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Tubewalker: The Tube, on Foot

Piccadilly Line: Bounds Green to Cockfosters

Arnos Grove station
Arnos Grove station

I love reaching the end of the line: it's such a satisfying feeling taking the Tube back through all those stations you've walked through, flying through days of walking in a matter of minutes. But the end of the line is often worth celebrating for the quality of the walking too, as some of the most enjoyable rambling can be found out in zones 5 and 6.

Bounds Green to Arnos Grove

The suburbs of Bounds Green
The suburbs of Bounds Green

I took a suburban route from Bounds Green to Arnos Grove, and very pleasant it was too. The houses round here generally date from the first half of the 20th century, ranging from Edwardian terraces through to between-the-wars suburban homes, though there is the odd modern block tucked away unobtrusively every now and then. The resulting suburbs feel clean and cared for, and on a Sunday morning the peace is truly impressive. This is the first (and only) tubewalk I've scheduled at the weekend, and the difference is noticeable; I've tried to fit all my tubewalking and writing into normal office hours, to reduce the impact on my real life, but Peta is away this week so I'm cramming as much in as I can, and with weather like this, walking on a Sunday is not only logistically sensible, it's a delight.

Arnos Grove station
Arnos Grove station

Arnos Grove to Southgate

The viaduct in Arnos Park
The viaduct in Arnos Park

A short walk north of the station, at the end of Arnos Road, is Arnos Park, a sweet little open space through which the Pymmes Brook flows on its way southwest to join the River Lea. The river is pretty well hidden behind the undergrowth, which is probably for the best as the park is a popular spot on Sundays with footballers, and you wouldn't want to keep having to fish your ball out of a river. The Pymmes Brook Trail follows the route of the river for about 10 miles, starting at Monken Hadley Common in Barnet and passing this way as it heads for the Lea; if this stretch is anything to go by, it looks like a pleasant trail.

One of the futuristic shelters at Southgate station
One of the futuristic shelters at Southgate station
Southgate station
Southgate station

Southgate to Oakwood

Grovelands House
Grovelands House

Although it took me a long way off the most direct route, I decided to swing east from Southgate to take in two interesting-looking parks, and I'm glad I made the effort, because the parks round here are very enjoyable, particularly on a sunny weekend when the world and his wife are out for a stroll. The first park, Grovelands Park, is a short walk east from the station, and it's large and pleasantly landscaped, with a boating lake, a pitch-and-putt golf course, good views of Grovelands House and lots of trees. Grovelands House, which was built in 1798, is now the Priory Hospital North London and takes up the northwest corner of the park, though it is understandably off-limits to the public (the Priory Group is best known for its drug-dependency services, which celebrities seem to find as addictive as the substances they're trying to wean themselves off, if the tabloids are anything to go by). The mansion's grounds were landscaped by Humphry Repton, which could explain why it's such an attractive part of the world.

The lovely green suburbs of Oakwood Park Road
The lovely green suburbs of Oakwood Park Road
Oakwood station
Oakwood station

Oakwood to Cockfosters

Oak Wood
Oak Wood

If you're feeling tired, then it's only a short walk along Westpole Avenue to Cockfosters, but then you'd miss out on the London Loop as it winds through Trent Park, and when the sun is shining, that would be criminal. There's a long and straight road from Oakwood to Trent Park called Snakes Lane, which is a private road belonging to Middlesex University, though as it has a pavement all the way and nobody seems to stop pedestrians from wandering along it, it doesn't appear to be off-limits to the public (though if you had a car, that would be a different story, as the signs are keen to point out).

Trent Park
Trent Park