Running the Central line

Good afternoon and welcome to the first edition of Walking the Central line. To celebrate this hopefully short-lived change in format, today’s report contains about 500% more pictures than usual. And since pictures are each worth a thousand words, LOADS more words than usual!

Beth (girlfriend) reluctantly joined me for yesterday’s hike, which lasted two hours and twenty minutes in all. That seems like a long time to walk under five miles, but as you’ll see, we did keep stopping to take photos/go shopping/eat Double Deckers.

We began the leg at Hanger Lane Underground Station, which sits on Hanger Lane gyratory system, a mammoth road junction the Daily Mail recently branded Britain's most terrifying. The junction has particular resonance to me because it was a wrong turn here that led to last week’s drastic detour, so this time round I was extra careful to avoid making the same mistake. Fortunately, as we moved away from the junction, I started recognising landmarks that I had earlier noted down from Street View, confirming we were heading towards North Acton and not Ealing Common. Good.

The remainder of the walk towards North Acton was uneventful. We passed an interesting formation of chairs (captions in the comments section, folks) as well as Park Royal Underground Station, a Piccadilly line station which I didn’t pose in front of for that very reason. I’ve got to have loyalties!

We reached the discrete North Acton station at 12:36 and Beth took the below photograph. The slightly weird thing about this station is that the line running into it from the west partitions Acton Cemetery into two sub-cemeteries. Look at the map. I’m guessing the cemetery probably existed before the railway did which begs a disturbing question…

Onwards. The walk between the Acton stations was even less interesting than before and I didn’t take any photos along the way (that’s not quite true). It was nice to finally deviate from Western Avenue, one of London’s major transport arteries, and walk through some quieter residential streets. The timestamp on the below picture suggests we reached East Acton Station at 13:13.

 

Du Cane Road and Wood Lane, the two stretches of road leading us into the Shepherd’s Bush area of London, were littered with interesting buildings to take pictures of. We passed the infamous Wormwood Scrubs prison, former home of inmates Pete Doherty, Keith Richards and Charles Bronson, and the less infamous Linford Christie Athletics Stadium, formerly used to detain Linford Christie. The iconic prison gatehouse (along with the rest of the building) was constructed entirely using convict labour, and it’s now a grade II listed building. Interesting eh?

 

We then passed the equally grand Hammersmith Hospital, which is a major teaching hospital associated with Imperial College.

As we turned into Wood Lane, BBC White City and BBC Media Village came into view. I quickly identified a sign constructed solely for tourists to stand beside and have their pictures taken, which I put to good use.

I also got photos of the monolithic headquarters and the lorry they use to store the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Soon we bumped into my tenth underground station of the challenge: White City. This station is significant because it’s the final one to have platforms above ground until we reach Stratford, 17 stops away to the east.

I’m not sure when I acquired that water bottle.

Slightly further down Wood Lane sits BBC Television Centre. They broadcast the news from here and produce countless other shows. The recognisable section of the building covered in white dots houses Studio TC1, which Wikipedia tells me is the third largest television studio in Britain.

We then passed the brand new Wood Lane Underground Station, which serves the Hammersmith & City and Circle lines. Obeying the Park Royal rule (the Park Royule, if you will), I decided against a photo op because Central line it ain’t.

A shortcut through the (also brand new) Westfield Shopping Centre turned into a longcut after getting seriously lost inside its labyrinthian* structure. The lens of my camera can’t do the scale of this vast, soulless building any justice.

We emerged from Westfield feeling relieved but flustered. These emotions were painted on my face as I stood outside the final station of the leg: Shepherd’s Bush.

So there we go! Another leg defeated. I’m now a third of the way to completing my challenge in terms of legs and over that in terms of stations. To celebrate this jubilant occasion, we had a lovely meal at Wetherspoons before going to see Four Lions at Vue. We bought sweets at Poundland to rebel against the horrific pricing at the cinema, but it turned out Vue weren't making a lot of money on this screening since we were joined in the auditorium by just four other couples. On a Saturday. One week after the film was released. Anyway, the film was definitely worth watching and had me laughing aloud several times. The other eight seemed to enjoy it too.

In terms of future plans, I intend to walk the next leg (Oxford Street) and then assess how I feel about running subsequent legs. I’ll do a trial run around the park or something.

Thanks for reading. Leave a comment.

 

* Labyrinthian is a real word but Windows doesn’t believe me. It suggests “Labyrinth Ian” which, if I was called Ian, would be a pretty cool nickname.