Day 22
Chorleywood - Clapham Common - Clapham High Street - Clapham Junction - Clapham North - Clapham South
Chorleywood (my first destination) and Clapham (my second) have little in common apart from, ironically, a common - they both have one.
We'll come to the two commons in due course, but first I find myself in yet another quiet market town in the Chilterns beginning with the letters "CH".
Quite why this part of the world has so many places beginning with those two particular letters is something you'll have to ask a toponymist, but it's probably something Anglo-Saxon (it usually is).
I start by wandering up and down the road in front of the station - Station Approach - but as the name suggests (and in common with many of the more suburban stations) the road's main purpose is simply to provide access to the station, and the few houses and businesses that I pass seem content to ignore me - perhaps they're having a mid-morning nap.
Round a couple of corners and running parallel to the tracks on the other side of the station, is Lower Road, which seems to be the main shopping street here. I say 'seems' because I don't actually see anyone doing any shopping. There's a supermarket, a chemist, a post office, and an inordinate number of estate agents, but no-one seems to be using them. Perhaps they're all at home waiting expectantly while the estate agents sell their houses to each other.
Tiring fairly rapidly of the delights offered by Lower Road, I make my way to Chorleywood Common. in search of wild adventure and excitement.
Hmmm...
The Common is 80 hectares (which is about 200 acres apparently) of open grassland dotted with occasional woodland areas. There are a few ponds, some of which apparently provide homes for Great Crested Newts (Did I see any? Nah... course not).
It also has a golf course slap bang in the middle of it, and knowing that golfers can sometimes be a little 'precious' about where you're allowed to walk and where not, I decide to stick to the 'circular path' that I saw marked on the map at the entrance to the Common.
I stop at a pond, where I fail to spot any newts, but do encounter a dragonfly which seems happy to be photographed.
I continue for a short way along what I hope is still the circular path, although without a map (which was inconsiderately attached to a big wooden signpost back at the entrance) it's hard to tell.
So eventually I retrace my steps back to the entrance to the Common, which also happens to be the first tee of the golf course. A couple of retirement-age female golfers (golfresses?) are teeing up and I watch for a few minutes, but as a source of thrills and spills I find it all sadly inadequate.
I think it's time to move on...
***
Clapham's five stations (alright, four - Clapham Junction is actually in Battersea) lie in a roughly straight line running from Clapham South at the southern tip of Clapham Common, via Clapham Common Station, Clapham High Street Station and finally up to Clapham North at the junction of Clapham High Street and Clapham Road.
The fact that I have to do all these Clapham stations in alphabetical rather than geographical order, coupled with the fact I've already mentioned - that Clapham Junction is some distance away in Battersea - is in reality only a minor niggle, since Clapham is such a marked contrast to Chorleywood and as soon as I arrive I know I'm going to enjoy it here. There's a buzz about the place that's reminiscent of Brixton, and the shops, restaurants, cafés, and the Common itself, are full of people soaking up the rays of today's particularly hot sun.
Nobody seems to be doing any actual work here, apart from the waitresses in the various eateries, but nobody seems to mind very much either - maybe it's the natural way of things in this part of town...
Since most of the stations are within just a few minutes' walk of each other, I won't bore you with repeated details of arrivals and departures at each one, and will instead just give a few snippets of info, together with my overall impression of the area around Clapham Common, which is the natural hub of activity here - especially on a hot summer's day like today.
Clapham Common station, which is at the north-eastern tip of the triangular Common, sits like a little temple on an island in the middle of Clapham High Street.
This of course, is just the visible part of the station, as the ticket hall and platforms are underground. Also underground here, as well as at Clapham North and Clapham South, are the remains of the deep-level shelters constructed during World War II and later used temporarily to house immigrants from the West Indies, who had recently arrived on the Empire Windrush.
The Common that lies next to the station is, of course, full of sunbathers on this sunny day. I wander around with my camera, trying not to look too pervy as I take a photograph, but actually I don't think anyone would bat an eyelid here.
Surprisingly, given the fact that this is an inner London park, it is actually slightly larger than the Common out at Chorleywood - at roughly 220 acres. There's a bandstand, a drinking fountain, three ponds, and plenty of trees if the sun gets too hot. It regularly hosts concerts and other events, although the Friends Of Clapham Common website seems to regard most of these as a nuisance rather than a benefit to the community - since they make it very clear how to complain to the council, should you wish to do so.
