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Old December 21st 08, 10:30 PM posted to uk.transport.london
Mizter T Mizter T is offline
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First recorded activity at LondonBanter: May 2005
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Default district line closing time


On 21 Dec, 21:14, wrote:

In article ,

(Larry) wrote:
In article
,
*sweek wrote:


I'd even consider just walking from Stamford Bridge to Earl's Court
to avoid the District altogether.


How long does it take?


29 minute according to the TfL Journey Planner. It also says it takes
12-14 minutes via Fulham Broadway and the District Line. Only someone with
a very warped view would take the walking option for preference.


I do hope you're not suggesting people who choose walking over being
conveyed all have a very warped view?!

In this particular instance, I agree with you in that in the case of
the OP, Larry, it would probably be best for him to use the District
line and get off at Fulham Broadway - so if he was going via the
Piccadilly line then he should simply change at Earl's Court on to a
District line train heading for Wimbledon. Apart from anything else,
if there were to any problems on the District line that evening which
were causing delays, then on a match day there is a considerable
impetus to London Underground in getting thousands of fans to their
destination - in other words maintaining a good service on the
Wimbledon branch of the District line would become a priority. So I
wouldn't regard that as a problem at all (and by the by I've never
actually had any massive issues with the Wimbledon branch either).

However the idea that walking between Earl's Court and the Stamford
Bridge ground is some sort of mammoth feat needs to be dispelled -
walking it is not really that daft an idea, and is hardly impossible!
Here is a map showing the are in question (Earl's Court Underground
station being at the top):
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/oldmap.sr...&y=177750&ar=N

One thing you must bear in mind from the outset is that the TfL
planner defaults to assuming that people walk at a slug's pace. The
TfL planner estimates that it will take 22 at a fast pace, 29 at an
average pace (the number you quoted) and 42 mins to walk it at a slow
pace. This is wonky. Instead check out the timings that the 'walk it'
planner gives for the same walking route - 14 mins fast, 19 mins
medium, 29 mins slow. As you can see there's a significant disparity
between the times given by those two planners.

'walk it' - http://www.walkit.com/london

I'm not entirely sure how fast I walk, to be honest, though of course
it varies between quick step and a more sedate pace - I've only used
TfL's planner to plan a walking route a handful of times (if that) but
the 'fast pace' setting seemed to be broadly in the right ball park,
to borrow a phrase. Actually I'll endeavour to try and test out their
timing estimates - problem being that I normally just use an A-Z and
have some appreciation of the scale so don't bother with all this
online route planning malarkey.

Anyway - you say 12-14 mins for District line from Earl's Court to
Fulham Broadway then walk to Stamford Bridge though I've just got 11
mins! - perhaps it depends what time of day you input), so a 14 minute
fast paced walk or 19 minute medium paced one compares quite well with
that!

A few other thoughts... The walking route is actually takes in some
pretty busy roads so is perhaps not the best introduction to London
for a first time visitor - that said the houses down Finborough Road
and Ifield Road (and indeed Redcliffe Gardens should one go that way)
are still rather splendid despite this (it's not like there's a
massive highway en-route or something). Actually one can even take a
small diversion and walk through Brompton Cemetary when it's open,
which it won't be at this time in the evening! All in all though I
think my advice to Larry would be to follow the crowds and take
Underground to Fulham Broadway.