Costs - Doing Your Own Tubewalk - Tubewalker: The Tube, on Foot

If you don't live anywhere near London then tubewalking can be an expensive business, as you'll need somewhere to sleep each night. London is not a cheap place to live, but if you base yourself somewhere reasonably accessible for the whole walk, you can probably keep the costs down to a manageable level.

However, if you live near the Tube network as I do, then the biggest cost of your tubewalk will be getting to the start and end points of each tubewalk... and, of course, each tubewalk starts and ends at a Tube station, so all you need is an Oyster card. You can pay cash for your tickets, if you don't mind paying through the nose, but the most cost-effective way is just to charge up your Oyster and hit the road. As most tubewalks require just two journeys – out to the start and back from the end – a pre-pay Oyster card is the cheapest solution, even compared to a travelcard.

The table below shows how much I paid for transport on my tubewalk, with the figures taken straight from my online Oyster card account. It comes to just over £200 for three months' walking, with each day starting at Ealing Broadway, South Ealing or Ealing Common (I live within walking distance of all three stations). On 11 June I stayed overnight with friends and on 12 June I took a taxi back from Chalfont & Latimer rather than the Tube, and on 14 July, 24 July and 19 August I didn't go straight home after walking, which added a tiny bit to the cost... but these days aside, I simply headed out in the morning and came back in the afternoon, so this is a pretty good indicator of how much it costs to walk the Tube.

Day	Date	Time	Station	Action	Cost	Total
1	2 June 08	09:47	Ealing Broadway	Entry	-£4.00	£2.50
		10:32	Aldgate	Exit	£1.50	£2.50
		15:34	Finchley Road	Entry	-£4.00	£2.50
		16:15	Ealing Broadway	Exit	£1.50	£2.50
2	4 June 08	09:46	Ealing Broadway	Entry	-£4.00	£2.50
		10:27	Finchley Road	Exit	£1.50	£2.50
		13:55	Wembley Park	Entry	-£4.00	£1.80
		14:52	Ealing Broadway	Exit	£2.20	£1.80
3	5 June 08	09:42	Ealing Broadway	Entry	-£4.00	£1.80
		10:30	Wembley Park	Exit	£2.20	£1.80
		13:34	North Harrow	Entry	-£4.00	£1.80
		14:15	Ealing Common	Exit	£2.20	£1.80
4	9 June 08	09:19	Ealing Common	Entry	-£4.00	£1.80
		10:38	North Harrow	Exit	£2.20	£1.80
		15:17	Watford	Entry	-£4.00	£2.50
		16:28	Ealing Common	Exit	£1.50	£2.50
5	11 June 08	09:13	Ealing Broadway	Entry	-£4.00	£1.80
5	11 June 08	10:19	Moor Park	Exit	£2.20	£1.80
6	12 June 08	12:10	Amersham	Entry	-£4.00	£1.00
6	12 June 08	12:29	Chalfont & Latimer	Exit	£3.00	£1.00
7	16 June 08	09:59	Ealing Common	Entry	-£4.00	£1.80
		10:41	Harrow-on-the-Hill	Exit	£2.20	£1.80
		15:30	Uxbridge	Entry	-£4.00	£1.80
		16:15	Ealing Common	Exit	£2.20	£1.80
8	17 June 08	09:50	South Ealing	Entry	-£4.00	£1.00
		10:07	Hammersmith	Exit	£3.00	£1.00
		14:39	Baker Street	Entry	-£4.00	£1.50
		14:56	Liverpool Street	Exit	£2.50	£1.50
		15:20	Aldgate East	Entry	-£4.00	£2.50
		16:06	South Ealing	Exit	£1.50	£2.50
9	18 June 08	09:18	Ealing Common	Entry	-£4.00	£1.00
9	18 June 08	09:53	Richmond	Exit	£3.00	£1.00
10	19 June 08	09:12	Ealing Common	Entry	-£4.00	£1.00
		09:34	Turnham Green	Exit	£3.00	£1.00
		12:32	Kensington (Olympia)	Entry	-£4.00	£1.00
		12:41	Earl's Court	Exit	£3.00	£1.00
		15:00	Victoria	Entry	-£4.00	£2.50
		15:31	Ealing Common	Exit	£1.50	£2.50
