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Tubewalker: The Tube, on Foot

Bakerloo Line: Willesden Junction to Harrow & Wealdstone

Storm clouds and Mock Tudor houses
Storm clouds over suburbia

Oh dear, this is such a dreary walk. I do try to look on the positive side when tubewalking, and there's almost always something good to say about each section... but the Bakerloo line just hasn't turned out to be a good walking line, and there's not a lot I can say to make it seem more attractive than it already isn't.

Willesden Junction to Harlesden

Harlesden Baptist Church on Acton Lane
Harlesden Baptist Church on Acton Lane

Things didn't start off well today, but then they didn't end particularly well last time. Willesden Junction is exactly that – a huge railway junction – and unless you're a dyed-in-the-wool train enthusiast, the sight of all the industry to the south is a bit down-heartening. To the southeast is Park Royal, the massive industrial park that I first came across when walking from Hanger Lane to North Acton on the Central line, and this side of the tracks isn't much better, as Station Road and Acton Lane are pretty uninteresting roads to walk along. There are some large churches and plenty of tired-looking terraced houses, but that's about it.

Harlesden to Stonebridge Park

The Grand Union Canal
The Grand Union Canal

Neither Harlesden nor Stonebridge Park has a terribly good image; the former is known as the 'UK murder capital' and is notorious for Yardie gang culture and high levels of crime, and the latter is home to the Stonebridge Estate, which has some of the highest recorded crime levels in the country (though the regeneration of the estate is helping to bring those figures down). However, I didn't experience any of this, as I chose to head south into Park Royal, to catch some canal walking.

The North Circular Road
The North Circular Road

Stonebridge Park to Wembley Central

Wembley Stadium from Stonebridge Park
Wembley Stadium from Stonebridge Park

The canal is the last interesting thing on this walk, because from here it's unremitting suburbia, and not terribly exciting suburbia at that. Tokyngton Avenue is a good example; it sets off from beneath the shadow of a large and worryingly black office block, and passes through a smorgasbord of dull housing from between the wars, when the whole area around Harlesden, Stonebridge Park and Wembley exploded with low-cost housing. The stalwart of this housing is your typical two-up-two-down suburban home, with two bay windows on one side of the house, one on each floor and separated by a red skirt of tiles; and the front door and a smaller upstairs window on the other side, the door topped with a red tiled porch roof. This style of house can be found throughout the country, but when it takes over entire neighbourhoods, it gets a bit tiresome. The suburbs along the Metropolitan line to Uxbridge and the Ruislip end of the Central line all suffer from this monotony, and so does this part of Stonebridge Park.

A Jack Daniel's bottle
Still life in Stonebridge Park

Wembley Central to North Wembley

King Edward VII Park
King Edward VII Park

Turning off the high street and up Park Lane, things suddenly take a turn for the better in King Edward VII Park. Opened back in 1914, just three years before Bakerloo line trains started serving Wembley Central, the idea was that this new council-run park would make up for the loss of Wembley Park, which had been bought by the Metropolitan Railway for development; Wembley Park would go on to host the British Empire Exhibition of 1924-5 and is now home to Wembley Stadium and its environs, but King Edward VII Park is a relatively modest affair, with some landscaping to the eastern end and flat playing fields to the west.

North Wembley to South Kenton

The Bootsy Brogans  pub on the corner of Peel Road and East Lane
The Bootsy Brogans pub on the corner of Peel Road and East Lane

When planning this section, I couldn't find anything of merit to the west of the railway line, but to the east is Preston Park, which I thought might be worth visiting, so I plotted a route through Wembley Commercial Centre to the park, and thought that would be that. Unfortunately Wembley Commercial Centre turns out to be private property, a point made by the kind of sign that you just know is backed up by rottweilers, so I had to change my plans. I spent ten minutes vainly trying a route along the eastern flank of the Tube line and briefly considered heading further east to skirt round the industrial park, but the skies were starting to turn ominously dark and I bottled it and headed back to the station.

South Kenton to Kenton

A Mock Tudor pebbledash house
Mock Tudor meets pebbledash – nice!

Windermere Avenue, which leads from South Kenton to the Metropolitan line to the north, is astounding. It's not astounding because of its beautiful architecture or its great taste, but because it's home to something I've never seen before: the bastard love child of pebbledash and Mock Tudor. As I saw in West Acton, Mock Tudor can be beautiful, but only if it's stylishly designed and well looked after (peeling black timber and unpainted grey splodges of plaster on the white parts can rather spoil the effect). However, I've never come across an attractive use of pebbledash, and combining the two is surely asking for trouble; walk along Windermere Avenue and you'll see what I mean (or, possibly, you'll discover a style of housing like no other, and it will change your life forever).

Image from Willesden Junction to Harrow & Wealdstone

Kenton to Harrow & Wealdstone

Harrow & Wealdstone station
Harrow & Wealdstone station

The pebbledash Mock Tudor housing continues along the backstreets after Kenton station, all the way to Kenton Recreation Ground, which at least provides some respite. It isn't a terribly interesting place to visit, as it's mainly made up of wide open and slightly bleak sports grounds... though, to be fair, it's quite hard to have a sports ground that isn't bleak, as trees tend to get in the way of the football, so don't think I'm complaining. It's just not a very exciting place to walk through.