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Everyone loves The Walking Tube Map – including us!

For Sport Relief Transport for London are encouraging people to walk the Circle Line. It’s a route that guarantees views of London’s biggest landmarks such as the Tower Bridge, Big Ben and the London Eye. It also passes through some of the prettiest parts of the Capital, including Fitzroy Square Gardens and Kensington Gardens. The walk is free to join and is expected to raise an incredible amount of money for Sport Relief.

But the fun doesn’t have to stop there. What if you wanted to walk other lines on the Tube Map? How long would it take to walk the Metropolitan line or the Victoria Line? Good thing we’ve got TfL’s walking Tube Map to hand because we want to find out! No matter what your fitness levels are, taking part in this Sport Relief challenge is simple to do and completely free. We’ll be sticking to the central part of the map, so nothing beyond the edge of Zone 2. Anyone who’s seen their geographical Tube Map will know how far stations can get outside of Central London. For example, including Zones, 3, 4, 5 and 6 to the Central Line route would add a whopping 7 hours to the journey!

Bakerloo Line – 3 Hours 15 Minutes

Willesden Junction to Elephant & Castle, 195 minutes. This route will take you near The Regent’s Park, across Oxford road, passing big stores like Hamleys and over the Thames. If you’re looking for something on the easier end of the scale, this isn’t a bad journey to take.

Central Line – 4 Hours 52 Minutes

North Acton to Stratford, 292 minutes. The Central Line runs alongside Hyde Park, so you might as well take a little detour and enjoy the scenery. Once you’re out on the other side you’ll get to walk down Oxford St, then Holborn where you’ll get a good view of St. Paul’s Cathedral.

Circle Line – 5 Hours 16 Minutes

Paddington to Paddington, 316 minutes. But if you want to walk the extra section in Zone 2 to Hammersmith, the total will be 420 minutes (7 hours). The best part of this one is that you’ll get a free guide from Walk London.

District Line  – 4 Hours 33 Minutes

Turnham Green to West Ham, 273 minutes. For this, we’ve gone for the simplest route, going from West to East, but you could easily walk from Edgware Road instead. Either way, you’ll get to swing by Westminster, see Big Ben and then enjoy a walk along the Thames.

Hammersmith & City Line – 4 Hours 47 Minutes

Hammersmith to West Ham, 287 minutes. One of the longer walks on this list, the Hammersmith & City Line passes through the more intellectual areas of London, where you’ll see museums, the University and the British Library. Although maybe intellectual isn’t the word for Madame Tussauds!

Jubilee Line – 10 Hours

Willesden Green to Stratford, 600 minutes. This is the biggy, only to be taken on by those who are truly committed. The journey will take you Southward through central London for the first half and the second half will see you becoming very familiar with the Thames and its various crossings. You won’t be able to stick exactly to the Jubilee line because there’s a bloomin’ big river in the way, so you might want to cross back over at Tower Bridge and stay North of the river.

Metropolitan Line – 2 Hours 22 Minutes

Finchley Road to Aldgate, 142 minutes. One of the shortest routes on the list, this one doesn’t have the variety of some of the others, but you do get to pass London Zoo!

Northern Line – 3 Hours 17 Minutes

West Route. Hampstead to Clapham South via Tottenham Court Road, 197 minutes. East Route. Archway to Clapham South via Moorgate, 225 minutes (3 hours 45 minutes). There are two routes you could take for the Northern Line (in fact there’s more if you’re going to mix-and-match North of Euston). The East option covers areas of London not touched by any of the other Lines. It also crosses London Bridge, offering a great view of the Shard. The West option guides you through the heart of central London, passing Leicester Square and The National Gallery.

Piccadilly Line – 4 Hours 8 Minutes

Turnham Green to Manor House, 248 minutes. With a couple of minor detours you could hit the Natural History Museum and Buckingham Palace on this route. You’ll walk through Leicester Square, navigate around China Town and you’ll get to end at Finsbury Park. Lovely.

Victoria Line – 3 Hours 22 Minutes

Finsbury Park to Brixton, 202 minutes. This walk is the only one to that takes you through Green Park and includes a close-up view of Buckingham Palace. Then you’ll cross the Thames at Vauxhall Bridge and make your way to Brixton.

Waterloo & City Line – 33 minutes

Waterloo to Bank, 33 minutes. Yep, that’s it. 33 minutes. If you do this one as a Sport Relief challenge, you might struggle to find sponsors! Unless you did the walk in addition to one of the shorter walks, plus you’d have an excuse to go see Shakespeare’s Globe.

DLR – 5 Hours 40 Minutes

Bank to Lewisham via Stratford, 340 minutes. For this one we thought it would be nice to work in a loop, so you’ll want to walk East to Canning Town, then North to Stratford and back down South via Bow Church. You’ll get to walk by the Thames, pass through the Isle of Dogs and on to Cutty Sark. Plus the finish line is a stone’s throw away from Greenwich Park.

London Overground – 3 hours 56 minutes (sort of)

North Route. Willesden Junction to Stratford – 282 minutes/ 4 hours 42 minutes. West Route. Highbury and Islington to Brockley – 236 minutes/ 3 hours 56 minutes. South-West Route. Highbury and Islington to Clapham Junction – 343 minutes/ 5 hours 43 minutes. We’re going to be honest here. We’ve included these more for a sense of completeness than anything else. The problem with the Overground is there are so many different routes! We’ve decided to stick to single lines, rather than trying to hit multiple ones which results in a nice variety of walking lengths. Unfortunately these routes just aren’t as interesting as the other walks. The North route could be tweaked to include a pleasant walk through Primrose Hill, but you might be better off picking another part of the walking Tube Map!
We wish the best of luck to everyone getting involved for Sport Relief. Not getting involved but still want to give something? You can head to the official Sport Relief donation page. If you’re thinking of trying one of the walking Tube Map challenges, please let us know! Tweet to us @TubeMapLondon or find us on Facebook and tell us all about it! The original TfL Walking Tube Map can be found here. (PDF) Back to blog