THE WALKS PROGRAMME
Welcome to my walks!  The new format – capping the group size to 8 and, to allow for more people to do the walks, running each walk both on a Sunday and on a weekday – was voted a success and is now the regular format.

Pre-booking essential as groups limited to 8 maximum – contact Diana to book or join the email list for regular updates.
  • Walks last approx. 2hrs – 2 ½hrs.
  • Small groups – Maximum size 8 (Walks cancelled if fewer than 5).
  • Price £20, of which £1 goes to a nominated charity* (Cash on arrival preferred or BACS transfer can be arranged).
  • Walks go-ahead in all weather.
  • Pre-booking essential. Free cancellation up to 48 hrs before.
  • All walks led by Diana Kelsey.
  • See the Autumn Programme (September – October 2024) 
  • 2024 Donations of £1 per person to SolarAid, who provide solar power to some of the remotest regions of the world. Charity No. 1115960.


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D.I.Y. WALKS (fancy the walk, but cannot make the date)

  • Choose the walk from  this programme or any walk on my website (90+Walks I Do).
  • Check first for dates I am available in the next couple of months (I can hold a couple of dates).
  • Guarantee a group of 4 @ £20 per head (or £80).
  • I will then promote it to top up numbers to maximum of 8.
  • The walk will go ahead, even if it is just your group of 4 (and whatever the weather!).
  • £1.00 per head donation  to SolarAid (or a charity of your choice, which must be Charity Commission registered  and for humans!).

Do not hesitate to contact me to discuss – DiaKelsey3@aol.com or 07973 316 102

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PRIVATE GROUPS

Flexibility of route/refreshment stops/timing and no added strangers!

I would be delighted to do private groups – with my following provisos:

  • £200 minimum charge for up to 10 participants, £20 per additional person.  (Full days minimum £300 for up to 10 and £30 per additional person.
  • Payment – bank transfer 48 hrs before the event, or cash/cheque on day possible by prior arrangement.
  • Suggested maximum 15 (including group leader).

Do not hesitate to contact me to discuss – DiaKelsey3@aol.com or 07973 316 102

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Sunday 8 September

SAMUEL PEPYS – PLAGUE, FIRE AND REVOLUTION

Pepys’s diary, which chronicles nine of the most turbulent years of London’s history, gives a unique insight into both public and everyday life of mid-17th century London.  This walk will trace Pepys’s colourful life and his observations on high and low life in London, during the Plague, Great Fire and the regeneration of the City after those cataclysmic events.  Now having experienced a modern plague ourselves, there are many eerie similarities (…do we ever learn from history?). The walk will weave through the narrow alleyways, along routes that Pepys would have known. (some roads cobbled – wear comfortable shoes!).

STARTS 2.00pm – Blackfriars Tube (NB N. side of river)

Ends near Tower Hill Tube

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Tuesday 10 September

SAMUEL PEPYS – PLAGUE, FIRE AND REVOLUTION

Pepys’s diary, which chronicles nine of the most turbulent years of London’s history, gives a unique insight into both public and everyday life of mid-17th century London.  This walk will trace Pepys’s colourful life and his observations on high and low life in London, during the Plague, Great Fire and the regeneration of the City after those cataclysmic events.  Now having experienced a modern plague ourselves, there are many eerie similarities (…do we ever learn from history?). The walk will weave through the narrow alleyways, along routes that Pepys would have known. (some roads cobbled – wear comfortable shoes!).

