£25 per head – Minimum £300/12 people – Lunch extra

THAMES PATH WALKS
I can put together a tailor-made walk along any stretch of the Thames from Barnes/Chiswick in the West to Royal Docks/Thames Barrier in the East, but below are some ‘off the peg’ themed 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 TO CANARY WHARF (5m.) – 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 Peninsula – 11m. (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 and Greenwich to the Greenwich peninsula – another major regeneration area.  A coffee stop by the Tower and lunch in the old West India Dock and then along and under the Thames to Greenwich, where the views widen and get more dramatic, ending at North Greenwich (O2) where you can return by tube or Thames Clipper. (NB Need to be able to keep up a reasonable walking speed, but it’s NOT a route march! Wear comfortable shoes it is hard underfoot).
  • HAMMERSMITH TO KEW – Thames path with a cut away to pass Chiswick House (6m.) – 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 river to pass Chiswick House, a Palladian villa in classical grounds. Rejoin the river along the picturesque Strand-on-the-Green.Walk ends by Kew gardens. (coffee in Chiswick Park grounds, lunch riverside pub).
  • SOUTHWARK TO CANADA WATER – Bermondsey, Rotherhithe and Surrey Docks (6m.) – A walk along the south bank of the river starting at Southwark Cathedral, through Bermondsey riverside to Rotherhithe (lunch in historic pub) 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.
  • DEATH (AND LIFE) OF NELSON – THE FUNERAL ROUTE
    Follow the route of Nelson’s coffin from Greenwich to its final resting place under the great dome of St Paul’s Cathedral. Starting from Westminster, by tube via Canary Wharf to Greenwich. visiting the Painted Hall where his coffin lay. Boat back to Westminster to follow the funeral route on foot and bus, to his tomb in the crypt of St Paul’s Cathedral. (6m. walking + tube/bus/boat).

    ROMAN WALL WALK (incl. lunch + tour of Roman galleries of Museum of London)
    The 21c. ‘Square Mile’ London’s financial centre is still essentially contained within the bounds of the Roman Wall, of which some fragments remain. This walk traces the route of the wall. On the way one passes many layers of London’s history.  Lunch break at Museum of London to see Roman Galleries with afternoon walk along the riverside back to the starting point at Tower Hill (4+ miles).

    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).

    REGENTS 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 except Sundays).

    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.

    PARKS OF LONDON – LONDON’s GREAT 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).

    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).

    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 – 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 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
  • 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, – not Suns. and lunch in a gastro pub nr. Hyde Park).
    This can also be done as 2 half day walks
    1. Hampstead to Hyde Park.  2.  Bayswater to Chelsea
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