11	23 June 08	09:32	South Ealing	Entry	-£4.00	£2.50
		10:09	Victoria	Exit	£1.50	£2.50
		15:43	Bow Road	Entry	-£4.00	£2.50
		16:37	South Ealing	Exit	£1.50	£2.50
12	26 June 08	09:25	Ealing Broadway	Entry	-£4.00	£2.50
		10:10	Mile End	Exit	£1.50	£2.50
		14:54	Becontree	Entry	-£4.00	£3.50
		16:12	South Ealing	Exit	£0.50	£3.50
13	30 June 08	09:13	Ealing Broadway	Entry	-£4.00	£3.50
		10:20	Becontree	Exit	£0.50	£3.50
		14:11	Upminster	Entry	-£4.00	£3.50
		15:40	South Ealing	Exit	£0.50	£3.50
14	1 July 08	09:19	South Ealing	Entry	-£4.00	£1.00
		10:07	Wimbledon	Exit	£3.00	£1.00
		16:11	Edgware Road	Entry	-£4.00	£2.50
		16:49	Ealing Broadway	Exit	£1.50	£2.50
15	3 July 08	09:08	Ealing Broadway	Entry	-£4.00	£2.50
		09:48	Liverpool Street	Exit	£1.50	£2.50
		14:17	Bus ELC	Entry	£0.00	£2.50
		15:16	Bus ELC	Entry	£0.00
		15:34	Canada Water	Entry	-£4.00
		16:18	Ealing Common	Exit	£1.50
16	4 July 08	09:06	South Ealing	Entry	-£4.00	£2.50
		09:36	Gloucester Road	Exit	£1.50	£2.50
		10:08	High Street Kensington	Entry	-£4.00	£1.50
		10:31	Waterloo	Exit	£2.50	£1.50
		12:39	Tower Hill	Entry	-£4.00	£2.50
		13:22	South Ealing	Exit	£1.50	£2.50
17	7 July 08	09:04	South Ealing	Entry	-£4.00	£2.50
		10:12	Morden	Exit	£1.50	£2.50
		15:39	Kennington	Entry	-£4.00	£2.50
		16:27	Ealing Common	Exit	£1.50	£2.50
18	8 July 08	09:08	South Ealing	Entry	-£4.00	£2.50
		10:00	Kennington	Exit	£1.50	£2.50
		16:34	Kennington	Entry	-£4.00	£2.50
		17:20	Ealing Common	Exit	£1.50	£2.50
19	9 July 08	09:05	Ealing Broadway	Entry	-£4.00	£2.50
		09:43	Euston	Exit	£1.50	£2.50
		16:25	East Finchley	Entry	-£4.00	£2.50
		17:23	Ealing Broadway	Exit	£1.50	£2.50
20	10 July 08	09:02	Ealing Broadway	Entry	-£4.00	£2.50
		09:57	East Finchley	Exit	£1.50	£2.50
		11:48	Mill Hill East	Entry	-£4.00	£1.00
		11:58	Finchley Central	Exit	£3.00	£1.00
		14:16	High Barnet	Entry	-£4.00	£3.50
		15:35	Ealing Broadway	Exit	£0.50	£3.50
21	14 July 08	09:01	Ealing Broadway	Entry	-£4.00	£2.50
		09:49	Camden Town	Exit	£1.50	£2.50
		16:54	Edgware	Entry	-£4.00	£3.50
		17:28	Warren Street	Exit	£0.50	£3.50
		19:33	Oxford Circus	Entry	-£4.00	£2.00
		20:10	Ealing Broadway	Exit	£2.00	£2.00
22	15 July 08	09:15	Ealing Broadway	Entry	-£4.00	£1.80
		09:50	West Ruislip	Exit	£2.20	£1.80
		13:21	Perivale	Entry	-£4.00	£1.00
		13:36	Ealing Broadway	Exit	£3.00	£1.00
23	16 July 08	09:13	Ealing Broadway	Entry	-£4.00	£1.00
		09:35	Perivale	Exit	£3.00	£1.00
		11:17	North Acton	Entry	-£4.00	£1.00
		11:32	Ealing Broadway	Exit	£3.00	£1.00
		14:10	White City	Entry	-£4.00	£1.00
		14:27	Ealing Broadway	Exit	£3.00	£1.00
24	17 July 08	09:12	Ealing Broadway	Entry	-£4.00	£1.00
		09:27	White City	Exit	£3.00	£1.00
		18:34	Liverpool Street	Entry	-£4.00	£2.50
		19:22	Ealing Broadway	Exit	£1.50	£2.50
25	21 July 08	09:20	Ealing Broadway	Entry	-£4.00	£2.50
		10:03	Liverpool Street	Exit	£1.50	£2.50
		20:17	Leytonstone	Entry	-£4.00	£2.00
		21:11	Ealing Broadway	Exit	£2.00	£2.00
26	23 July 08	09:11	Ealing Broadway	Entry	-£4.00	£2.50
		10:04	Leytonstone	Exit	£1.50	£2.50
		14:38	Debden	Entry	-£4.00	£3.50
		15:56	Ealing Broadway	Exit	£0.50	£3.50
27	24 July 08	09:13	Ealing Broadway	Entry	-£4.00	£3.50
		10:21	Debden	Exit	£0.50	£3.50
		14:20	Epping	Entry	-£4.00	£1.00
		14:26	Theydon Bois	Exit	£3.00	£1.00
		16:36	Theydon Bois	Entry	-£4.00	£3.50
		17:54	Ealing Broadway	Exit	£0.50	£3.50
28	28 July 08	09:13	Ealing Broadway	Entry	-£4.00	£2.50
