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Tubewalker: The Tube, on Foot

Central Line: Leytonstone to Barkingside

Graffiti saying 'Je t'aime mon amour Louise'
Happy graffiti near Wanstead Park

Wow, this is easily the hottest it's been so far this summer. The weathermen are getting all excited about incoming thunderstorms, the station announcers have started warning people to take water with them on the Tube, and summer's cauldron is belching out air as thick as molasses that clogs up your skin, drips down your neck and evaporates in the hot breeze to form dry, sticky patches around your eyes, like a salt flat in miniature.

Leytonstone to Wanstead

St John the Baptist Church
St John the Baptist Church

Things nearly started out on the wrong foot today. After a long and very hot journey on the Central line from one side of the city to the other, I was looking forward to shaking the numbness out of my buttocks with some light breezes and a bit of respite from the heat, but it wasn't to be. On the way along Church Lane, just before St John the Baptist Church, I passed a bench, where a young Asian man was sitting next to a huge, bald, white man, the pair of them sharing purple cans of super-strength lager and some Monday morning cackles. I didn't catch their eye as I walked past, but that didn't seem to make any difference.

Bush Wood
Bush Wood
The protest tree on George Green
The protest tree on George Green
The drinking fountain on George Green
The drinking fountain on George Green

Wanstead to Redbridge

Wanstead Park
Wanstead Park

Heading south from the station, there's plenty more tidy and enjoyable suburbia, particularly down Warren Road, which runs alongside the greens of the northern part of Wanstead Golf Course. This is a friendly spot, and as if to make up for the shouty drunk back in Leytonstone, I was approached not by one but by two kindly souls who wondered if I was lost (a common side effect of looking at maps in suburban streets). I wasn't, but the second man gave me lots of tips on visiting Wanstead Park, and he was so pleasant I couldn't help smiling at the sky as I turned off the road and down the path he'd pointed out.

Redbridge station
Redbridge station

Redbridge to Gants Hill

Beehive Court
Beehive Court

The most direct route from Redbridge to Gants Hill is along the A12, but that's a route for masochists and petrol heads only. Unfortunately the quieter route along the backstreets of Redbridge is not that much more interesting. The houses aren't horrible, but they are rather samey, and Wanstead Lane could be considerably livened up by a few more trees, as there's not a lot of shelter, and in the heat of an English summer, the whole road seems to shimmer in a slighly disquieting manner. You'd think there would be some respite when the road passes the Port of London Authority Recreation Ground, but as this is separated from the road by a fence that means business, it doesn't actually help (and even if the fence wasn't there, the sports ground doesn't contain any trees, so there'd still be nowhere to run). It's a relief to come out the other end and into Gants Hill.

A sculpture in Gants Hill
A sculpture in Gants Hill

Gants Hill to Newbury Park

Cran Brook, Valentines Park
Cran Brook, Valentines Park

Just south of Gants Hill station is the entrance to Valentines Park, the largest green space in the London Borough of Redbridge. Unfortunately most of the northwest corner is currently cordoned off for redevelopment, which is a shame as this is where you can find Valentines Mansion and the formal gardens, but even with this part closed, there's still plenty of park to enjoy. The Pageant Field just south of the ornamental pond is dotted with lovely trees that are perfect for picnicking under, and to the south of the park is the Cran Brook, which feeds a boating lake and provides the backdrop to a promenade where kids come to scream at the tops of their lungs. It's an enjoyable place, temper tantrums notwithstanding.

Newbury Park bus station
Newbury Park bus station

Newbury Park to Barkingside

Fields near Aldborough House Farm
Fields near Aldborough House Farm

When I initially planned this leg, I thought I'd head northwest of the station and cut across the Tube line via a right of way, but both the A-Z and Google Maps are misleading at this point, as you can't actually take the road alongside the Tube line and then turn right over the bridge, whatever they say. After 15 minutes of getting lost and trying not to get killed by the breakneck traffic that spits out of the Sainsbury's access road at speeds that must curdle the milk in the boot, I gave up and headed northeast from the station instead.

Barkingside station
Barkingside station