I hope that the majority of residents don't feel any need to complain - and indeed that they join in wholeheartedly with whatever community event is taking place - since, after all, 'The Man On The Clapham Omnibus' has long been supposed to be the standard measure of reasonableness, and I'd hate to think that reasonableness was synonymous with petty-mindedness.
The High Street, along which I walk next, is full of places to eat - most of them with outside tables - and here again is the vibrant buzz of people relaxing in the summer sun. I pass a motley collection of architectural styles, including the modern Library which has several large and abstract-looking metal sculptures on the pavement in front of it. It takes me rather longer than I care to admit to realise the that the sculptures are in fact the letters of the word 'Library'...
After a few minutes more I arrive at Clapham High Street Station, which is actually just off the main street. There's not much too it, and Voltaire Road, on which it sits, is fairly nondescript, so I jump straight on the first train in the direction of Clapham Junction.
***
So - Clapham Junction - what's all that about then, eh? Why is a station located in Battersea named after a location one mile to the east?
Well, somewhat surprisingly perhaps, given the current demographics of this part of London, it seems to have been a matter of pure and simple snobbery. Battersea in the late 19th Century was not sufficiently genteel enough, and so the name of the neighbouring district was used instead, in the hope of attracting a better class of customer. I'm not entirely sure how this would work - you either need to catch a train or you don't - if the station happens to be in a less salubrious part of town, are you therefore not going to catch it? Or perhaps you'll try running alongside the tracks as it passes through a classier area, in the hope of being able to jump onto it...?
The station itself is big. In fact I'd almost go so far as to say they could have dispensed with the whole Battersea/Clapham question by simply declaring it a separate London Borough all of its own. There are 17 platforms, and the walk from Platform One (where I arrive on the Overground Train) to the exit at the other side of the station takes me at least ten minutes.
I emerge from the station onto a smallish pedestrian area called Brighton Yard, just off St John's Hill, and turn to take a photo of the station entrance.
Unfortunately, I notice that the entrance I've just passed through has a distinct lack of London Overground signage.
To explain - the London Tube Map, which as you know is the map I'm using as my definitive list of London stations to visit, shows three networks: The London Underground, The London Overground and The Docklands Light Railway (DLR). There are other railway lines going through London, and connecting with some of the stations I will be visiting, but these lines are part of the National Rail Network, and are not shown on the normal tube map.
So, in order to satisfy my own pedantic and self-imposed conditions of this challenge, I have to take a photograph of the station sign which proves that it appears on the London Tube Map. It's no use the station being all grand and imposing and a wonder of railway architecture, if there isn't a little coloured Roundel, with the word 'Underground', 'Overground' or 'DLR' across it.
It would appear that this entrance, though the most impressive for the average commuter, is no good to me, so I trudge back round to the other side of the station (the long way round - at street level) and eventually find myself at the Grant Road entrance, and thankfully, with a Roundel to photograph.
I enter the station here, and discover - not surprisingly - that I am back where I started at platform one, and had I known it, I could have just come out of the station at this entrance and saved myself a long walk.
We'll come to the two commons in due course, but first I find myself in yet another quiet market town in the Chilterns beginning with the letters "CH".
Quite why this part of the world has so many places beginning with those two particular letters is something you'll have to ask a toponymist, but it's probably something Anglo-Saxon (it usually is).
 |
| Chorleywood - Careful or you'll be crushed in the stampede... |
Round a couple of corners and running parallel to the tracks on the other side of the station, is Lower Road, which seems to be the main shopping street here. I say 'seems' because I don't actually see anyone doing any shopping. There's a supermarket, a chemist, a post office, and an inordinate number of estate agents, but no-one seems to be using them. Perhaps they're all at home waiting expectantly while the estate agents sell their houses to each other.
Tiring fairly rapidly of the delights offered by Lower Road, I make my way to Chorleywood Common. in search of wild adventure and excitement.
Hmmm...
The Common is 80 hectares (which is about 200 acres apparently) of open grassland dotted with occasional woodland areas. There are a few ponds, some of which apparently provide homes for Great Crested Newts (Did I see any? Nah... course not).
It also has a golf course slap bang in the middle of it, and knowing that golfers can sometimes be a little 'precious' about where you're allowed to walk and where not, I decide to stick to the 'circular path' that I saw marked on the map at the entrance to the Common.
 |
| Pond on the Common - note the cunningly camouflaged newts |
I stop at a pond, where I fail to spot any newts, but do encounter a dragonfly which seems happy to be photographed.
 |
| Dragonfly posing for a close-up |
 |
| Chorleywood Common |
 |
| 'Right then Ethel, just you see what I do with this bad boy!' |
I think it's time to move on...