		10:08	Leytonstone	Exit	£1.50	£2.50
		14:06	Barkingside	Entry	-£4.00	£2.50
		15:14	Ealing Broadway	Exit	£1.50	£2.50
29	30 July 08	09:05	Ealing Broadway	Entry	-£4.00	£2.50
		10:18	Barkingside	Exit	£1.50	£2.50
		15:21	Woodford	Entry	-£4.00	£2.50
		16:36	Ealing Broadway	Exit	£1.50	£2.50
30	31 July 08	09:13	Ealing Broadway	Entry	-£4.00	£2.50
		10:03	Elephant & Castle	Exit	£1.50	£2.50
		16:32	Willesden Junction	Entry	-£4.00	£2.00
		16:58	Paddington	Exit	£2.00	£2.00
		-	Train to Ealing Broadway	Entry	-£2.90	£2.90
31	4 August 08	09:26	Paddington	Entry	-£4.00	£2.00
		09:49	Willesden Junction	Exit	£2.00	£2.00
		13:30	Harrow on the Hill	Entry	-£4.00	£1.80
		14:07	Ealing Common	Exit	£2.20	£1.80
32	5 August 08	09:14	South Ealing	Entry	-£4.00	£1.80
		09:42	Heathrow Terminal 5	Exit	£2.20	£1.80
		12:07	Bus 105	Entry	-£0.90	£0.90
		12:20	Heathrow Terminals 123	Entry	-£4.00	£1.00
		12:23	Heathrow Terminal 5	Exit	£3.00	£1.00
		13:39	Heathrow Terminal 5	Entry	-£4.00	£1.00
		13:53	Heathrow Terminals 123	Exit	£3.00	£1.00
		13:57	Bus 111	Entry	-£0.90	£0.90
		17:22	Heathrow Terminal 5	Entry	-£4.00	£0.50
		17:54	South Ealing	Exit	£3.50	£0.50
33	6 August 08	09:17	South Ealing	Entry	-£4.00	£1.80
		09:37	Hatton Cross	Exit	£2.20	£1.80
		14:17	Boston Manor	Entry	-£4.00	£1.00
		14:29	South Ealing	Exit	£3.00	£1.00
34	13 August 08	08:52	South Ealing	Entry	-£4.00	£1.00
		08:59	Boston Manor	Exit	£3.00	£1.00
		12:30	Hammersmith	Entry	-£4.00	£1.00
		12:41	South Ealing	Exit	£3.00	£1.00
35	14 August 08	09:07	South Ealing	Entry	-£4.00	£1.00
		09:26	Barons Court	Exit	£3.00	£1.00
		10:06	Earl's Court	Entry	-£4.00	£1.50
		10:12	South Kensington	Exit	£2.50	£1.50
		14:38	King's Cross	Entry	-£4.00	£2.50
		15:15	Ealing Common	Exit	£1.50	£2.50
36	15 August 08	08:59	South Ealing	Entry	-£4.00	£2.50
36	15 August 08	09:55	King's Cross	Exit	£1.50	£2.50
37	17 August 08	13:53	Cockfosters	Entry	-£4.00	£2.00
37	17 August 08	15:01	South Ealing	Exit	£2.00	£2.00
38	18 August 08	09:36	Ealing Common	Entry	-£4.00	£1.80
38	18 August 08	10:00	Rayners Lane	Exit	£2.20	£1.80
39	19 August 08	09:14	South Ealing	Entry	-£4.00	£2.50
		10:01	Brixton	Exit	£1.50	£2.50
		17:01	King's Cross	Entry	-£4.00	£1.50
		17:29	Earl's Court	Exit	£2.50	£1.50
		21:45	Earl's Court	Entry	-£4.00	£1.00
		22:05	South Ealing	Exit	£3.00	£1.00
40	20 August 08	09:10	South Ealing	Entry	-£4.00	£2.50
		09:50	King's Cross	Exit	£1.50	£2.50
		14:45	Walthamstow Central	Entry	-£4.00	£2.50
		15:40	Ealing Broadway	Exit	£1.50	£2.50
41	21 August 08	09:12	Ealing Broadway	Entry	-£4.00	£3.50
		10:28	Stanmore	Exit	£0.50	£3.50
		14:39	Dollis Hill	Entry	-£4.00	£1.80
		15:28	Ealing Common	Exit	£2.20	£1.80
42	22 August 08	09:05	Ealing Broadway	Entry	-£4.00	£1.80
		09:58	Dollis Hill	Exit	£2.20	£1.80
		15:19	Green Park	Entry	-£4.00	£2.50
		15:44	Ealing Common	Exit	£1.50	£2.50
43	26 August 08	09:09	South Ealing	Entry	-£4.00	£2.50
		09:36	Green Park	Exit	£1.50	£2.50
		13:21	Canada Water	Entry	-£4.00	£2.50
		14:04	South Ealing	Exit	£1.50	£2.50
44	27 August 08	09:21	Ealing Broadway	Entry	-£4.00	£2.50
		10:12	Canada Water	Exit	£1.50	£2.50
		16:42	North Greenwich	Entry	-£4.00	£2.50
		17:32	Ealing Common	Exit	£1.50	£2.50
45	29 August 08	10:24	Ealing Broadway	Entry	-£4.00	£2.50
		11:14	North Greenwich	Exit	£1.50	£2.50
		16:37	Stratford	Entry	-£4.00	£2.50
		17:29	Ealing Broadway	Exit	£1.50	£2.50
Total cost						£205.80