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Tubewalker: The Tube, on Foot

Central Line: Debden to Epping

A field near Abridge
Field walking near Abridge

Wow, what a day! This is easily a contender for my favourite tubewalk, as from start to finish it's a classic countryside walk through rolling farmland, pretty villages and ancient woodland... and all of this in zone 6, too. That's the same zone as Upminster, Heathrow, West Ruislip, Northwood and Uxbridge, none of which come close to being this rural; it's much more like the countryside walking out on the Metropolitan line at Chesham, but that's in zone 9; you get a lot of bang for your Oyster buck on the eastern Central line.

Debden to Theydon Bois

The Bank of England Printing Works
The Bank of England Printing Works

From Debden station, I took the pedestrian bridge over the track to catch a hemmed-in path along the side of the railway, with thick fencing separating me from the huge industrial estate to the right. The right of way passes a massive Clinton Cards factory and some anonymous but highly secure units before turning right into the industrial estate, and a couple of turns took me onto Langston Road, home of the biggest units of all.

Looking north along the M11
Looking north along the M11
A field of wheat near Debden
Wandering through the wheat near Debden
Pretty flowers by the side of the road
Pretty flowers by the side of the road
The River Roding
The River Roding

Theydon Bois to Epping

The Bull in Theydon Bois
The Bull in Theydon Bois

From the station I wandered along the northern edge of Theydon Green, which is lined with quite modest houses with wonderful views across the green. There's an old schoolhouse and a lovely little church just beyond the western tip of the green, and just after the latter there's a path leading off the road into the forest, and from here to the outskirts of Epping, it is again a delightful rural walk. However this time it's almost all undercover, because this is Epping Forest, and a big swathe of it, too. I wouldn't want to do this walk in the rain, but in the hot sun it is perfect: the fields leading to Theydon Bois are lovely in the sun but would be awful in wet weather, and the same is true of Epping Forest, where the shade proved very welcome on this, one of the hottest days of the year so far.

Epping Forest
Epping Forest
Ambresbury Banks
Ambresbury Banks
Houses along Bell Common
Houses along Bell Common
Epping station
Epping station