***
Clapham's five stations (alright, four - Clapham Junction is actually in Battersea) lie in a roughly straight line running from Clapham South at the southern tip of Clapham Common, via Clapham Common Station, Clapham High Street Station and finally up to Clapham North at the junction of Clapham High Street and Clapham Road.
The fact that I have to do all these Clapham stations in alphabetical rather than geographical order, coupled with the fact I've already mentioned - that Clapham Junction is some distance away in Battersea - is in reality only a minor niggle, since Clapham is such a marked contrast to Chorleywood and as soon as I arrive I know I'm going to enjoy it here. There's a buzz about the place that's reminiscent of Brixton, and the shops, restaurants, cafés, and the Common itself, are full of people soaking up the rays of today's particularly hot sun.
Nobody seems to be doing any actual work here, apart from the waitresses in the various eateries, but nobody seems to mind very much either - maybe it's the natural way of things in this part of town...
Since most of the stations are within just a few minutes' walk of each other, I won't bore you with repeated details of arrivals and departures at each one, and will instead just give a few snippets of info, together with my overall impression of the area around Clapham Common, which is the natural hub of activity here - especially on a hot summer's day like today.
Clapham Common station, which is at the north-eastern tip of the triangular Common, sits like a little temple on an island in the middle of Clapham High Street.
 |
| Clapham Common - and we're off! |
The Common that lies next to the station is, of course, full of sunbathers on this sunny day. I wander around with my camera, trying not to look too pervy as I take a photograph, but actually I don't think anyone would bat an eyelid here.
 |
| Clapham Common - I want to live like common people... |
Surprisingly, given the fact that this is an inner London park, it is actually slightly larger than the Common out at Chorleywood - at roughly 220 acres. There's a bandstand, a drinking fountain, three ponds, and plenty of trees if the sun gets too hot. It regularly hosts concerts and other events, although the Friends Of Clapham Common website seems to regard most of these as a nuisance rather than a benefit to the community - since they make it very clear how to complain to the council, should you wish to do so.
I hope that the majority of residents don't feel any need to complain - and indeed that they join in wholeheartedly with whatever community event is taking place - since, after all, 'The Man On The Clapham Omnibus' has long been supposed to be the standard measure of reasonableness, and I'd hate to think that reasonableness was synonymous with petty-mindedness.
The High Street, along which I walk next, is full of places to eat - most of them with outside tables - and here again is the vibrant buzz of people relaxing in the summer sun. I pass a motley collection of architectural styles, including the modern Library which has several large and abstract-looking metal sculptures on the pavement in front of it. It takes me rather longer than I care to admit to realise the that the sculptures are in fact the letters of the word 'Library'...
After a few minutes more I arrive at Clapham High Street Station, which is actually just off the main street. There's not much too it, and Voltaire Road, on which it sits, is fairly nondescript, so I jump straight on the first train in the direction of Clapham Junction.
 |
| Clapham High Street - two down, three to go... |
***
So - Clapham Junction - what's all that about then, eh? Why is a station located in Battersea named after a location one mile to the east?
Well, somewhat surprisingly perhaps, given the current demographics of this part of London, it seems to have been a matter of pure and simple snobbery. Battersea in the late 19th Century was not sufficiently genteel enough, and so the name of the neighbouring district was used instead, in the hope of attracting a better class of customer. I'm not entirely sure how this would work - you either need to catch a train or you don't - if the station happens to be in a less salubrious part of town, are you therefore not going to catch it? Or perhaps you'll try running alongside the tracks as it passes through a classier area, in the hope of being able to jump onto it...?
The station itself is big. In fact I'd almost go so far as to say they could have dispensed with the whole Battersea/Clapham question by simply declaring it a separate London Borough all of its own. There are 17 platforms, and the walk from Platform One (where I arrive on the Overground Train) to the exit at the other side of the station takes me at least ten minutes.
I emerge from the station onto a smallish pedestrian area called Brighton Yard, just off St John's Hill, and turn to take a photo of the station entrance.
 |
| Clapham Junction - main entrance |
Unfortunately, I notice that the entrance I've just passed through has a distinct lack of London Overground signage.
To explain - the London Tube Map, which as you know is the map I'm using as my definitive list of London stations to visit, shows three networks: The London Underground, The London Overground and The Docklands Light Railway (DLR). There are other railway lines going through London, and connecting with some of the stations I will be visiting, but these lines are part of the National Rail Network, and are not shown on the normal tube map.
