London Overland

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London Overland 1:50,000 scale GPS map of London's transport networks | Edition of 5 | 70x70 cm giclée print on Museo Portfolio Rag

London Overland
London Overland Key

Congestion Charge Zone 12.8 mi 01:10:54
A journey around the perimeter of an electronically and politically charged virtual boarder that was easy to navigate. Well signposted. Travelled anticlockwise and just kept to turning left unless warned of entering the surveillance area.

Cycle Hire Zone 26.3 mi 04:07:58
The zone was circumnavigated by bicycle a week before it was expanded towards the east. It was planned in great detail as a point to point journey to join each docking station around the outer edges. At times it was tricky to cycle and navigate such an intricate route marked on a printed map in hand. One memorable near miss with a careless driver unrelated to reading a map whilst cycling.

Elephant & Castle Buses 459.9 mi 57:04:17
Seven days on the buses. The decision to catch every route from all the stops at Elephant and Castle to each extremity and back was a greater feat than anticipated. A regrettable undertaking on day one but manageable by day three because the long days on the buses made me look at things I wouldn’t ordinarily read. As I mostly sat at the top front of the double-deckers for optimum satellite reception I distracted my boredom by annotating the news from the view along with overheard conversations. I also read an explicit book about sex; sometimes I was embarrassing when a stranger sat next to me. The total distance travelled was equivalent to London to Dundee or Dijon to London.

Dockland Light Railway 43.4 mi 02:55:04
Beginning and ending at Bank station it was a delightful journey to capture the entire network with GPS and I always found a seat facing the front window where I could rest the receiver. Travelling through Canary Warf the tall buildings tend to play havoc with the precisely timed satellite signals as they reflect them towards unpredictable realms of inaccuracy. The route also went under the Rivers Thames four times during which the receiver struggled to find itself.

London Overground 156.3 mi 09:25:46
For two days I travelled the London Overland for free. The first day I confused the ticketing system with my erratic style of obsessive travel and on the second day the barriers at my start point were not functioning in the morning so I was allowed out at the same place without charge in the evening.

River Thames Boats 86.4 mi 09:49:29
I spent nine hours and took 380 eager photographs during my first attempt to capture the shape of the river with boats. For some reason or other the GPS tracks failed to record to the memory chip and I had to undergo the whole journey again. During the second attempt I used two GPS receivers to record my tracks just in case. It was a more comfortable journey as I was more familiar with the routine and timetable. I was almost the same journey but it was an entirely different experience.

River Thames Walk 82.8 mi 13:12:27
I captured the current permissible edges of the River Thames by travelling along its banks with GPS and crossing over each bridge along the way. From the Woolwich Free Ferry to Kew Bridge and back I travelled for over 13 hours on foot and by bicycle and made 42 river crossings.

London Overland photo

London Overland
There was an encounter at the British Library when I was studying a beautiful map on display that depicted London’s poverty during the 19th century.
The River Thames was particularly distinct as it was absent of the rich colour that was so densely deployed with intricacy everywhere else on the map.

My close reading was interrupted when a young girl was pushed in front of me by her mother. I stepped back to share the map when politeness overruled my annoyance at the disruption.
Then I overheard the mother asking the girl “Do you know what this is?”

The girl shrugged her shoulders and said nothing.

“It’s London” exclaimed the mother.

She then pointed at the River Thames and asked “Do you know what that is?”

The girl shrugged again in silence.

“It’s from EastEnders” exclaimed the mother before ushering her daughter towards the next display.

The river had no name.

London Overland photo