£25/30 per head – Meal extra
CITY CHURCHES ( weekdays only for interiors)
Over 38 churches in a stone’s throw of each other, the many designed by Christopher Wren, some by Nicholas Hawksmoor, a few surviving the Great Fire of London. Walk eminently flexible it can either concentrate on interiors visiting up to 5 churches, or can pass more churches by seeing exterior only. (Lunch in City pub)
LEGAL LONDON – THE INNS OF COURT and ROYAL COURTS OF JUSTICE (Weekdays only)
A walk through the quiet squares of the Inns of Court where the barristers reside where I will outline the history of our legal system. The 2 hr walk includes tour of the Temple church (if open + entry charge).. Full day walk can incorporate a visit to the Royal Courts of Justice, to sit in on a trial, after lunch in a typical city pub.
LONDON’S LOST RIVERS
A series of walks tracing the ‘lost rivers of London’. There are many surprising traces of these rivers, eg. borough boundaries, street names and the occasional sound of the river under an inconspicuous drain cover!
THE FLEET (10m Hampstead Heath – Blackfriars) – A walk that starts with a 1 ½ hr walk across Hampstead Heath (coffee stop) and then passes through many less explored areas of London, Dartmouth Park, Kentish Town and Camden (lunch stop – Italian rest.). We divert to see part of the transformation of Kings Cross including gas-holder park, and glorious gardens. The final stage passes through Clerkenwell and ends at Blackfriars where the river outlet is visible, tides and Thames Tideway work permitting.
THE ‘NEW’ RIVER (6m Finsbury Park – Clerkenwell) – Neither a river (it’s man made) nor ‘new’ (completed 1613) the so-called New River was a major 17c. project to bring fresh water 39 miles from Hertfordshire to the burgeoning centre of London. The walk traces the final 5 miles from Stoke Newington reservoirs via Canonbury, crossing the Regents canal – where lunch in canalside pub www.thenarrowboatpub.com – to the New River Head in Islington. It will end by walking through Exmouth market to Clerkenwell….more watery references.
THE TYBURN (8m Hampstead – Pimlico) – The Tyburn rises in Hampstead (like the Westbourne and Fleet) and the walk follows its route through Swiss Cottage and St John’s Wood, see it come briefly above ground in Regents Park. The walk continues through Marylebone (lunch in Cote Restaurant St Christopher’s Place) and Mayfair and across Green Park. Crossing in front of Buckingham Palace, the final stretch of the walk goes through Pimlico to the Thames nr. Chelsea Bridge.
THE WALBROOK – Shoreditch – Thames nr. Cannon St. (3 ½ hrs) It is the shortest but arguably the most important of London’s ‘Lost Rivers’, as it formed the heart of Roman ‘Londinium’. A walk of great contrast between the vibrant, youthful area of Shoreditch and the serious money-making pulse of the City. It passes Shakespeare’s original playhouse, foundations of which have been recently discovered and the location of 2 major archaeological digs, Liverpool St. Elizabeth Line and the Walbrook . These are shedding new light on London’s history. (Meal in Vinotecca – City. www.vinotecca.co.uk – not Suns.)
THE WESTBOURNE (9m Hampstead – Chelsea Embankment) – A full day walk across London following the course of the Westbourne one of London’s lost rivers. Rising on Hampstead Heath it flows down through Kilburn, Bayswater, Hyde Park, Knightsbridge and Chelsea. It is a truly varied walk where you can see the influence of the river on its adjacent areas. (Coffee stop in a converted church, thesherriffcentre.co.uk – not Suns. and lunch in a gastro pub nr. Hyde Park www.mitrelancastergate.com).
This can also be done as 2 half day walks
1. Hampstead to Hyde Park. 2. Bayswater to Chelsea
OLD WIMBLEDON’S HILL TOP VILLAGE.
(optional afternoon extension to Cannizaro Park, after traditional pub lunch).
This walk explores the original Wimbledon village on the hill overlooking 19c. Wimbledon in the valley. The route climbs to reach the original parish church, traces of a royal Tudor manor, and later rich merchants’ houses. The original high street still exists with interesting shops and pubs. We then skirt the common, to pass more grand houses to end on the original village green, home to 2 village pubs. (www.thehandinhandwimbledon.co.uk)
PARKS OF LONDON – LONDON’s GREEN HEART (Holland Park to Embankment – 5 1/2 m)
Almost exclusively off-road, through London’s green heart, through Holland Park, Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, cross under the Wellington Arch through Green Park, St James Park, to Embankment Gardens. (Bring a picnic).
REGENT’S CANAL WALK ENTIRE CANAL – PADDINGTON TO LIMEHOUSE (11m)
Built in 1820’s to link the Grand Union Canal to the booming docklands on the Thames, it now provides a varied 11mile canal-side walk. Almost all off-road except for a couple of miles through Islington, it offers a fascinating and different perspective on London. (lunch in canal-side pub www.thenarrowboatpub.com except Sundays).
RICHMOND TO WIMBLEDON PARK
An 8 mile ‘country’ walk through Richmond Park and across Wimbledon Common.
