It has been drawn to my attention that it’s possible to walk from London’s Bank tube station to Waterloo station without crossing any roads. How?
A couple of definitions seem necessary. By “walk” it is meant that the journey must be solely on foot and no other means of conveyance are allowed. “Crossing” a road in this case refers to directly stepping onto a road to get to the other side of it.
So how can it be done? The answer will be posted in a while after you’ve had some time to ponder.
Only publicly-available routes allowed. The use of sewers, service tunnels etc. is not permitted and nor is walking along railway tracks. You can pass through ticket barriers as long as you don’t actually board any trains.
Incidentally, the bus station adjacent to Waterloo station has one of the best breakfast cafés in London and it’s fairly cheap too.
Theres only one road in the City of London (Goswell Road) – the rest are all streets, lanes etc.
Fun fact. The old Gordons gin factory on the Goswell Road is now a data centre.
Is the fact that Bank and Monument tube stations are connected by a tunnelled walkway part of the solution?
It has to be. You can go over London Bridge from there, and onto the Queen’s Walk. Not sure about the last bit towards Waterloo though.
Maybe you need to go further down to Waterloo Bridge?
Or cross the Millenium Brige, along the South bank and come up the other side of Waterloo Bridge
Bank to Monument station. Cross Millennium Bridge. Walk up Southbank and get to Waterloo East. Go in there and use the walkway to Waterloo, Not sure that works but its possibly right.
No, no – I think you’ll find that you’re in nip…
Does walk mean “swim”?
I’m guessing that it involves buying a platform ticket to cross the Thames via Blackfriars station.
Mornington Crescent?
*wipes tea from keyboard*
Nice work.
Tunnels, staircases and bridges are fine as long as no roads or streets are stepped onto. No funny business with semantics required.
Some parts of the route have been mentioned above by Salwarpe, Rigid Digit and Leedsboy.
Once you get to Waterloo it’s possible to get even further actually, via another point that’s been mentioned above.
Does it involve a harness, a zip wire and a Union Jack flag?
Try that if you like, but it won’t go down as well a second time.
How do you get to Wales in a Mini?
Take the elephants out first.
Don’t tell us; you’re here all weekend.
No but I hope to see you the weekend after,
Then prosecute the cooked calf and upturn the serving staff.
https://londonist.com/london/secret/how-to-walk-from-bank-to-southwark-tube-without-crossing-any-roads?fbclid=IwY2xjawFaKQJleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHRGGcBF3DimGi21FOOyBfvYiOjYWPkd5S57j684JiJSjRaLd3HkWjhPXQw_aem_oUQsZ9s7Hlp_pq_KCGIp5g
Thanks Mike. That was great fun. Even if I don’t remember half of those places in London that I used to know rather well..
As Tony Christie once asked Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood on a building site:
Is this the way to hammer, ELO?
Also, Tony Christie was familiar with the avenues and alleyways…
Have always wanted to walk from near Westminster Abbey to Notting Hill Gate going through parks only, St James’, Green and Hyde. About 3 miles, crossing only 2 roads I think. One day
One of the joys of walking in London is the block past the Treasury building from Parliament Square to Bird Cage Walk.
It’s only about 300 yards, but at one end is the total chaos of Big Ben, and the other is the peace and tranquility of St James’s Park. I feel my shoulders drop when I see the trees.
More or less my commute to the office, on the rare occassion I go in.
Something mentioned in reader comments to the original article.
London’s canal towpaths are great for walking about the city and it’s outer reaches.
But beware of entitled cyclists/e-cyclists/e-scooterists who seem to think everyone else must get out of their way because they ain’t gonna stop for anything.
At some point, sobrenombre will invent an amphibious version of all of those, and you can just guide them into/ onto the canal.