Day 45
Hendon Central - Heron Quays - High Barnet - Highbury & Islington - Highgate
An early start today, and hopefully a day on which I'll shake off the dust of the last couple of rather lacklustre journeys.
I start with Hendon Central, way up on the Edgware branch of the Northern Line.
It's a rather grand looking building, Grade II Listed, with a columned portico leading to a large ticket hall. Above and around it have been added shops and offices, and the whole thing sits on one corner of what is now an extremely busy crossroads.
At the time of building, however, the station was pretty much the only structure here, and the rest has developed over time, until the area is now a bustling suburb.
One of the roads crossing the crossroads is the A41 (which starts at Marble Arch and, should you be tempted to follow it all the way, ends up in Birkenhead) and given that we're only a few minutes from the North Circular, The A1 and it's big brother, the M1 - this means that traffic gets pretty heavy around here.
I'm mildly surprised therefore to notice that most of the crossings are above ground, and only one is via a subway. Most other junctions of this size would favour subways, surely? And why have both? Could they not make up their minds?
I stroll around the crossroads, and the fairly standard collection of shops, cafés and other establishments, before heading south east of the station to Hendon Park.
In stark contrast to the roar of traffic and constant flow of pedestrians outside the station, the park is an oasis of peace - not least because it contains a memorial garden dedicated to the victims of the holocaust, and a place of quiet contemplation.
An archway bears the Hebrew word 'lezikaron' - meaning looking forwards, but remembering the past, and I spend a peaceful few minutes here before heading back out into the hustle and bustle and my next destination.
***
At the station, before heading on, I pick up the latest copy of the Tube Map.
These are printed every 6 months or so, and include minor changes to the service (stations closed for refurbishment, etc), which would otherwise cause the unwary traveller some small inconvenience.
This latest edition, however, contains some rather radical changes to the previous maps, and in particular to the map on which I've based the entirety of the my current challenge - and I feel obliged to digress for a few moments to discuss them with you.
The December 2013 edition of the map (shown above) was, at the time I started the Wombling Challenge, the latest edition and therefore the one I used to plan this whole shebang. On the whole it hadn't changed that much over the years leading up to it - certainly not since the development of Canary Wharf and Docklands - and other than the odd closure or minor diversion, I felt it would serve me well.
But take a look at the latest (May 2015) version.
Now, I've known this was coming, so perhaps I shouldn't get too worked up about it, but... what on earth are they trying to do to me!!!
Not only have they suddenly decided to include a whole load of extra stations on the London Overground lines (top right - to the left of the Central Line's 'Hainault Loop') but they've also included a whole new line! The 'TFL Rail' line! (Liverpool Street to Shenfield - heading out east).
That's over thirty new stations!
Whereas previously I was proud to state that I'd visited the only two stations to reach the dizzying heights of being in Zone 9 (yes 9!!!), now they've gone and put Shenfield in a special zone all of its own, outside of zone 9! Not Zone 10 - oh no, too easy - this is unnumbered, but 'special fares apply'!
And yes - before you ask - these new additions do include some beginning with letters I've already completed and ticked off my list.
And so I've taken an executive decision.
Since I began this challenge using the December 2013 map, I'm bloody well going to stick to that map and that one alone.
If I really feel like it, I might do a sequel to the challenge some time in the future - by which time all sorts of other things like Crossrail and HS2 will probably have been thrown into the mix - but for now, I'm sticking to the 368 stations I originally said I'd visit.
***
Anyway, onto the next stop - Heron Quays.
I start with Hendon Central, way up on the Edgware branch of the Northern Line.
 |
| Hendon Central |
 |
| Hendon |
One of the roads crossing the crossroads is the A41 (which starts at Marble Arch and, should you be tempted to follow it all the way, ends up in Birkenhead) and given that we're only a few minutes from the North Circular, The A1 and it's big brother, the M1 - this means that traffic gets pretty heavy around here.
I'm mildly surprised therefore to notice that most of the crossings are above ground, and only one is via a subway. Most other junctions of this size would favour subways, surely? And why have both? Could they not make up their minds?
I stroll around the crossroads, and the fairly standard collection of shops, cafés and other establishments, before heading south east of the station to Hendon Park.
 |
| Hendon Park |
 |
| Holocaust Memorial Arch |
In stark contrast to the roar of traffic and constant flow of pedestrians outside the station, the park is an oasis of peace - not least because it contains a memorial garden dedicated to the victims of the holocaust, and a place of quiet contemplation.
An archway bears the Hebrew word 'lezikaron' - meaning looking forwards, but remembering the past, and I spend a peaceful few minutes here before heading back out into the hustle and bustle and my next destination.
***
At the station, before heading on, I pick up the latest copy of the Tube Map.
These are printed every 6 months or so, and include minor changes to the service (stations closed for refurbishment, etc), which would otherwise cause the unwary traveller some small inconvenience.
This latest edition, however, contains some rather radical changes to the previous maps, and in particular to the map on which I've based the entirety of the my current challenge - and I feel obliged to digress for a few moments to discuss them with you.
 |
| December 2013 |
The December 2013 edition of the map (shown above) was, at the time I started the Wombling Challenge, the latest edition and therefore the one I used to plan this whole shebang. On the whole it hadn't changed that much over the years leading up to it - certainly not since the development of Canary Wharf and Docklands - and other than the odd closure or minor diversion, I felt it would serve me well.
