisters Road was fairly grim, I may have gained a kilo from all the pollution I breathed in so I was quite glad to turn off the road and go rural for a bit . In fact the next section was one of the best bits of any of my tube walks so far. The Woodberry Wetlands is a little lung in this polluted and overcrowded part of London. Two large reservoirs and waterways with birds and plants providing a welcome respite. It also provided lunch at the Coal House Cafe.  I had a very nice cup of coffee and a cheese and fig chutney toastie that set me up nicely for the rest of the walk. The cafe and the wetlands are well worth a visit and are only a short walk from Manor House station (Piccadilly Line - hmm perhaps I will pop in again when I do that line!)

 

The wetlands have been built in conjunction with a housing development, lots of flats with balconies overlooking the water and a rather nice water feature.

 

 

 

It was back to the Seven Sisters Road for the next station Finsbury Park and the more suburbia before a detour to one of the temples of football the old Arsenal football ground at Highbury (the other is of course the magnificence that is Fratton Park home of the mighty Pompey). Now converted to flats the listed stands still tower above the streets. Down the hill the new Emirates stadium can be glimpsed awaiting a future walk. 

 

The path continues through Highbury Fields, very nice open space but looking very scorched and brown in the sun at the moment. I then got rather twizzled around at Highbury and Islington station, the heat getting to me at last! The last few kilometres were a bit of a grind at the end of a long hot walk but I did pass through a very pretty square surrounded by flats, possibly Edwardian in age which had very nice Gothic details around the windows and doors. 

So that brings to an end the Victoria Line. Now to decide which of the remaining lines to do next and how to break them up in a sensible way!

 

Tracking the Tube: Jubilee Line 04: Neasden to Stanmore

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Weather: Very Warm
Distance Walked: 17.01 km
Distance By Tube: 10.2 km
Stations Visited: 6
Fantastic Place: Canons Park

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Another year and finally I've completed the Jubilee line.

Guess who forgot to photograph Stanmore Station!

I wasn't looking forward to this leg. From the map it looked like a tough start finding a route next to the very busy North Circular Road and then on through a busy industrial area. This would be followed by lots of dull suburbia walking beside more roads. Now that I only do a few walks a year I'm getting more fussy about the ones I do do and in some ways I resented that this would be possibly one of my final walks of the year.

I wasn't wrong about the start! Grim walking by very busy roads with lots of pollution. At least I had scanned Google Streetview for the start and spotted the alley that took me alongside the A406. Then more walking through light and medium industrial areas, including cement works, and building site after building site. But even here there were moments of beauty, a trailing passionflower draped over a metal fence and a sculpture of a dandelion clock over the River Brent. 

Don't think I'll blow on this one!

The Brent looking rather pretty

I would have liked to get closer to Wembley Stadium but the whole area appears to be one large construction site where flats and apartments are being built in their hundreds if not thousands. I managed to glimpse the arch and had a view back along Olympic Way but that was about it. Some day I will go to a match at Wembley, I can see it from the windows of our loft bedroom and when lit up I can see it when I walk up the hill from Greenford Station, but despite living in London for 30 years I've 'not got round to it.'

The Arch

Olympic Way

New hotel going up alongside Olympic Way

Once past Wembley Park station things got a lot better, less building sites and nice front gardens. Even better was the open expanse of Fryent Country Park. A gentle climb to a ridge that overlooks this part of North London. 

Unlike Kate Bush I was not running up that hill

Damsons

This is London

Lots of mature trees and wide open spaces. At this time of year the hedgerows are full of blackberries, apples (probably from discarded cores) and damsons. Flitting round theme were lots of butterflies, moving to fast to photograph or identify though one might be a small brown. Several very happy dogs being taken for a walk seemed to be enjoying the summer sun and my spirit began to lift. After finding the way out of the park I dropped down into Kingsbury with it's busy row of shops where everyone appeared to be out. Lots of Asian and Caribbean shops with stacks of fresh fruit and vegetables, Asian sweetshops with their pyramids of golden delicacies and everything else you need on a high street. 

Continuing north towards Queensbury via the very attractive Queensbury Park where they have a set of outside exercise equipment. I think these are a good idea, shame they weren't in use. The park also had a nice wetland area with a pond nestling in the centre. The reeds and flowers were busy with dragonflies. with swifts flitting across the water hunting for insects.

Urban wetlands - a vital resource for wildlife

After Queensbury station, a smaller quieter version of Kingsbury, I continued north to Canons Park station and the park of the same name beyond it. This turned out to be the highlight of the walk even thiugh the walled George V memorial garden was closed.

Geoge V Memorial Garden

More building works around Stanmore station, this time for retirement flats, and then a handy bus home after what turned out to be a very pleasing walk.  

So another line has been completed so I'll need to give some thought to what I do next. Waterloo and City for a quick jaunt during the winter? The H&C line, most of which has been done as part of other lines? The Victoria Line which should be able to be knocked off in a couple of days? Or the more substantial PIccadilly Line where it doesn't run alongside the Met Line given that the Central line is being left last? Answers on a postcard to the usual address!