Leg nine (Loughton to Epping)
Sunday, 27 June 2010 by Simon
It's been a pain in the arse to blog about, but you'll be thrilled to learn that last weekend I finally completed my challenge to run (read: walk) the length of the Central line! The reason it's been a pain is because I've since moved to a different country where they still believe the internet is a series of tubes, so it's been difficult to find places to upload photos etc. etc. etc.
As usual, we began the leg where we wrapped up the last one, this time in Loughton. The houses close to the station were huge and laden with expensive vehicles. I spotted at least two Bentleys along the way, as well as a BMW sporting the personalised registration plate "B1OPSY" (?). The route soon became more rural however, as demonstrated by the below photo.
It's amazing to note that, despite technically being in Essex, the city of London was still very much visible from where we were standing. We covered that four whole legs ago!
And then came Debden.
The long walk between Debden and Theydon Bois (pronounced, unfortunately, Bwah EDIT: Someone corrected me in the comments. Apparently it is pronounced Boys!) was mostly restricted to a single road cut through the forest. Unlike all previous stations, Theydon Bois was located in an actual village, meaning we had to depart from and then reunite with civilisation in order to reach it.
There is a huge demand for both flowers and fireworks in Theydon Bois. Presumably to both please and fend off The Village Monster.
Here's me at the station.
If we thought the walk to Bois was a departure from civilisation, we hadn't seen nothing yet. During the offroad hike to Epping (the Central line terminus!) we risked not only being shot by hostile farmers, but also by the Essex Police force.
But the walk was lovely and it topped what had already become one of my favourite legs so far.
There was an unsettling few minutes when a rogue horse began stalking us. We climbed over an electric fence to shake him off.
If we needed any further proof that we were no longer in London, we next crossed a footbridge over the famous orbital motorway, the M25.
Soon afterwards we chanced upon something mysterious. Atop a wooden fencepost sat a pile of items, consisting of a book entitled "Birds of Prey", two nails (one rusty, one not), 11 pence, a shard of bike reflector and a handkerchief.
I felt enticed to add my own contribution to this stack of unexplained trinkets, so began probing my wallet for a suitable candidate. The obvious choice was a Euro 2008 sticker featuring the celebrated Portuguese footballer Deco.
As we drew closer to Epping we watched as tube trains glided across the landscape, decelerating as if approaching a station. It couldn't be far now.
And it wasn't.
Ta-dah! Station 37/37! I celebrated the completion of my challenge with a well earned Italian BMT.
I'll consider writing a closing "What have we learned?" style post in the not-so-distant future so please keep an eye out for that!
Thanks again for reading, you lovely lot.
As usual, we began the leg where we wrapped up the last one, this time in Loughton. The houses close to the station were huge and laden with expensive vehicles. I spotted at least two Bentleys along the way, as well as a BMW sporting the personalised registration plate "B1OPSY" (?). The route soon became more rural however, as demonstrated by the below photo.
It's amazing to note that, despite technically being in Essex, the city of London was still very much visible from where we were standing. We covered that four whole legs ago!
And then came Debden.
The long walk between Debden and Theydon Bois (pronounced, unfortunately, Bwah EDIT: Someone corrected me in the comments. Apparently it is pronounced Boys!) was mostly restricted to a single road cut through the forest. Unlike all previous stations, Theydon Bois was located in an actual village, meaning we had to depart from and then reunite with civilisation in order to reach it.
There is a huge demand for both flowers and fireworks in Theydon Bois. Presumably to both please and fend off The Village Monster.
Here's me at the station.
If we thought the walk to Bois was a departure from civilisation, we hadn't seen nothing yet. During the offroad hike to Epping (the Central line terminus!) we risked not only being shot by hostile farmers, but also by the Essex Police force.
But the walk was lovely and it topped what had already become one of my favourite legs so far.
There was an unsettling few minutes when a rogue horse began stalking us. We climbed over an electric fence to shake him off.
If we needed any further proof that we were no longer in London, we next crossed a footbridge over the famous orbital motorway, the M25.
Soon afterwards we chanced upon something mysterious. Atop a wooden fencepost sat a pile of items, consisting of a book entitled "Birds of Prey", two nails (one rusty, one not), 11 pence, a shard of bike reflector and a handkerchief.
I felt enticed to add my own contribution to this stack of unexplained trinkets, so began probing my wallet for a suitable candidate. The obvious choice was a Euro 2008 sticker featuring the celebrated Portuguese footballer Deco.
As we drew closer to Epping we watched as tube trains glided across the landscape, decelerating as if approaching a station. It couldn't be far now.
And it wasn't.
Ta-dah! Station 37/37! I celebrated the completion of my challenge with a well earned Italian BMT.
I'll consider writing a closing "What have we learned?" style post in the not-so-distant future so please keep an eye out for that!
Thanks again for reading, you lovely lot.
"Bois" is actually pronounced Bohys.
Hi it's alison at BBC Essex - would you give me a call on 01245 616066 - would love to talk to you about your walk! thanks