Starting in Richmond, with its Tudor Palace gatehouse, then along the river to climb Richmond Hill to the Park. In the Park we cross open grassland, pass ancient oaks and herds of red and fallow deer to reach Wimbledon Common, passing its famous windmill. Then about a mile past posh houses and the site of the much disputed All England Club development to end at Wimbledon Park station. (bring a picnic).
RICHMOND VILLAGE, RIVERSIDE AND PARK (8m.)
A varied walk which combines the elegant villages of Richmond and Petersham, with Richmond Park (via Isabella Plantation – a riot of colour at azalea time) past the 17c. stately home – Ham House, and back to Richmond along the river. (Bring a picnic).
ROMAN WALL WALK
The 21c. ‘Square Mile’ of the City of London’s financial centre is still essentially contained within the bounds of the Roman Wall’ Some fragments remain, one of which is now housed in a new ‘basement’ gallery with an interesting exhibition of finds which we will visit. This walk traces the route of the wall. On the way one passes many layers of London’s history and sees many traces of the wall in surprising places. The walks starts at Tower Hill and ends nr. St Paul’s Cathedral. (3 ½ – 4hrs)
STRATFORD + THE QUEEN ELIZABETH OLYMPIC PARK
The Olympic Park has now been transformed into a public park, and the areas surrounding it are being redeveloped progressively. I can offer a variety of walks in and around the park concentrating on different themes from landscape design to regeneration. All of the walks can be tied in with lunch. For details see under 21st Century London.
RURAL HACKNEY – From Finsbury Park to Hackney Wick (10m)
A walk which links the green spaces of North and East London. It includes a new bird wetland, a transformed ‘sink estate’, Georgian village, riverside walking, parks and gardens and an area home to both orthodox Jews and Muslims. We end by walking alongside the Olympic Park and end with a beer in the new cool quarter of Hackney Wick. (Bring a picnic lunch).
THAMES PATH WALKS
BOAT RACE ROUTE - CIRCULAR cut away along Beverley Brook (8m) – Hammersmith -> Fulham -> Putney ->Barnes -> Chiswick -> Hammersmith – A circular riverside walk – 90% off road. From Hammersmith down river to visit the Fulham Palace, once the summer residence of the Bishops of London (coffee stop). Walk crosses the river to Putney, goes up-stream, then cuts inland to follow the Beverley Brook across Barnes Common to Barnes village, lunch (6m). Return to Hammersmith down-river along Chiswick Mall (3m.).
CITY (Blackfriars Bridge) TO CANARY WHARF (6m) – A walk following the Thames Path along the north bank from Blackfriars Bridge to Canary Wharf, stopping for a pub lunch in one of Wapping’s riverside Inns. The path hugs the river almost all the way past Tower of London, through narrow cobbled streets of Victorian docklands, ending under the steel and glass monoliths of Canary Wharf. (Return by boat or tube).
THE ENGINE OF EMPIRE – City to Greenwich – (9m) (coffee and lunch stops) Tracing the history of London as a port from a Roman trading post to its role as a world trading centre today. It follows the Thames from the City via Wapping and Limehouse, Isle of Dogs to Greenwich. A coffee stop by the Tower and lunch in the old West India Dock and then past Millwall Dock to Island Gardens with its famous view of the Old Royal Naval College, then under the Thames to Greenwich, where the walk ends. Return by DLR, train, or Thames Clipper.
HAMMERSMITH TO KEW – Thames path with a cut away to pass Chiswick House (7m) – A stretch lined by grand Georgian houses with pretty riverside gardens. Pass William Morris’s Kelmscott press, Chiswick church with Hogarth’s grave. Cut away from the rive.r to pass Chiswick House, a Palladian villa in classical grounds. Rejoin the river along the picturesque Strand-on-the-Green Walk Crossing over Kew Bridge, explore Georgian Kew green, ends by Kew gardens. (coffee in Chiswick Park grounds, lunch in riverside pub www.bell-and-crown.co.uk).
KEW TO RICHMOND via Brentford and Isleworth (7m) Kew –> Brentford –> Syon House –> Richmond. A walk that starts in the elegant Kew village and green, crosses to the south side of the river to go through Brentford (transformed!), passing Syon House (possible lunch stop), then through the riverside village of Isleworth to cross back over the river to end in Richmond for lunch. (For the energetic walk back along the South bank of the river to Kew – 3m)
SOUTHWARK TO CANADA WATER – Bermondsey, Rotherhithe and Surrey Docks (8m) – A walk along the south bank of the river starting at Southwark Cathedral, through Bermondsey riverside to Rotherhithe (lunch in historic pub Rotherhithe www.mayflowerpub.co.uk or Angel Inn) then going along the old wharf-sides of the Surrey Docks, with dramatic views back to the City, and of Wapping, Limehouse and the glass monoliths of Canary Wharf. (Return by boat or tube)
THAMES VILLAGES AND PALACES – CIRCULAR – Kew –> Brentford –> Syon House –> Richmond -> Kew (10m) – A walk that starts in the elegant Kew village, passes Kew gardens and then weaves through once rural riverside villages, passing Syon House the London home of the Duke of Northumberland. Lunch in Richmond. (5m) Returning from Richmond with its fragments of a Tudor palace along the river past Kew Palace, back to Kew.
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