Blackwall to Wembley Park - one of mine last week - previously TfL all the way, now has a NR count component, changing at Custom House and Farringdon.
Is that better than walking from Poplar to Canary Norf?
Yes, the closer walk that way would be from DLR West India Quay to EL Canary Wharf, but that's a further change at DLR Poplar as well. Walking from Poplar is convoluted stairs and gritty roadside alongside the Limehouse Link, and a lengthy descent at EL Canary Wharf. It just seems overall easier this way. Roll on the completion of the direct link through the current major building site.
Unless I was encumbered I'd much rather ride 1min on any westbound DLR to Poplar and then suffer the more convoluted interchange (edit: possibly going cross-platform at Poplar for a second DLR to West India Quay if one happens to be due in the next 1-2 minutes), than head 7min in the wrong direction (potentially having to wait extra for the correct eastbound branch) just to ride 4min back again. Also more alternative routes from Poplar/Canary Wharf if disruption occurs after I've set off.
If you insist on starting off eastbound from Blackwall, then surely it's easier and faster, but less comfortable of course, to get off the DLR at Canning Town and down the short escalator to the Jubilee Line, then 27min across town to Finchley Road where the Metropolitan Line is cross-platform, rather than staying 4min extra on the DLR (potentially waiting 4-5min extra for a Beckton train), waiting on average a few minutes longer for the lower-frequency Elizabeth Line at Custom House, 13min to Farringdon, a long ascent, and 15min to Finchley Road, possibly with a change at Baker Street as a few Metropolitan Line trains start short there
