Ring around the Underground

342km — first walked 2020-21

Go to the outermost end of a Tube line. Make for the next extremity clockwise. Repeat until you are back where you started, without crossing the public Tube lines in any place.

No great problem there — Stanmore to Edgware, or Amersham to Chesham for a bit of rurality. But there’s also Epping to Upminster (28km; may be split at Havering-atte-Bower or at Noak Hill), and the biggest of all, the 44km between Upminster and Brixton (which splits almost evenly at Woolwich, where you take a different kind of tube — the Woolwich Foot Tunnel). There is a higher percentage of streetwork in this circuit when compared with the London Summits Walk or the Coal Tax Circuit, but there are still lots of parks and paths, and some outright fields and forests. Of course, there are lots of public transport options with which to tailor your days. There are two large diversions from an orderly progression round the suburbs: a deep gash between Morden and Wimbledon will take in Battersea Power Station station (yes, that is its official title, even if the Google Maps algorithm fails miserably), and though you can almost see Uxbridge from Heathrow Terminal 5, there’s the small matter of rounding up Ealing Broadway on the way. In addition, the northern traverse dips inward to pick up Walthamstow Central between Cockfosters and Epping.

The route is described in a single document (for aid in selecting a day’s walk which may not coincide with sectional boundaries), and is prefaced with an introduction, which will help with context and conventions. Maps for the individual sections are referenced in the table below. Note that the timings in the table below are standard timings using Naismith’s Rule at 5km per hour. If you walk at 4km per hour, you will need to multiply the timings by a factor of 1.25 to get approximate timings. Possibly more importantly, given the urban setting, the timings do not include any breaks for rest, refreshment or sightseeing.

1 — Upminster to Woolwich 23.8km; 56m ascent; 4hr 50min	Map
2 — Woolwich to Brixton 20.5km; 257m ascent; 4hr 31min	Map
3 — Brixton to Morden 10.4km; 44m ascent; 2hr 09min	Map
4 — Morden to Battersea Power Station 13.4km; 39m ascent; 2hr 44min	Map
5 — Battersea Power Station to Wimbledon 11.7km; 43m ascent; 2hr 24min	Map
6 — Wimbledon to Richmond 9.0km; 87m ascent; 1hr 57min	Map
7 — Richmond to Heathrow Terminal 5 17.7km; 36m ascent; 3hr 35min	Map
8 — Heathrow Terminal 5 to Ealing Broadway 23.8km; 51m ascent; 4hr 50min	Map
9 — Ealing Broadway to Uxbridge 15.9km; 73m ascent; 3hr 18min	Map
10 — Uxbridge to West Ruislip 5.0km; 33m ascent; 1hr 03min	Map
11 — West Ruislip to Amersham 26.5km; 293m ascent; 5hr 47min	Map
12 — Amersham to Chesham 4.2km; 41m ascent; 54min	Map
13 — Chesham to Watford 18.2km; 226m ascent; 4hr 01min	Map
14 — Watford to Harrow and Wealdstone 15.0km; 145m ascent; 3hr 14min	Map
15 — Harrow and Wealdstone to Stanmore 5.1km; 48m ascent; 1hr 06min	Map
16 — Stanmore to Edgware 2.8km; 6m ascent; 34min	Map
17 — Edgware to Mill Hill East 5.5km; 43m ascent; 1hr 10min	Map
18 — Mill Hill East to High Barnet 7.3km; 70m ascent; 1hr 35min	Map
19 — High Barnet to Cockfosters 5.6km; 81m ascent; 1hr 14min	Map
20 — Cockfosters to Walthamstow Central 17.4km; 91m ascent; 3hr 38min	Map
21 — Walthamstow Central to Epping 19.5km; 271m ascent; 4hr 20min	Map
22 — Epping to Upminster 28.1km; 299m ascent; 6hr 07min	Map

Note that it is only the termini which protrude from the rest of the network which qualify, so no Kensington Olympia, and neither Elephant and Castle nor Stratford qualify, because the Northern and Central Lines respectively make the station non-terminal.

The circuit total comes out at a little over 340km; with little diversions for sustenance and such, you will push towards 350km in total. The ascent total is about 2300m, so you’ll be doing the equivalent of almost two ascents of Ben Nevis from sea level at Fort William.

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