A London teacher has set himself the target of walking each of the 11 tube lines in 2019.
Chris Kendrick, 34, a music and drama teacher, moved to Finchley in north London six months ago armed with the task of ticking off 270 London Underground stations before the year is out.
In the first week of January, Chris set the task of walking the Bakerloo Line stretching 22.2 miles from Harrow and Wealdstone in suburban North London to Elephant and Castle in the heart of Lambeth.
After four cups of coffee, 48,089 steps and 25 stations Chris completed the brown line in just two days with only a map to guide him.
But why did Chris decide to put his foot down and tackle the entire tube network without an oyster card?
Is he a trainspotting fanatic or rail enthusiast? Not quite.
Chris said: “Every year I try to do something different.
“One year it was to solve a Rubik’s cube, the next it was cocktail making.
“I met a trainspotter on my walk and he told me I was crackers before he carried on marking his numbers down.”
After Chris was given a copy of Walk the Lines by Mark Mason, he made it his aim to forget the book and take on the lines himself.
TRACKING HIS PROGRESS: Chris has set up social media accounts to follow his journey.
“My motivation for doing it is that I don’t like to fail at anything – that’s the top and bottom of it.
“I like to have a goal and see it through.
“When I am out walking, I have spoken to people who have lived here their whole lives and haven’t visited half of the places I have – and I have only been here six months.”
Aside from just ticking off each station, Chris documents his journey through photography.
“A big part of it is taking photos of architecture and walking through London this way takes you off the tourist trail.”
In an effort to boost walking between stations Transport for London have issued a walk the tube map with the time it takes to walk to each station.
TFL calculates that it takes nearly five hours to walk the central line from North Acton to Stratford while the Bakerloo is a 195-minute stroll through the city.
With the calendar filled for year, Chris’ plan for 2020 is to visit the top 100 pubs in the capital, because after 500 miles of tubes he will need a tipple.
