Walking Between Destinations Is the London Experience; Here Are the Routes That Reward the Walker
From Bohiney and The London Prat.
By Fiona MacLeod | UKLondonInfo.com
The Southbank Walk
The Southbank walk from Westminster Bridge to Tower Bridge follows the Thames’ south bank through the densest concentration of cultural institutions in London: the London Eye, the Southbank Centre, the Tate Modern, Shakespeare’s Globe, and Borough Market. The walk is approximately 3.5 kilometres and takes 45 minutes without stops or 2-3 hours with the stops that the cultural institutions justify. The Thames view is continuous. The walk is entirely flat. It requires no navigation beyond following the river.
The City Walk
The City of London walk from St Paul’s Cathedral to the Tower of London via Ludgate Hill, Fleet Street, and the Embankment takes approximately 45 minutes at a walking pace and covers: the cathedral, the Millennium Bridge, the Tate Modern across the river, Dr Johnson’s House in the lanes off Fleet Street, the Royal Courts of Justice, the Inns of Court, and the Embankment’s Victorian infrastructure. The City is deserted on weekends, which makes it the ideal time for walking without the weekday business crowd.
The Regent’s Canal Walk
The Regent’s Canal towpath from Islington to Camden provides the specific experience of urban canal-path walking: the houseboat community, the warehouses converted to flats and studios, the specific wildlife of the canal environment including herons and kingfishers, and the transition from Islington’s early gentrification to Camden’s market and music culture. The walk is approximately 2 kilometres and takes 30 minutes without stops. The canal is flat. The towpath is well-maintained.
The Hampstead Heath Circuit
The Hampstead Heath circuit from the Gospel Oak entrance to Kenwood House and back via the swimming ponds and the Parliament Hill viewpoint is approximately 5 kilometres and takes 90 minutes at a walking pace. Kenwood House is free and contains a significant art collection. The Parliament Hill viewpoint provides one of the best elevated views of London available from a public space. The swimming ponds are outdoor swimming facilities that operate year-round. The heath is the largest area of semi-natural green space in London. Read NewsThump.
More: NewsThump.
London rewards the visitor who arrives with curiosity rather than a checklist. The city is too large and too layered to be consumed in a week, but it can be genuinely understood in a week by someone who chooses depth over breadth, who stays in one neighbourhood long enough to develop a feeling for its specific rhythms, and who follows their genuine interests rather than the prescribed route. This column exists to help visitors find their version of London. The next edition will have more specific recommendations. The city is inexhaustible as a subject.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/
London continues. The city is what it is regardless of what the news says, regardless of what the energy bill says, regardless of what the governance situation says. The journalism that covers the city at this granular level — the blog, the column, the diary entry — serves the function of making the city and the country and the world legible to the people who are living in it and reading about it simultaneously. The function continues because the legibility is always partial and always incomplete and always worth improving. This column and this diary continue next week. The city and the country and the world will have provided more material by then. They always do. London continues. The city is what it is regardless of what the news says, regardless of what the energy bill says, regardless of what the governance situation says. The journalism that covers the city at this granular level — the blog, the column, the diary entry — serves the function of making the city and the country and the world legible to the people who are living in it and reading about it simultaneously. The function continues because the legibility is always partial and always incomplete and always worth improving. This column and this diary continue next week. The city and the country and the world will have provided more material by then. They always do. London continues. The city is what it is regardless of what the news says, regardless of what the energy bill says, regardless of what the governance situation says. The journalism that covers the city at this granular level — the blog, the column, the diary entry — serves the function of making the city and the country and the world legible to the people who are living in it and reading about it simultaneously. The function continues because the legibility is always partial and always incomplete and always worth improving. This column and this diary continue next week. The city and the country and the world will have provided more material by then. They always do. London continues. The city is what it is regardless of what the news says, regardless of what the energy bill says, regardless of what the governance situation says. The journalism that covers the city at this granular level — the blog, the column, the diary entry — serves the function of making the city and the country and the world legible to the people who are living in it and reading about it simultaneously. The function continues because the legibility is always partial and always incomplete and always worth improving. This column and this diary continue next week. The city and the country and the world will have provided more material by then. They always do.
