Now that my "miles from London" blogging project is complete, it's time to ponder, summarise and expand.
My aim was to visit points equidistant from the statue of Charles I in Trafalgar Square, the point from which all "distances from London" are measured. I started one mile out, then two, and eventually blogged my way out to ten miles distant [map].
My ten posts required 40 site visits in total, each written up in approximately two paragraphs and summarised with a single photo. Total output, twelve thousand words.
For those of you who asked for each compass direction to be presented separately, I'm happy to oblige. Here's the same content arranged into four linear sequences.
Initially visiting the sites was quite easy because they were all quite close together. But as I've moved outwards they've grown much further apart, making visiting the four of them quite a chore. My latest post may have concerned locations 10 miles from central London but, because of how geometry works, they were actually 14 miles apart. Sometimes I was fortunate, for example in that the Piccadilly line runs direct from Ealing to Enfield, but other transitions were a bit of a slog. Indeed it took me the entire weekend to visit all four spots for my final post, ticking off two per day, which is just one of the reasons why I won't be extending my quest any further.
But let's see where I would have ended up, as well as summarising where I've been...
MILES NORTH 0) Trafalgar Square, SW1 1) Russell Square, WC1 2) St Pancras Lock, N1 3) Hilldrop Lane, Holloway N7 4) Fairbridge Road, N19 5) Bedford Road, Crouch End N8 6) Alexandra Palace, N22 7) Bounds Green Road, N11 8) Brycedale Crescent, N14 9) Chase Road, Southgate, N14 10) Trent Park Equestrian Centre, N14 11) Hadley Road, EN4 12) Holly Hill Farm, EN2
My northward journey began in familiar circumstances, ticking off Russell Square and the canal at King's Cross. Beyond that it became a chain of residential stopovers, broken only by a fortuitous hit on Alexandra Palace. Ten Miles North proved to be the ideal place to stop because it is the precise spot where built-up London ends and the Green Belt begins. The northern swathe of Enfield remains undeveloped fields and valleys, all the way up to the M25 where Hertfordshire begins, indeed I'd have crossed more streams than roads had I continued.
MILES EAST 0) Trafalgar Square, SW1 1) Blackfriars Road. SE1 2) Pool of London [R Thames] 3) Park Vista Tower, Wapping, E1 4) Limehouse Reach [R Thames] 5) Aspen Way, E14 6) Thames Wharf DLR, E16 7) ExCel, eastern car park, E16 8) Royal Albert Dock, E16 9) Gallions Reach [R Thames] 10) Morrisons, Thamesmead, SE28 11) Fleming Way, Thamesmead, SE28 12) Erith Reach [R Thames] 13) Frog Island, Rainham, RM13 14) Rainham Marshes, RM13 15) Wennington, RM13
Heading east it's all about the Thames. Three of my mile-end stopovers were in the middle of the river, and if I'd continued to the edge of the capital there'd have been one more. It's probably not a coincidence, given that Charing Cross lies on a bend where the Thames turns east. My journey has covered a cross section of estuarine London, and would have continued to do so by crossing Erith and Rainham Marshes. Had I started out from King's Cross I could have hit Twenty Miles East and stayed within the Greater London boundary, but from Trafalgar Square the maximum is Fifteen.
MILES SOUTH 0) Trafalgar Square, SW1 1) John Islip Street, Millbank, SW1 2) Thorncroft Street, SW8 3) Cottage Grove, Clapham, SW9 4) Saxby Road Estate, SW2 5) Streatham High Road, SW16 6) Streatham Common, SW16 7) Northborough Road, SW16 8) Mitcham Road Cemetery, CR0 9) Beddington Industrial Area, CR0 10) The Chase, Beddington, SM6 11) Plough Lane, CR8 12) Grovelands Road, Purley, CR8 13) Coulsdon Road, CR5 14) New Hill, Tollers Lane, CR5
South is the compass direction which reached 'ordinary' residential London the quickest. Indeed there wasn't much to break the run of suburban streets, other than one corner of Streatham Common, a cemetery and an industrial park. From Eleven to Thirteen things would have stayed residential, if a bit more upmarket, then at Fourteen a narrow miss on the glories of Farthing Downs. By coincidence the line I'm following aims straight for the southernmost tip of London, so manages to cram in two or three more stopovers than you'd get starting elsewhere. But it can't quite hit Fifteen, alas, which lies tantalisingly the wrong side of a hedge off Ditches Lane near Chaldon - in Surrey.
