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Tubewalker: The Tube, on Foot

Piccadilly Line: King's Cross St Pancras to Bounds Green

King's Cross St Pancras station
King's Cross St Pancras station

If today's walk had a theme, it was the invasion of privacy. As the sun shone down on a beautiful summer's day, I was stopped by the police and issued my second stop and search form, I was accosted by a grumpy local in Wood Green who wanted to know why I was photographing the suburbs, and to end the day with a dose of irony, I spotted the Google Street View car in Bounds Green and fired off a few photographs of him, just to redress the balance.

King's Cross St Pancras to Caledonian Road

Victorian terraces on Caledonian Road
Victorian terraces on Caledonian Road

The area round King's Cross is being tidied up big time, and the evidence is all along Caledonian Road. Close to the station the road is lined with glossy Tesco Metro stores and modern Premier Lodges, but as you wander away from the station, the original Victorian architecture starts to shine through, and now that the area is relatively clean, it's pleasant stuff (terraces blackened by decades of pollution are rather less attractive than the cleaned-up versions, and it's the latter that line the roads round here).

Paradise Park
Paradise Park

Caledonian Road to Holloway Road

Pollard Close
Pollard Close

I designed my walking routes throughout last winter, and when I came to do this section of the line, I must have been having a bad day. It isn't possible to plan a completely reliable route using just the A-Z and Google Maps, as you simply can't tell where you'll find paths and where you'll find locked gates, but I've generally got it right, by luck more than by design. However, I must have been feeling particularly unsure of myself when I mapped out this part, as my planned route had me weaving all over the place, sticking to main roads and missing out some pretty obvious short-cuts. I originally had this leg going straight up Caledonian Road to the junction with Holloway Road, and turning back on itself to get to Holloway Road station, but I took one glance at the map on the way here and figured I'd try a more direct route through Stock Orchard Crescent.

Holloway Road station
Holloway Road station

Holloway Road to Arsenal

London Metropolitan University Graduate Centre
London Metropolitan University Graduate Centre

Yet again, I got hit by the stupid stick when planning this part of my walk. If I had my time again, I'd head straight to the Emirates Stadium by going down Hornsey Road just opposite the station, but when I planned this route, I decided to head south down Holloway Road to take in the campus buildings of London Metropolitan University, and in particular Daniel Libeskind's 2004 structure for the Graduate Centre. It's best appreciated from the west side of Holloway road, which I'm afraid I didn't find myself on, and it's not the kind of road you just pop over, so I had to make do with straining my neck to get a good look. It's worth the effort, though, as it is made from three intersecting rectangular blocks clad in stainless steel and looks completely unlike any other building I've seen on my tubewalks. Pictures of the interior of the building look fascinating – everything is irregular and at strange angles – though it isn't open to the public, so you can only guess from the outside what's going on behind the steel frame. The fact that it sits at the feet of one of the university's drab concrete tower blocks only highlights how exciting the architecture is.

Emirates Stadium
Emirates Stadium
Arsenal station
Arsenal station

Arsenal to Finsbury Park

St Thomas's Road
St Thomas's Road

It's a short but pleasant walk from Arsenal to Finsbury Park, brushing past the northern end of Highbury Stadium, Arsenal's old stadium, which is being knocked down and developed into apartments (I'll be walking past the stadium on my Victoria line walk from King's Cross St Pancras to Walthamstow Central). The terraces along St Thomas's Road are attractively kept, starting at the southern end with a block of modern social housing in the yellow-brown colour of London stock brick, and then moving on to an entire street of Edwardian terraces that slowly grow from petite two-storey terraces to four-storey tenements further up the road. There's a church at the southern end and the spire of the North London Central Mosque Trust at the northern end, and when the road spills out into Seven Sisters Road, it does so opposite a huge Arsenal shop, on the other side of the road from the impressive station complex.

Finsbury Park station
Finsbury Park station

Finsbury Park to Manor House

The boating lake in Finsbury Park
The boating lake in Finsbury Park

Between Finsbury Park to Manor House stations lies Finsbury Park, and what a lovely park it is, too. I first came across Finsbury Park when I walked day 12 of the Capital Ring from Highgate to Stoke Newington, and on a sunny day like today, it's a delightful place. Covering 112 acres, it was one of the first large London parks to be laid out in the Victorian era, following an 1841 petition from the people of Finsbury to the government to create a public open space. Plans for the park were first drawn up in 1850, and the government ratified the creation of the park in 1857, leading to the opening of the park in 1869. A recent cash injection of £5 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund has significantly improved the park, and the tennis courts are newly surfaced, there's a new children's play area and café near the lake, and the landscaping is immaculate. It makes for an excellent lunch stop, if you can manage to avoid falling asleep under the luscious trees that pepper the soft lawns.

Manor House to Turnpike Lane

Leafy Finsbury Park
Leafy Finsbury Park

From the station I wandered randomly back into Finsbury Park, discovering in the process that there isn't an exit from the park in the northwest corner. So, after a bit of a diversion to the western edge of the park, I headed north up Wightman Road and to the top end of Duckett Road, from where you get a commanding view east down the hill towards Seven Sisters (which I'll be visiting on the Victoria line).

Harringay Passage
Harringay Passage
Turnpike Lane station
Turnpike Lane station

Subject was seen taking pictures at the entrance of Turnpike Lane Tube station. Stopped under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act.

It's not as poetic as the one I received at Wimbledon station and it fails to point out that no further action was taken, but I now have two stop and search forms, which might technically constitute a collection. I'm impressed, anyway...

Turnpike Lane to Wood Green

Sandlings Estate
Sandlings Estate

The area to the east of Wood Green High Road, which runs from Turnpike Lane station to Wood Green station, forms the Noel Park Estate, a conservation area that contains some of the best late Victorian and Edwardian suburban housing you are ever likely to see. The 100-acre Dovecote Farm was bought by the Artizans', Labourers' and General Dwellings Company in 1882 for £56,345, and by 1907 most of the building work was complete (though there was a second spurt of development in the 1920s).

Terraces in Noel Park Estate
Terraces in Noel Park Estate
The Hollywood Cinema
The Hollywood Cinema
Wood Green station
Wood Green station

Wood Green to Bounds Green

A church along Station Road
A church along Station Road

Although it's a little out of the way, I just had to take a detour from Wood Green to visit Alexandra Palace. Station Road links the Tube station with Alexandra Palace railway station, passing a couple of pleasant parks on the way, and the entrance to Alexandra Park is on the other side of the track, across the station footbridge (which you can cross without a ticket).

The television transmitter at Alexandra Palace
The television transmitter at Alexandra Palace
Google's Street View car
Google's Street View car
Bounds Green station
Bounds Green station

1 Interestingly, you can see me quite clearly in Google Street View. I'm crossing at the lights, wearing a black T-shirt with blue jeans and clutching a map in my right hand. Proof!