Day 31 - Central Line (Part 6) and Finished!

I can scarcely believe it myself, but today, on time and as planned, I finished my tube walking.

I'm still a tad speechless, but I'll quickly run through today's events before adding a few thanks.

TFL tried their best to hold up/prevent the walking throughout, doubtless desperate to prove that walking in London was impossible. But despite their efforts, we persevered, setting off from Ealing Broadway and heading into central London.

A good group of walkers joined me today, and I must name them all: Messrs Jonathon Caunt (of course), Kevin Touhey, and Neel Acharya; Misses Lynsesy Edgar, Emma Danforth and (from East Acton) Alexandra Simmons. As with every other day, the company made the walking, which was pretty dull until Notting Hill, not just bearable but enjoyable.

Having dragged the girls past Westfield shopping centre (as well as other stunning sights of London... Wormwood Scrubs for example), and stopped for a much needed Subway sandwich, the party ploughed through Oxford Street. It says much that, of all my walking, traversing the busy street between Bond Street and Oxford Circus tubes was just about the most challenging part of all. Having finally made it through the other side, we carried on through Holborn, stopped off to admire St. Paul's Cathedral, and finally arrived in Bank on schedule. As might be expected, this preciptated a well deserved trip to the pub (albeit a pub in London Bridge) with others who had kindly waited at Bank to greet us.

On the subject of this project as a whole, now completed... A massive thanks to all those who have walked with me over the past few weeks, and also to those who have donated. Both have made this far more rewarding both personally and for the charity, who I'm sure will also be enormously grateful. I will pass on anything I get from them and post it here. Particular thanks to Jonathon Caunt, who has been a legend throughout, walking a truly ridiculous amount of the track with me, providing advice and updating the daily map, a job which doubtless took up far too much of his time.

I'm at something of a loss for what to do both to celebrate, and to fill my time in the days ahead. Luckily LPC elective exams should certainly help with the latter. However, I have very much enjoyed walking London, learning a vast amount about the geography and social make up of the city in general. Five key things I have noted:

i )It is absolutely massive, and spectacularly diverse;
ii) there are more Subways than McDonalds (thankfully);
iii) the painted elephants really brighten up central London, and there are a LOT of them;
iv) localities in London can easily be judged by what services local solicitors specialise in, from personal injury claims/criminal defence to very expensive property law and finally;
v) walking that far every day makes feet very sore. This is not so much about London, but I think it is certainly worth mentioning.

I could go on, but everyone knows a lot about London generally and I don't want to bore more than I already have.

Before I go any further, I must post up the final walking league, as I know it is VERY competitive. So, without further ado....

With one week to go...

1st Mr J Caunt (82 miles)
2nd Miss L Edgar (25 miles)
3rd Mr R Day (12.5 miles)
4th Miss E Lowe (12 miles)
5th Miss F Ward (11.5 miles)
= Mr K Touhey (11.5 miles)
= Mr N Acharya (11.5 miles)
= Miss E Danforth (11.5 miles)
9th Mr T Wood (11 miles)
= Miss L Hassan (11 miles [in the pouring rain])
= Mr R McNicoll (11 miles [in the pouring rain])
12th Mr R Sinclair (10.5 miles)
13th Miss C Hartley (9 miles)
14th Miss A Simmons (8 miles)
15th Mr A Chartres (7 miles)
16th Mr M Michalski (6 miles)

Thrilling. A close result, but JC shades it.

I hope people have enjoyed reading this blog and following my progress. It has been tremendously rewarding, and I know Jersey Hospice will be thrilled. The justgiving page is still open for those who have not yet donated, and I would love it if you could spare a few pounds for people who really need it.

www.justgiving.com/alexrenouf

On that note, fare thee well! I may post again if any more developments occur (there has been talk of me walking the DLR. We shall see...), there is any more coverage, or I get a final figure for donations.

Thanks, and good night.

Alex

Day 30 - Central Line (Part Five)

Another Sunday spent productively wandering around bits of London I may never see again. Today took me to West Ruislip, which I had seen twice before, as while only serving the Central Line it sits neatly on the Pic/Met Line path between Rayners Lane and Uxbridge.

While the tube stations were relatively close together, the layout of the roads meant that it took an age to walk between some, but the walks were relatively nice. The industrial estate at Greenford wasn't the most thrilling place in London, but it DID have a Hovis factory which smelled wonderful. And it was here that I picked up my walking companion for the day, Alex Chartres, who took time out of his doubtlessly busy day to accompany me for a couple of hours. And very good company he was too.