Travelling west started by passing through seriously upmarket London, courtesy of Mayfair and Notting Hill, then the aspirational shoppers paradise of Westfield. Beyond that came a lot of comfortable residential suburbia, tracking close to the line of the Uxbridge Road and Crossrail West. Had I continued I'd have hit Southall proper, then a couple of canalside stops before a final visit to a West Drayton cul-de-sac. The River Colne marks the western edge of London, so Fifteen Miles is the limit.
Which means London stretches Fifteen Miles West and Fifteen Miles East from Trafalgar Square, very nearly Fifteen Miles South but only Twelve Miles North. These are not especially representative figures, but it is generally true that London spreads further east/west than north/south.
Here's a summary table, showing the borough at each of the mile points.
miles
NORTH
EAST
SOUTH
WEST
0
Westminster
Westminster
Westminster
Westminster
1
Camden
Southwark
Westminster
Westminster
2
Camden
THAMES
Lambeth
Westminster
3
Islington
Tower Hamlets
Lambeth
Ken & Chelsea
4
Islington
THAMES
Lambeth
Ham & Fulham
5
Haringey
Tower Hamlets
Lambeth
Ham & Fulham
6
Haringey
Newham
Lambeth
Ealing
7
Haringey
Newham
Croydon
Ealing
8
Enfield
Newham
Croydon
Ealing
9
Enfield
THAMES
Sutton
Ealing
10
Enfield
Greenwich
Sutton
Ealing
11
Enfield
Bexley
Sutton
Ealing
12
Enfield
THAMES
Croydon
Hillingdon
13
(Herts)
Havering
Croydon
Hillingdon
14
(Herts)
Havering
Croydon
Hillingdon
15
(Herts)
Havering
(Surrey)
Hillingdon
16
(Herts)
(Thurrock)
(Surrey)
(Bucks)
And what if I'd gone further? How far is it possible to travel in each compass direction on the UK mainland? Let's see.
I'll start with east, because that's the quickest. Twenty Miles East is in a field outside Grays, Twenty Five Miles East is at the entrance to London Gateway, the massive container port, and from there we enter the Thames Estuary. Thirty Miles East is fractionally off the coast of Canvey Island, where a jetty pokes out just far enough to be considered land, but after that it's open sea all the way to the Netherlands.
South takes a bit longer. The line we're interested shadows the M23 as far as Crawley, including a direct hit on M25 J7, then follows the Brighton mainline through Balcombe and Burgess Hill. Forty Two is atop the South Downs not far far from Ditchling Beacon, and the line hits the coast after Forty Seven Miles South in built-up Brighton, five minutes walk east of the pier.
But west goes on and on as far as south Wales. Twenty Miles West is bang in the middle of Slough, then the full length of rural Berkshire follows. That gets us to Just Over Sixty, then Eighty Miles West is at RAF Lyneham and One Hundred's on the outskirts of Bristol. One Hunded And Ten is in Avonmouth, barely any distance from the end of the A4, which for the Great West Road may not be a coincidence. By One Hundred And Thirty we've jumped the Bristol Channel and reached suburban Cardiff, and Wales's last hurrah is One Hundred And Fifty Five Miles West on the coast at Porthcawl.
North goes a bit further still. Twenty Miles North falls within Panshanger Park outside Hertford so is practically visitable. Fifty Miles North is near Papworth Everard in Cambridgeshire, then it's on across the Fens to Ninety in Spalding. One Hundred And Ten finds us at RAF Coningsby, One Hundred And Forty's near Grimsby, then a hop across the Humber estuary takes us past One Hundred And Fifty. The Holderness coast is crossed at One Hundred And Sixty Three, then Flamborough Head fortuitously intrudes for One Hundred And Eighty One and One Hundred And Eighty Two Miles North. But after that it's open sea all the way to the North Pole.
Here's a summary, taking a snapshot every ten miles.
miles
NORTH
EAST
SOUTH
WEST
0
Westminster
Westminster
Westminster
Westminster
10
Enfield
Greenwich
Sutton
Ealing
20
Herts
Thurrock
Surrey
Slough
30
Herts
W Sussex
Berks
40
Cambs
W Sussex
Oxon
50
Cambs
N
Berks
60
Cambs
O
E C
Berks
70
Cambs
R
N H
Wilts
80
Lincs
T
G A
Wilts
90
Lincs
H
L N
Wilts
100
Lincs
I N
S Glos
110
Lincs
S
S N
Bristol
120
Lincs
E
H E
130
Lincs
A
L
Cardiff
140
Lincs
Rhondda
150
E Yorks
Normandy
Bridgend
160
E Yorks
Zeeland
Normandy
So yes, you could journey to these random points and blog about them, and if you feel the urge don't let me stop you. But I will not be going myself, because Ten was quite enough of a challenge, thanks.