STARTS 2.00pm – Blackfriars Tube (NB N. side of river)

Ends near Tower Hill Tube

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Wednesday 18 September

FITZROVIA – THE FAMOUS AND INFAMOUS + Visit the Fitzrovia Chapel

Between Oxford Street and the Euston Road lies an area dubbed ‘Noho’. (= North Soho) by the property developers, but more commonly known as Fitzrovia. At the heart of the Fitzroy Place redevelopment is a hidden gem….the restored former Middlesex Hospital chapel (which we will visit). Even more scandalous than its southern neighbour Soho it has a strange and varied history.  For the artist and writers it has been a creative hub centred mostly on its pubs, for revolutionaries and reactionaries it has been a meeting and a drinking place. Spivs and spies, princes and prostitutes have peopled its streets.  It is a walk with some interesting buildings both elegant and shabby but above all good stories of both the famous and the infamous. – e.g. of Dylan Thomas, Quentin Crisp, Eric Gill, of the seeds of the Russian Revolution, and of the heir to the throne and a rent boy!.
***NB. Last repeat until earliest mid 2025. But still available for DIY/Private bookings***

STARTS 1.30pm -  Warren Street Tube (Warren St. Exit)

Ends approx 4.00pm

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Sunday 22 September

EXPLORE ‘CHELSEA VILLAGE’

This walk has proved popular in the past as it focuses on what the locals would call ‘Chelsea Village’. This includes the small streets both sides of the Kings Road with St. Luke’s church where Dickens was married, and the old riverside village itself.  We will see Chelsea Old Church where Henry VIII married Jane Seymour, a medieval great hall transplanted from the City of London, Sir Hans Sloane’s tomb, Thomas Carlyle’s House now owned by the National Trust and Cheyne Row, home to many famous names from George Elliot to the Rolling Stones! The first half of the walk will concentrate on the Kings Road of the ‘Swinging 60s’ more ‘hidden streets’ of Chelsea including London’s only example of Rennie Macintosh architecture,  the second half on the ‘Tudor village’ and Cheyne Row finishing back on the Kings Road.

STARTS 2.00pm – Meet outside Chelsea Old Town Hall.  Frequent buses from Sloane Square down the Kings Road

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Sunday 29 September

BETHNAL GREEN  + the ‘new’ Young V&A  ***New***

After a 3 year and £13m total revamp of both the building and the content, the Museum of Childhood,  (now reborn as the ‘Young V&A’) reopened last summer, and  has just won the 2024 Art Fund Museum of the Year award.  However Bethnal Green is a fascinating and surprising place, so I have designed a walk that explores the area ending with a visit to the Museum, leaving you time to explore/have a cup of tea.  Bethnal Green is the area most associated with the title ‘East End’. There still is a green surrounded by Georgian houses.  Maps of 1703 show elegant housing surrounded by market gardens and open fields.  But the transformation from rural retreat to overcrowded and notorious19c slum began with the influx of Huguenot weavers, and accelerated with the industrialisation of East London and the coming of the railways.  The ‘plucky’ resistance of the East Enders to the horrors of the Blitz has defined the East End character even today.  By exploring both the centre and the back streets I hope to trace the story of this area from riches to rags and now gradually back to riches again. 

STARTS 1.30pm – Bethnal Green Tube (Roman Rd/Bethnal Green Memorial exit)

Ends Young V&A  3.45pm – 3mins walk from Bethnal Green Tube

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Sunday 6 October

SEE THE THAMES BARRIER IN ACTION – preceded by a 2 ½ miles/1 ½ hour walk through Royal Docks   ***One off***

Celebrate the 40th anniversary of one of the most impressive engineering feats of the 20th century – the Thames Barrier -  one of the largest movable flood barriers in the world. Every year the Barrier is tested by closing it fully. They will start closing the barrier at around 9.30 am., 4hrs before the peak of the incoming tide surge reaches the barrier at around 2.pm.  The Barrier then remains closed until they start opening it again, which starts once the level of the river against the barrier matches the tidal water being held back, – expected around 15.30. The most interesting part is seeing the Barrier fully closed with the resulting unusual river level, and then again when they start to re open the Barrier – ‘the underspill’,   We will walk around Queen Victoria Dock following  the first half of the route of my Royal Docks walk (see Tues Oct 22), but with a few  brief stops. We will then cut across Britannia Village – an 80s development, through Lyle Park, ending along a new riverside path with excellent views of the Barrier.  The walk will end in Barrier Park.
NB Please be prepared for some waiting around by the river…as the precise timing of the ‘underspill’ will depend on how full the river is (i.e. how much rain) and the strength of the tide (i.e. wind strength and direction). **Cost £25.00.  As this is a one-off I will take up to 15 people**

