Gospel Oak To Barking: Walking The Overground In Pictures

This post is part of my continuing series of walking the Overground & DLR now that I’ve successfully walked the entire Tube network. The walks are in continued support of Bowel Cancer UK.

Gospel Oak Station
The somewhat randomly located Gospel Oak station was the starting point for my walk

On March 8th, 2014 I completed the first of my Overground & DLR walks by walking from Gospel Oak to Barking. Unlike my previous Tube walks there is no rhyme or reason to the order in which I’ll walk them. I started with Gospel Oak simply because it’s within walking distance of my flat.

Overall, the walk was just over 17 miles (27.4 km) and took a little over five and a half hours. This gave me an average walking speed of just over 3 miles per hour. Not terribly fast, but better than what I averaged walking the Tube. It was a beautiful sunny day so I took a few photos along the way. Hope you enjoy:

006 - AUction Rooms Ghost sign
This ghost sign near Archway was the first of many along the route

009 - Letter box and Overground Map at Upper Holloway
Love old postboxes like this one built into the wall at Upper Holloway station

011 - Typhoo Tea on former shop
Looks to be a former corner shop turned into a home
(that or they really like Typhoo Tea)

013 - Mural
Nice monkey themed mural I happened to walk by near Crouch Hill

015 - Stround Green Medical Clincin in former pub
The first former pub I see along my route

018 - Parkland Walk Bridge
While it may look like a rail bridge, it actually caries The Parkland Walk.
London’s far less famous equivalent to The High Line

025 - New river between houses
The New River, which in true London fashion is 401 years old

029 - Muddy New River Path
Deserted section of the New River you can walk along near Harringay Green Lanes

033 - North London zoom from New River Path
Looking back up at North London from the New River

036 - Lots of mud on the New River Path
For some reason I didn’t pass a single other person while walking along the New River, may have had something to do with the mud

041 - Gindungo angolan restaurant
Perfect example of London’s constantly changing demographics: a former patisserie is now an Angolan restaurant

041 - Knife Bin
Must be entering Tottenham…

042 - Tesco in a former pub
Another former pub, this one in Tottenham

047 - River Lea at Tottenham Hale
River Lea at Tottenham Hale

053 - Ferry Boat Inn bus stop
Love when bus stops are named after pubs

057 - Tracks, tree and Reservoir
The closest I got to the Overground tracks. Hiding behind the tree is a reservoir

059 - Overground Train near Blackhorse Road station
Overground train

063 - The Standard Music venue
This place looks in worse shape then when I was last there in 2012

066 - Ghost sign
068 - Ghost sign
Two more Ghost signs, these ones in Walthamstow

067 - Smurfin Connect
I don’t know what that this is supposed to mean…

069 - Walthamstow Cemetery with fox
This was one of the those amazingly well timed shots. While you probably can’t see it at this resolution, I took the photo just as a fox ran in front of me at Walthamstow Cemetery (click on the image for a full resolution version)

076 - Community Place and Ladbrokes
A bit of a sad state of affairs in Leyton, a betting shop is located on the ground floor of a community place

078 - Shoe Laces Pub
One of the more random pub names I’ve seen

079 - Leyton Midland Road Station
Located under Leyton Midland Road station are several small businesses

080 - Odd door
A rather random door in the wall…

081 - Greenwich Meridian
Greenwhich prime meridian in Leyton

085 - The A12
The A12 with surprisingly few vehicles

088 - Costa's
Feel like I’ve seen this name somewhere before…

089 - Former Woodhouse Tavern
Former pub in Leytonestone

090 - Wanstead Flats
The Wandstead Flats were incredibly unexpected. Will definitely come back to have a longer look around at some point in the future.

095 - Rail arch at Wanstead Park
One of the many railway arches that support the Overground

098 - Arc Radical Church
Arc Radical Church

103 - Woodgrange Park station
While Woodgrange Park is the penultimate stop on the line, it was a very long walk between it and Barking due to the North Circular and River Roding

104 - Shef'z Pizza
Hope their pizza is better than their spelling

105 - East Tenders
A punny name for a business

108 - East Ham Town Centre arch
The Road to Barking goes through East Ham

109 - Digital Security in East Ham
Looks pretty analog to me, but I’m no expert

111 - Gasometer and football goal
Gasometer with the loneliest goal post in London

113 - Horses next to North Circular
114 - Horses
Field next to the North Circular with horses

119 - Barking Abbey
Barking Abbey is perhaps the only reason to come to Barking…

122 - Barking Town Hall
Although Barking Town Hall is a pretty beautiful building as well…

123 - Barking Station
Which quite frankly is more than can be said about the station

While walking the Overground doesn’t bring you through the most iconic or famous parts of London, it’s still very enjoyable. An added bonus is that for the most part, you don’t have to deal with crowds of people.

I also enjoyed it as I got rewalk three portions of previous walks (Victoria, Hammersmith & City and District lines), along with cutting across 3 other walks (Northern, Piccadilly and Central lines). Something both new and well known.

You can read all my Tube, Overground & DLR walking related posts on my Tube Challenge page.

If you have any questions or comments about this or any other walks I’ve done please leave them in the comment section below.

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