Goodbye, Piccadilly

River Colne in Oxhey Park, Watford

… farewell, Cabot Square.

Yes, another two Underground lines have been walked and written up — the Jubilee Line and the Piccadilly Line. For good measure, I have also written up the Watford DC Line (to be called, hubristically, the Lioness Line) of the Overground.

The Piccadilly Line and the Overground line were fairly straightforward in terms of paralleling the line. The Jubilee Line, on the other hand, crosses the River Thames on four occasions, so the walking route involved huge detours to cross the river on foot, bringing to bear the foot tunnels at Woolwich and Greenwich, and Tower Bridge. The crossing between Waterloo and Westminster stations was very simple, though, as was the route as far as Neasden. The primary route from there to Wembley Park crosses the line by the North Circular Road and picks up Great Central Way before following the River Brent and the Wealdstone Brook to the north end of the Wembley Park area, continuing to the station. However, some might want to visit the sporting shrine and trudge along Olympic Way, now crowded with insipid flats and restaurants. That would be madness on the days surrounding a major stadium event, so as well as the main route and the stadium-veneration route, there is a northern alternative which passes through the Great Central Railway Company’s housing estate known as “Quainton Village”. .

Two Underground lines (Central and Northern) remain to be completed and written up, plus the trams, three Overground lines and the Superloop buses.