Indeed, it was the courage of his convictions that saw us save a couple of miles by walking through a very nice park in Perivale and along a canal path. Not only was it quicker, but much more scenic, and the last time I will see Regent's Canal which has criss-crossed my path frequently.

Spurred on, we made good time by ignoring Google maps further and cutting more pointless meanderings around North Acton. Quote of the day however came from the Tube Attendant at Hanger Lane. Having told him I was walking to North Acton, and about to ask if it was possible to traverse Western Avenue, he sternly replied "It's too far." I was stunned by his response, and having told him I'd walked the vast majority of the underground network he relented, albeit grumpily, and told me the way to go. I'm sure he just wanted me to use the shiny, gleaming Central Line rather than risk damage to my feet, but still...

One more day to go. My aim is to start at Ealing Broadway at 12, and finish at Bank at 6, having stopped off for 'refreshments' along the way. Really excited to be finishing tomorrow, and I hope people are keen to meet up en route or for a drink at the end.

I hope I don't break my leg on the way to Tesco...

A

Day 29 - Central Line (Part Four)

So close to the end now, I can almost taste it. But, alas, not close enough to allow me any leeway in terms of days off, so to Epping today in the pouring rain, which persisted for the majority of the walk. At times it truly bucketed down, but my spirits were kept high by Laila's optimism and the pleasant company of Rodney McNicoll. To walk with me is madness in itself, but to do so in today's weather was true heroism/insanity.

Epping itself is nice, although Rodney and I were almost disappointed to discover it had a Subway, while doing its best to seem rural and idyllic. The long sodden walk to Theydon Bois saw us somehow manager to pass under/over/through the M25 without seeing it, but from then on the path became more straightforward. As with the other extremities of the underground system, the stations are miles and miles apart there, although at least it is largely miles of countryside and not industrial estate.

We pressed on hard despite the conditions, Rodney soaked through, myself having abandoned my glasses and Laila onto her second pair of ruined shoes. Why most of the roads deemed pavements of any type unthinkable is beyond me, but we finally arrived with some relief in Woodford, desperate to get home to hot showers and dry clothes. Two days to go, and one long stretch of track between me and the end, defying in all honesty my own expectation. Still keeping my fingers tightly crossed though until I can limp over the finish line.

Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend

TTFN

Day 28 - Central Line (Part Three)

A pleasant walk yesterday for Day 28, albeit rather brief, with the lure of drinks in Moorgate too strong to allow me to do any more. And the desire to keep my feet and legs in tact for the weekend...

I am grateful to the OS map at Roding Valley tube station for showing me a footpath which cut two miles off my journey to Chigwell. This allowed me a very pleasant walk through the countryside, and also the unexpected pleasure of stumbling upon Tottenham Hotspur's 'Spurs Lodge' Training Ground. Alas there were no players, as they are all off on their summer holidays, but it was a good find nonetheless.

Te other destination of note was Grange Hill, which bored little resemblance to the fictional school which bore its name on television. Instead the area, and for that matter Chigwell, was full of plush houses and sports cars with personalised number plates. Still no sign of the typical Essex I had heard so much about...

Day 27 - Central Line (Part Two) and Jubilee Line (Extra)

A day of two walks, neatly sandwiching some low standard but high flair College netball.

The first was a brief and fairly dull affair in Essex, starting in Barkingside and doing the lower side of the Central Line loop, most of which consisted of plodding along the Eastern Avenue and trying to make sure where I was walking was pedestrian friendly. In fairness, the area is actually quite nice, although the drizzle that followed me about precluded me from really enjoying the surroundings.

The less said about the netball, the better. Though congratulations to the eventual winners, and superstar Rob Sinclair who bagged the winning goal. Or whatever you call them in netball...

The second walk was the third in my three-part extra walking series which I can now reveal (without too much excitement) was in fact me correcting earlier laziness on my part. Long, long ago when I first walked the Jubilee Line (with an injured foot) I surmised that it would be impossible to traverse the Thames between Canning Town/North Greenwich/Canary Wharf/Canada Water. How wrong I was. With the aid of three very clean and attractive tunnels, I was able to walk under the river vaguely near each tube line (today's final walk being a particularly wide interpretation of 'vaguely').

