Cycle the Underground,overground,wombling free,making a tube map for a poster for me

After a few weeks of cycling inactivity this was back on yesterday with another 2 lines, the District and Hammersmith and City lines. And an extra bonus for this leg, I had some company. Howard from these here parts clearly had nothing better to do for the day, so decided to join in this leg of the urban adventure/nightmare. I was late arriving at Richmond so he was already having a coffeee when I rolled up. A quick photo and we set off on the multi branch District line.

Plotting the District line route is like one of those maths problems you get in school, which branch should I start at and in which order should the branches be done to complete it in the shortest distance? I confess to not doing these calculations, instead I squinted at the ridewithgps plotted route, could'nt tell if there was any significant difference between starting in what I though the best start options, Richmond and Wimbledon, so decided on starting in Richmond as it was likely to have the least amount of headwinds and it just felt better doing the complete line from West to East. Though not the longest line I've done to date it has the most stations with 60, and had by far the longest list of directions, with 13 hand held Tunnocks sheets, here's a sample, District 9. (of 13)

At the first roundabout I must have thrown a dodgy signal or rode a confusing line as I sent Howard off down the wrong road, and shortly after bagging our first stop after Richmond, Kew Gardens, I took a wrong turn, went 'off Tunnocks' and ended up heading up the right road, but in the wrong direction. After that sketchy start he must of been wondering just what he'd let himself in for, but apart from another little moment of navigatory doubt somewhere between Upminster and Barking it all went to plan.

After recent months it seems to sky has run out of rain so we were left with lovely weather for February. At one point in Southfields I could feel the bright thing in the sky warming my skin, what is this death ray in the heavens? We had to do multiple visits to Earls Court which was made more problematic by the one way system. I almost got hit in the face by a paniced pigeon and a white van pulled right out across me in a crazy 10 seconds in Victoria but otherwise it was pretty smooth going, apart from the road surfaces which seemed to deteriorate as we went from West to East. It was a long old line, taking just over 7 hours including stops.

And I'm sorry to report I am still crap at taking photos. Upminster has a proper full size ye olde windmill, and despite riding past it twice, and stopping for a post District line pint and food at the adjacent pub called The Windmill I did'nt get any pictures of it, massive fail. The food was underwhelming, Howard's coleslaw did'nt arrive, and nor did any refund or other offer which was a bit poor. I think Howard may also have already contacted Trading Standards to enquire as to what the minimum legal requirements are for the dish known as side salad. And strangely the fries were more expensive than the chips.

So after refreshments it was time to head back to Barking for the start of the Hammersmith and City line. As we were losing the sun the temperature had dropped so Howard unpacked his jacket only to find the zip had broken, leaving him rather draughty for the return leg into the headwind, and bringing his drag coefficient a tad closer to my flappy trousers and fleece.

Rather than the A124 I opted for a ride through the Chase nature reserve. The big 5 were notable by their absence, it was'nt the Serengeti, it was'nt even Longleat. Who even knew Dagenham had a nature reserve, or is nature reserve estate agent speak for wasteland? But it had a short section of mud path for some slip slding fun and we saw some moorhens a heron, neither of which we'd seen elsewhere. Though we did'nt see any I've since discovered it has some rare bird visitors such as pine bunting, great snipe and spotted crake, and has notable plants like spiny restharrow, warty cabbage and black mustard. It was definitely better than the A124 and a nice break from the otherwise relentless urban jungle.

We arrive in Barking

...and its total gridlock, loads of rozzers about so looked like something had just gone down. Howard was in for another treat and example of how classy I am as I detoured us down by the bins of a dark dingy back alley where grim criminal things must have happened, and they did again as my rest stop lager leaked out. Not being in a official public toilet I was able to look up and around to examine my surroundings, and saw a 2 pack of unopened sausages on the wall in front of me. Were they for the bin? Had someone got them out of the bin? Did the last person who'd rushed down this alley for a piss get home an hour later and bellow 'fuuuuuu the sausages!' Who knows or even cares.

During the course of the day and in doffed cap reverence to the original tube map I made Howard do some seemingly pointless detours and there were a few points where I chose to avoid the road route. At Victoria we dismounted and walked across onto Victoria St rather than do the 1 way system of horror and we did the cycling equivalent of tiptoeing down the cut through from Ravenscourt Park to Glenthorne Road. We took a naughty right turn just after Aldgate East up Old Castle St, so the line loops up and around Algate station like the orignal map and we also did a loop just after Euston Square to ensure the line remained above Warren Street and Regents Park stations like the original map. However in doing this and in my quest to squeeze in a cobbled mews section I'd not ridden before I went down Pelo Place, and I have come uncomfortably close (to me at least) to missing Great Portland St but you can see the station across the road, and as I can't be arsed to ride the line again I'm claiming it.

We finally arrived back in Hammersmith at 8pm, which after leaving Richmond at 9.20am meant another long day in the saddle. My total mileage for the day came out at 116 miles and Howard did 130.

So thats a total so 278 of 381 station stops done so far on 9 out of the 11 main lines, with just the Northern line and Piccadilly line to go.

Victoria line http://ridewithgps.com/trips/2168039

Central line http://ridewithgps.com/trips/2168037

Bakerloo line http://ridewithgps.com/trips/2168035

Jubilee line http://ridewithgps.com/trips/2179359

Metropolitan line http://ridewithgps.com/trips/2179362

Waterloo & City line http://ridewithgps.com/trips/2181152

Circle line http://ridewithgps.com/trips/2181146

District Line http://ridewithgps.com/trips/2259166

Hammersmith & City http://ridewithgps.com/trips/2259143

Days ridden so far = 4
Distance cycled drawing tube lines so far = 340 miles
Total distance ridden on this project including riding to and from home and between lines = 420.8 miles
P****ures = 1
Traffic lights encountered = seems like all of them
Years taken off life = unknown