So, in order to satisfy my own pedantic and self-imposed conditions of this challenge, I have to take a photograph of the station sign which proves that it appears on the London Tube Map. It's no use the station being all grand and imposing and a wonder of railway architecture, if there isn't a little coloured Roundel, with the word 'Underground', 'Overground' or 'DLR' across it.
It would appear that this entrance, though the most impressive for the average commuter, is no good to me, so I trudge back round to the other side of the station (the long way round - at street level) and eventually find myself at the Grant Road entrance, and thankfully, with a Roundel to photograph.
 |
| Ok, so now I know why they hide this entrance away round the back... |
Still, at least I got my photo, eh?
***
Back on the Overground to Clapham High Street, and it's a short walk round the corner to Clapham North.
 |
| Clapham North |
I don't go into the station, as I can walk from here to Clapham South without too much trouble. If I did, however, I'd be catching the train from one of only two 'island' platforms left in London.
Most tube stations have separate tunnels and platforms for each direction of travel. To get from northbound to southbound, or eastbound to westbound, you exit one platform and cross a mini concourse to get to the other platform.
In this station, and in Clapham Common, which is the other station to have an 'island' platform, trains from both directions stop at the same platform, which forms a narrow catwalk between them. Given how busy most London Underground stations can get at rush hour, I hate to think how many accidental 'one-unders' have been caused by sheer weight of numbers squeezing onto this narrow platform between the two approaching trains.
***
Finally, then, I head south again to Clapham South. And you'll notice a marked similarity between this station and Clapham North.
 |
| Clapham South (spot the difference...) |
Both were of course designed by the same man - a Mr T.P. Figgis (now there's a name that belongs in Suburbia if ever I heard one!) and both were later revamped by our old compadre Charles Holden. Which bits were Figgis and which Holden I don't know, but I'm guessing the rather Germanic looking entrance halls are Charlie-Boy's.
***
And that's it for another week, and in fact, for some little time.
I'm off visiting another 'C' - Crete - for a couple of weeks with Mrs Nowhere Man, and have no intention of interrupting my lazing-by-the-pool-with-an-ice-cold-something-or-other to write about the vagaries of the London Underground system. So I'm afraid you'll just have to wait a while for the next thrill-packed instalment of my adventures.
I don't know how you'll cope, honestly I don't...
Catching up, catching up GOTCHYA - well only four days late with my comment - which to day will take a different slant.
ReplyDeleteToday my friend - not a word of French - pas un mot - buggar - mais - encore buggar - only arithmetic.
So on Feb 26 in your first post you delcared that there were 368 stations to visit - hardly dare ask if Cross Rail (two words or one?) is going to alter that figure. But hey - not a problem.
To date, on July 1st you have - by my calculations of counting tags visited 69 stations. So far so good - but please Mr N. W. Man - KEEP UP.
So since Feb 26th there have been 125 days - which means, with 69 stations ticked off you are completing at a rate of 0.552 stations per day. Not bad but ...
So with another 289 stations at 0.552 stations my Excel spreadsheet suggests you will finish in aprrox 523.5507246 days hence.
Wah hey Pet, yer gannin' canny.
Which means in laymans terms you'll finish this marathon on or around 6th Dec 2015. A canny Xmas present for Mrs N. W. Man to have you back chez elle (Damn it) all the time.
But hang on, now ye've gone off to Crete for quelques jours (Zut alors - merde) and are you gonna take Corsica and Corfu en route? (En route = Expression used extensively in English and not just reserved pour nos amis en france - donc = acceptable)
How will my spreadsheet calculate your absence (and any future gal-a-vant-ing with Mrs N.W.Man - you'll be off to visit Cuba and the Dardanelles before we get to the 'Es.')
Mon Dieu.
And for this commentator - c'était ca pour le moment.
TTFN and enjoy your hols.
(China? Cape Town? Croatia? Cumberland?
It has often been said of me (and the subject of this blog would seem to confirm it) that I have far too much time on my hands.
DeleteHowever, I think, sir, you may be giving my a close run for my money!
As my (just-this-minute-designated-by-me) official statistician, could you please calculate the total distance I have travelled so far (not as the crow flies you understand, but along the route of each tube line) and plot my journey on a large scale map of London? I'm hoping that by the end of the challenge, the interconnected points on the map will spell out a profound and meaningful message to mankind.
Either that or a very rude word...