STARTS 1.30pm – Customs House station.  Meet by/in Starbucks on the entrance to the bridge to Excel Exhibition Centre

Ends  Pontoon Dock DLR – (2 stops to Canning Town – Jubilee Line)

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Wednesday 9 October

EXPLORE ‘CHELSEA VILLAGE’  ***Cancelled. Sorry!***

This walk has proved popular in the past as it focuses on what the locals would call ‘Chelsea Village’. This includes the small streets both sides of the Kings Road with St. Luke’s church where Dickens was married, and the old riverside village itself.  We will see Chelsea Old Church where Henry VIII married Jane Seymour, a medieval great hall transplanted from the City of London, Sir Hans Sloane’s tomb, Thomas Carlyle’s House now owned by the National Trust and Cheyne Row, home to many famous names from George Elliot to the Rolling Stones! The first half of the walk will concentrate on the Kings Road of the ‘Swinging 60s’ more ‘hidden streets’ of Chelsea including London’s only example of Rennie Macintosh architecture,  the second half on the ‘Tudor village’ and Cheyne Row finishing back on the Kings Road.

STARTS 2.00pm – Meet outside Chelsea Old Town Hall.  Frequent buses from Sloane Square down the Kings Road

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Thursday 17 October

BETHNAL GREEN + the ‘new’ Young V&A  ***New***

After a 3 year and £13m total revamp of both the building and the content, the Museum of Childhood,  (now reborn as the ‘Young V&A’) reopened last summer, and  has just won the 2024 Art Fund Museum of the Year award.  However Bethnal Green is a fascinating and surprising place, so I have designed a walk that explores the area ending with a visit to the Museum, leaving you time to explore/have a cup of tea.  Bethnal Green is the area most associated with the title ‘East End’. There still is a green surrounded by Georgian houses.  Maps of 1703 show elegant housing surrounded by market gardens and open fields.  But the transformation from rural retreat to overcrowded and notorious19c slum began with the influx of Huguenot weavers, and accelerated with the industrialisation of East London and the coming of the railways.  The ‘plucky’ resistance of the East Enders to the horrors of the Blitz has defined the East End character even today.  By exploring both the centre and the back streets I hope to trace the story of this area from riches to rags and now gradually back to riches again.

STARTS 1.30pm – Bethnal Green Tube (Roman Rd/Bethnal Green Memorial exit)

Ends  Young V&A  3.45pm – 3mins walk from Bethnal Green Tube

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Friday 18 October

LONDON CITY ISLAND + TRINITY BUOY WHARF 
4 places available to join a group of 4 who have booked this as a bespoke walk (cf under my DIY scheme – see above) Cost £20 per head

A visit to an unusual cultural centre based at the mouth of the River Lea in Docklands and home to an interesting mix of outdoor sculpture, art installations and historical maritime exhibits. The original buildings, owned by Trinity House to maintain their navigational equipment still exist as does Faraday’s experimental lighthouse.  With the demise of the docks the site became derelict until in 1998 it was redeveloped – partly using shipping containers – to offer homes and workspace to a creative community and small businesses.  On our way to Trinity Buoy Wharf we will walk through London City Island, a new development on the peninsula at the mouth of the river Lea. At its heart is the new home of English National Ballet where we will have a brief tea/loo stop in the cafe.  Continuing to Trinity Buoy Wharf we will pass the traces of the Victorian docklands, catch a view back over East India Dock and over the river to the Greenwich Peninsula..  At Trinity Buoy Wharf I will take you on a brief tour of the historic buildings, artworks and historic ships (a Trinity House lightship, a Thames tug and the only surviving coastal steam ship).  The walk ends at the Wharf, where you can stop for a light lunch/drink at the cafe and/or explore the sculptures and other exhibits in your own time (www.trinitybuoywharf.com).

STARTS 10.30am – Canning Town Tube – meet just outside ticket barriers in front of coffee stall

Ends  at Trinity Buoy Wharf approx 1.00pm NB it is easy to find the way back to Canning Town!

