The Anonymous Widower

Marylebone To N1

I went to Birmingham to do a few things including collecting all my brass-coloured IKEA knobs.

I used Chiltern Trains both ways as with all these winds about, they were unlikely to suffer electrical problems on a non-electrified railway.

I also bought my replacement phone in the Bull Ring by the station and sorted it out on the train home, using the free power and wi-fi. Not that I was able to connect with my replacement sim, as O2 had made a mistake entering it into their system.

To get home to N1 from Marylebone isn’t theeasiest journey, especially as it was the rush hour.

So I asked one of the experts on the gate and virtually gave the reply, that if you want to get there, you don’t start from here. He regularly went to Hackney Wick to see his sister, so he did have good personal knowledge.

In the end, I hopped one stop on the Bakerloo line and then took the Metropolitan to Whitechapel station before taking the Overground to Dalston Junction for a bus down the Balls Pond Road.

There must be a better way.

The Tfl Journey Planner recommends going to Highbury and Islington via Oxford Circus and then getting the Overground back to Dalston Junction.  That was my other route, but it does show how badly Hackney is connected to the Underground and the useless routes of the Bakerloo and the Bank branch of the Northern line.

Thinking about it, perhaps a better way would be to get the Bakerloo line to Regents Park station and then get a 30 bus to close to my house. But you wouldn’t use that route in the rush hour!

Even the proposed Crossrail 2 wouldn’t help as it doesn’t link to the Bakerloo line!

Crossrail might though, as it would be one stop to Paddington on the Bakerloo and then on to Moorgate for a 141 bus.

February 13, 2014 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | London Underground, Stations