Issue #23: Toeing the Underground Line
The London Underground logo is one of the world’s most recognised logos. The Roundel, a hollowed red ring with a horizontal blue bar bearing the word “UNDERGROUND” or the name...
The London Underground logo is one of the world’s most recognised logos. The Roundel, a hollowed red ring with a horizontal blue bar bearing the word “UNDERGROUND” or the name of a tube station, is the symbol of one of the most reliable transport systems in the world. Opened in January 1863, the Tube crisscrosses around the city, serving millions of Londoners daily. I have relied on the Tube for seven years. I have lived here for that long, and it wasn’t long ago that I realised that I don’t know the city as much as I’d like. I know specific places and points of interest — Brixton, Hampstead, Colindale, Stratford, Camden, Wimbledon, etc — but I don’t know how those places connect. For the longest time, I didn’t realise how close Bank and London Bridge are and how quickly one could walk between them. That’s what the Tube does to you. As a significant part of it travels underground, passengers don’t get to see the city and how places connect as the trains snake through kilometres of tunnels. You completely miss out on the liveliness of the city unfolding above you. The Tube swallows you at Point A and vomits you out at Point B. You’re like Jonah in the belly of the whale - utterly blind to what’s happening outside.
One could instead use London buses and get to see the city as the buses travel across the city, but they are not as fast as the Tube, of course. Also, a mistimed journey means having as fellow travellers garrulous teenagers who sound as if their larynxes are boomboxes, and I am not enthused about such prospects. As might be expected, I try to avoid the buses as much as possible.
A choice to avoid buses means I am limited to three options for exploring the city: walk, drive, or cycle. I don’t enjoy walking for long periods, and I don’t drive in this city because it would be a complete waste. That leaves me with the option of exploring London on a bicycle. I have come to enjoy cycling a lot, so I resolved to travel across the length and breadth of this city on my bike, and what better route to follow than the 402 kilometres of the eleven underground lines that spread like tentacles across every part of London. I decided to start with the Victoria Line1, the light blue-coloured line that travels from Brixton in the south to Walthamstow Central in the northeast.
Yesterday, Saturday, 26 June, I set out with my friend, and we did the 34.2km ride from Brixton to Walthamstow Central in about 2 hours, and boy, was it worth it. One of the defining features of London is River Thames. It divides London into two parts - North and South London, so you have to go through bridges and tunnels to cross over. The view of Central London from Vauxhall Bridge as we crossed from Vauxhall into Pimlico was breathtaking. As we rode into Pimlico and then Belgravia, we were greeted by rows and rows of beautiful upscale residential buildings and the many Embassies and Consulates that line the streets. Those areas just screamed opulence.
We continued riding, passing Green Park, Euston, King’s Cross, and then cycled through the beautiful Finsbury Park in North London. We rode on until we got to our destination, and I don’t think I have enough words to describe the pride and happiness I felt when we ended the trip.
Of course, most plans never go according to plan. The plan when we set out on the journey was to refuel when we got to Walthamstow and then head back to our respective houses using the trains. Alas, that didn’t happen! I had completely forgotten about the train strike. We were left with no other option but to cycle home from Walthamstow. I almost cried. Now, it isn’t that the distance from Walthamstow to my house is far. It is a ~25km ride, a short ride relative to some of the rides I’ve done. But cycling is as much a mental activity as a physical one. I hadn’t set out to do another 20-something kilometre journey after a 30-something one, so it took a lot of effort from me to get through that mental block. All told, I did a total of 69 kilometres around London yesterday.
It was all worth it, and I will surely do more. I have already started planning the next one, which will be riding across every station of the Bakerloo line from Elephant & Castle to Harrow & Wealdstone.
The Victoria Line is one of the only two lines on the London Underground network that runs entirely underground, the other being the Waterloo & City line.