The first short walk was between Canada Water and Canary Wharf, and saw me use the Rotherhithe Tunnel. I advise all other walkers not to. Signs noting the presence of noxious fumes and warning pedestrians 'not to loiter' sum up the dingy mile-and-a-half long car tunnel perfectly, and while it was an experience to go through it I hope it is one I will not need to repeat again any time soon. Adventurous.

The second was far more pleasant, from CW to North Greenwich. This, excitingly, involved a walk past my own house before passing down the Isle Of Dogs to Island Gardens, where can be found the Greenwich foot tunnel. Unsurprisingly, this links the area to Greenwich, a lovely town with a huge park (and an observatory) as well as numerous impressive naval buildings I had neither the time nor inclination to take a closer look at, save for a few photos. I had a public companies workshop to get to after all.... The walk from there to the Millenium Dome (or 'O2') was pretty dull after that, although that structure itself is obviously impressive.

Finally, today's walk, kindly accompanied by who else but JC. And I suspect he will live to regret it. For to get between Canning Town and North Greenwich requires a 3 mile walk to Woolwich to take the foot tunnel there which is only open from 8pm onwards, followed by a 3 mile walk back along the river. The industrial estate we passed through on the north bank was dire, despite featuring Tate and Lyle amongst a wide number of factories and depressing buildings. We even thought we'd struck gold when we found 'Loveworld TV' but it turned out to be a Christian Televesion Network. Which is what we had hoped for of course...

Having gone under the river, the south bank was more pleasant, although I'm not sure how it could have been any worse. We stopped off in another large warehouse area for a meal at a well known fast food purveyor (seemingly the only option), then pressed on through the dark to the Dome once more. The Jubilee Line is now well and truly, and properly, done. And I have 4 days left on the Central. Marvelous.

Apologies for those hoping for my confidential walks to be more racy. If you were, you probably haven't been paying close attention to the rest of my postings.

Night

Day 26 - Central Line

I had intended to get up this morning at 8, and set off for a long walk before college. But after only 5 hours of sleep, my head said no, and instead I set off on the (shorter) second leg of my afore mentioned three part confidential journey... More details to follow!

However, having gone into college, and with Bank on the Central line, I had no good reason not to walk into east london. My original (modest) target was to go as far as Stratford, but having got there in surprisingly quick time I plodded on. Stratford is an interesting area, with a massive amount of ongoing development. I imagine that in 2012 it will be stunning, but now it looks like a huge building site stuck between Bow and Hackney. Nice. The main Olympic buildings, the Stadium and the Aquatic Centre, are well underway and look impressive, but the rest are still in their early stages.

Leyton and Leytonstone are nice enough, quite typical of East London and similar to Bow, West Ham and Plaistow on the District. Snaresbrook seemed leafier, and I look forward to returning in the near future to press on into greener surroundings...

Ta

Day 25 - Northern Line (Part Four)

Huzzah! The Northern Line is complete, leaving me with just one more to go. Albeit the longest one...

Having spent most of yesterday walking uphill, I decided that walking downhill today might be preferable, and so set off to High Barnet to walk into Camden. The plan didn't quite work out, and until we reached Highgate Hill there were as many ups as downs. Lynsey Edgar gave up her doubtless valuable time to join me, and so I was the beneficiary of company for the 6th walking day in a row.

The walk was a pretty decent, of particular note being the really spectacular houses in East Finchley and Highgate, and the equally spectacular view of London from Archway, the road there traversed by the attractive but worryingly-named 'suicide bridge'.

Only two hiccups today. The first was unplanned, the second intentional but none the less frustating. While walking between Totteridge & Whetstone and West Finchley, Lyno and I managed to miss Woodside Park tube station, and were it not for the helpful direction of a passer by we might have spent hours looking for the (admittedly well hidden) building.
Secondly, walking all the way to Mill Hill East, an additional terminus which sticks out of the branch, before retreading most of the same steps and thus adding about 2 miles to the journey, was something of a pain. But we're still alive, so never mind.

And just when we started to flag, we were joined by Tom Ainsworth at Archway for the walk past Tufnell Park and Kentish Town into Camden, and a subsequently well earned drink in the Camden eye. Thanks to both Tom and Lynsey for their company, which as always was heartily appreciated.

One more line to go, and five days of walking. My feet are pretty painful now, and I may soon be popping to Boots for another batch of blister plasters, but my knee continues to defy expectation by supporting my weight on every step, and so I shall remain optimistic!

KBO