On Sunday I finally visited Cocksure Lane in North Cray.
I'd been intrigued by it on a map for years and now finally I was here.
A country lane off a country lane in a seriously peripheral part of London.
On Saturday I snapped this shot while walking down Grand Avenue in Tokyngton.
Sometimes the best views are in the most unlikely places.
And yesterday I had 25 minutes to wait for an Overground train.
So rather than wait on the platform I went for an explore.
And that's how I found myself in Keats Close in Ponders End.
Rather fewer delights there, but another street in the capital ticked off.
I have, over the last 25 years, been to a heck of a lot of London.
And I wondered, how many people have been to more of London than me?
To be clear that's the whole of Greater London, not just zones 1 and 2 in the middle. A lot of people have done Kensington, Islington and Southwark but rather fewer have put in the legwork in Ruislip, Hainault and Purley. London isn't merely a Square Mile, it has an area of 607 square miles and a lot of people have never seen the half of it.
I'm sure loads of people have been to more pubs than me. When it comes to football stadiums, shops and restaurants I bet I'm soundly beaten. But when it comes to average residential streets, footpaths and all - the very meat of suburbia - I'm sure I've trodden more pavements than most.
I've been to Harrows Meade in Edgware, Rogers Road in Dagenham, Doris Avenue in Barnehurst, Gibbons Road in Neasden and Worlds End Lane in Chelsfield. I've walked the Blackberry Path in Cricklewood, Pig Farm Alley in Sutton and Hutchinsons Bank in New Addington. I have yet to tackle Cow Path in Elmstead or Emperor's Gate in South Kensington but, like Cocksure Lane, they could always be on a future list.
When I say 'been to' I'm happy to include all forms of transport, even trains if they're above ground and you've bothered to look out of the window. Most car owners will only have seen the main roads unless they drive for a living. Yes buses are better at nipping down the lesser streets, and yes cycling can down lead you down some proper backways. But if you haven't explored widely on foot you won't have sunk your teeth into a neighbourhood properly, and I have done a heck of a lot of exploring on foot.
It helps that I've been to every station in London and ridden every bus route too. I haven't ridden the full extent of every bus route because that would be purgatory but enough to know what the backstreets of Greenford look like, also Orpington and Hounslow. I've also been to every single 1km grid square in London - it was my post-lockdownproject - and I do genuinely think nobody else has ever done that.
You may assume I've been everywhere but don't overestimate my reputation purely from what I've written. There are still tens of thousands of streets I've never walked down, thousands of footpaths I've never followed and dozens of parks I've not yet stumbled into. There are apocryphal tales of people walking every street in London but I don't believe anybody ever has, except within some much smaller confined locality.
As an example, here's a map of where I've been in Poverest. If you're already thinking "where's Poverest?" then QED, I have been to more of it than you.
I've explored Robin Hood Green, climbed Englefield Rise and ridden the bus round Avalon Road. I've looked in on Beril Cafe, Poverest allotments and Fordcroft Romano-British Bathhouse. As you can see there are a lot of streets I've never been to, indeed a majority, so if you live round here you'll have beaten my total. But I bet I beat 99% of Londoners with my Poverest tally, and there are hundreds of other London neighbourhoods to take into account too.
I am arguably wasting my life by exploring London like this. I could have been having a nice day out yesterday rather than accidently stumbling upon Keats Close, or even stayed in and watched Netflix rather than giving in to pointless wanderlust.
So I wondered, have any of you have been to more of London than I have?
Also how many people overall have been to more of London than me?
Also who in the long history of our capital city has seen the most of Greater London?
And could that person possibly be me?
Update: No, it's not me, A runner called James Salmon is systematically visiting every street in London and recording his route via an app called CityStrides. He started in April 2021 and in the last five years has run along 29,023 of the 39,451 streets listed in London. He spent Sunday running 12 miles round Wanstead. You can view his map here and it is astonishing! However because he's working sequentially he's barely touched Newham, Barking & Dagenham, Havering, Bexley or Bromley yet, indeed he's done none of Poverest whatsoever. Arguably I have the better spread, for now, but by 2028 James's achievement should be maximal and unbeatable.