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Tuesday 22 October

LONDON’S NEW ‘FAR EAST’ + THE ROYAL DOCKS AND SILVERTOWN   ***New***

The re-development of this massive area has been a very stop/start affair from the failed 2012 Olympic ‘Pleasure Park’,and Boris Johnson’s 2013 much trumpeted £1.7bn Asian Business Park now a ghost town, to the successful recent redevelopment of the erstwhile Silvertown industrial site.  The pace has now picked up with the opening of the Elizabeth Line, and the planned Silvertown Tunnel .
When the Royal Victoria Dock opened in 1855 it was the largest area of impounded water in the world.  Only by walking by the dock with its wide skies, towering cranes, and dramatic views back to the skyline of London, can you really appreciate the sheer scale of London’s port at the height of Empire.  The walk starts at Customs House station,(Elizabeth Line, or DLR from  Canning Town) The first part of the walk is round the western end of Royal Victoria Dock, passing the GLA’s new City Hall, and the still derelict hulk of Spillers Millenium Mills – beloved of film makers. The second part of the walk is through Silvertown, until recently a derelict and forgotten post industrial area.  It is still very much work in progress – with exciting plans for new development around Millenium Mills.  We will pass a solitary terrace of pre-war housing isolated in an 80s estate, then walk through new Royal Wharf  Riverside development, which is complete and proving popular. The walk will end in Thames Barrier Park, built in the old Pontoon Dock (hence the DLR station) with its clever landscaping reflecting its dockland’s heritage, and dramatic views of the Thames Barrier.
(NB. Walk is 2 ½ -3hrs. It is exposed so can be windy and cold…dress appropriately)

STARTS 1.30pm – Customs House station.  Meet by/in Starbucks on the entrance to the bridge to Excel Exhibition Centre

Ends  Pontoon Dock DLR – (2 stops to Canning Town – Jubilee Line)

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Friday 25 October

WALK THE ENTIRE REGENT’S CANAL – From Paddington to Limehouse

This 10 mile walk along the whole length of the Regent’s Canal gives you a really different perspective on London.  Built in 1820s to link the Grand Union Canal to the London Docks on the Thames, it now provides a truly varied canal-side walk, from the picturesque and elegant Little Venice, Regents Park, Camden lock, new canal-side developments, to 60s East End housing estates and Victoria Park – the East End’s rival to Hyde Park. The canal disappears underground at Islington, the only part of the walk along streets and ends by the Thames at the Limehouse Basin, with dramatic views downriver to Canary Wharf and upriver to the City.  Those who want can end with a reviving drink or even a early meal at riverside Pub.  We will stop for coffee at Camden Lock and for lunch at a canal-side pub -  www.thenarrowboatpub.com .  (Cost £30).  Priority given to those doing the full walk, but I will run a waiting list for those only wanting to do morning + pub lunch (Cost £25)

STARTS 9.45am – Paddington Mainline Station (meet under the old clock on platform 1)

Ends approx 5.30pm near Limehouse DLR

NB This may be the last time this ever appears on my programme as many of my walkers are aging…like me!   In the future I may only offer this as 2 separate walks on my programme, but still keep the full route on my list for Private/DIY bookings.

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Sunday 27 October

SAMUEL PEPYS – PLAGUE, FIRE AND REVOLUTION  ***Repeat by Popular Demand ***

Pepys’s diary, which chronicles nine of the most turbulent years of London’s history, gives a unique insight into both public and everyday life of mid-17th century London.  This walk will trace Pepys’s colourful life and his observations on high and low life in London, during the Plague, Great Fire and the regeneration of the City after those cataclysmic events.  Now having experienced a modern plague ourselves, there are many eerie similarities (…do we ever learn from history?). The walk will weave through the narrow alleyways, along routes that Pepys would have known. (some roads cobbled – wear comfortable shoes!).

STARTS 2.00pm – Blackfriars Tube (NB N. side of river)

Ends near Tower Hill Tube

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