But take a look at the latest (May 2015) version.
 |
| May 2015 |
Not only have they suddenly decided to include a whole load of extra stations on the London Overground lines (top right - to the left of the Central Line's 'Hainault Loop') but they've also included a whole new line! The 'TFL Rail' line! (Liverpool Street to Shenfield - heading out east).
That's over thirty new stations!
Whereas previously I was proud to state that I'd visited the only two stations to reach the dizzying heights of being in Zone 9 (yes 9!!!), now they've gone and put Shenfield in a special zone all of its own, outside of zone 9! Not Zone 10 - oh no, too easy - this is unnumbered, but 'special fares apply'!
And yes - before you ask - these new additions do include some beginning with letters I've already completed and ticked off my list.
And so I've taken an executive decision.
Since I began this challenge using the December 2013 map, I'm bloody well going to stick to that map and that one alone.
If I really feel like it, I might do a sequel to the challenge some time in the future - by which time all sorts of other things like Crossrail and HS2 will probably have been thrown into the mix - but for now, I'm sticking to the 368 stations I originally said I'd visit.
***
Anyway, onto the next stop - Heron Quays.
 |
| Heron Quays |
Surely passengers, even the ever-so-important banking types that work here, can manage to walk the extra couple of hundred feet from Canary Wharf station rather than insisting on a second station so close to it?
I've barely taken two steps outside the station and I'm in the main plaza in front of Canary Wharf station.
It therefore shares almost entirely the same environs and is only really distinguished by the fact that it has an entrance to the south onto 'South Dock', as well as the one leading to 'Middle Dock', which Canary Wharf station also leads to.
Having visited Canary Wharf almost exactly a year ago I feel no burning desire to linger very long, and I jump back on the train (using Canary Wharf station this time - I just couldn't face the 'trek' back to Heron Quays...) - this time heading north on the other branch of the Northern Line, to its terminus: High Barnet.
***
Well, it's certainly high.
 |
| High Barnet |
Barnet was the site of one of the key battles in the Wars Of The Roses, where the Earl of Warwick (The 'Kingmaker') was killed by Edward IV of York's troops. Possibly, though only tenuously, linked to this fact is the claim that Barnet Hill is the very hill up (and down) which the 'Grand Old Duke Of York' had such fun marching his 10,000 men. There seems little evidence for this, and indeed the identity of the particular Duke in question is subject to many alternative claims.
A horse fair - Barnet Fair - dating back to 1588 took place here regularly and is commemorated in the rhyming slang phrase 'Barnet', meaning hair.
It has a pleasant enough shopping street and I wander up and down (though all on one level, unlike the Duke's men) for half an hour or so.
Soon though, I feel it's time to move on, as I hope to fit two more stations into today's schedule - so I march me down again to the station, and head to Highbury & Islington.
***
Highbury & Islington is a station I got to know fairly well only a short while ago when I was appearing in a play across the road from it - in a pub theatre called the Hen & Chickens.
It's in Islington, at the other end of Upper Street from Angel tube station, and my memory stirs as I emerge from the ticket hall, and I remember the mad dash and brief glimpse I gave this station as I tried to fit in too many stations in one day, way back when I was doing the 'A's.
 |
| Highbury & Islington |
Today I have a little more leisure, and - since it's a sunny day - I take myself just round the corner to a park called Highbury Fields. There are plenty of people out sunning themselves, and a funfair is being set up in the middle of the park.
Like the Hendon Park this morning, Highbury Fields is a little pocket of peace a mere couple of minutes from the hustle and bustle of Islingtonians going about their business. The station sits on a busy roundabout, but here in the park it's easy to forget that and just relax and enjoy the sunshine.
***
Only, I can't spend too much time relaxing - I'm back off up the Northern Line yet again, to my final stop - Highgate.
 |
| Highgate |
This means that the entrance you see from the road is actually just the start of a long steep climb down to the track level. The hill is Highgate Hill, though the road at this point is called Archway Road and is part of the A1.
Highgate is, of course, famous for its cemetery - where lie the mortal remains of such luminaries as Karl Marx, George Eliot, Ralph Richardson, Michael Faraday, Stella Gibbons, Douglas Adams, Bert Jansch and - if you're interested - Jeremy Beadle.
I don't make the trek there to see it however, as it's actually closer to Archway station than to here.
Instead I walk up Archway Road a little way, past the various pubs and shops that have chosen to locate themselves here.
It seems (at first glance) an odd choice - being on such a steep hill and a road where the traffic couldn't stop, even if it wanted to. But there are a fair few residential streets off the main road, and enough of a local community to keep things ticking over here.
There's an arts centre, various cafés (including a quirky little vegetarian place, which was where we rehearsed the play I did at the Hen & Chickens - see how it all connects one way or another?) and for those who have the stamina, some green - if hilly - spaces to explore.
After a day's travelling, however, my stamina is at a fairly low ebb - so I head home, once again, wondering (not for the first time) if I'll ever reach the end of the 'H's - let alone the rest of the alphabet...
