You dive into the tube, down grubby escalators and stairs into stale air and thick crowds. You cram yourself into a hot train, sardined far too close to other people. The sharp elbows and the smelly armpits, the drunks bellowing, the noise and the heat and the getting lost, this is no way to experience London. So stay up in the fresh air, get your walking head on, and discover the wonders of the capital on foot.
Urban walking is excellent for health and wellness as well as a great way to get to grips with the sights, scents, sounds, variety and atmosphere of this exciting city. You don’t need to rush around, although it’s just as much fun done briskly. Take it easy if you like, have a wander, and get a proper flavour of the place on and off the beaten track.
The best thing is, you’ll quickly realise how close together the main attractions are. It might feel like a long tube journey when you take into account the time spent going up and down steps and waiting for trains, but Victoria tube station is only a few minutes’ walk from the Thames. It’s on the doorstep of Buckingham Palace, from where you can quickly walk to Trafalgar Square with its famous galleries, the West End, and Covent Garden.
Here are our tips for enjoying London on foot.
Our first tip: Try the tube
If you haven’t been on it before, do one tube journey for fun. It’s an experience in itself. The Circle Line is a good choice simply because you go in a circle, through less crowded stations as well as the busy ones in the centre, and get off where you started. The Docklands railway is fantastic, taking you above ground through an exciting modern urban landscape, very photogenic. London Museum Docklands is a brilliant destination and there are some excellent places to eat and drink in the Docklands area too. The Thames alone is a fantastic sight.
Our second tip: Plan a route
Once you know exactly where you’re going, you can relax and enjoy it. There’s a boatload of creative ways to plan a walking route in London. Here are some ideas to get you started.
The banks of the Thames – Follow the river going either way on either side, or bridge-hop from bank-to-bank whenever you come across a pedestrian bridge. You’ll traverse some of the busiest tree-lined riverside streets where tourists gather to board river cruises and party boats, noisy and vibrant. You’ll veer into areas visitors don’t go, the places ordinary people live despite the eye-watering property prices you’ll see in estate agency windows.
Sometimes it takes you directly parallel to the river, through dark streets lined with ancient warehouses and wharfs. In some places you can walk down a slipway to the river when the tide’s down. Other times a Thames-side walk wanders off into parks, gardens, squares, high streets and housing estates before curving back to the river bank. Classic London pubs litter every route and the Saatchi Gallery is on Kings Road, stuffed with strange, weird and wonderful modern artworks perfect for letting your imagination fly.
The City itself, the famous Square Mile, has thrills built into the architecture, an awesome sight thanks to a rash of new buildings famous for their epic design – the walkie-talkie, the gherkin, the Shard, it is world-class stuff and makes amazing photos. In between the skyscrapers are little jewels of pubs, some very ancient.
The City of London’s street names are enticing in themselves, places like Aldersgate Street, a name dating back at least 1000 years associated with a man named Ealdrād’. High risk insurance brokerage Lloyd’s of London is based here, the insurers of Marilyn Monroe’s legs and Tom Jones’ chest hair, along with the ‘Old Lady of Threadneedle Street’, the actual Bank of England.
Walking between two or more destinations can be a lot of fun. Pick two or more places you really want to see, plot a route between them using an app, and see what you discover. Everywhere you go in central London you’re a stone’s throw from something secret, something unique, or something unexpected. A sari shop full of magical fabric. A pretty little park or garden. A building so beautiful it knocks your socks off. A museum or gallery, a designer shop or boutique. There’s even a book called ‘Quiet London’. If you’d like to experience city life differently you can make your way between some of these lovely places, a route dotted with little oases of pure calm.
Quality retail therapy begins here. Whether you love to window shop or you’re going to splurge, being short of time forces you to be creative. A shopping-inspired walking route can take you around the delightfully posh streets of Belgravia or to the best stores on Oxford Street, weaving on and off the street, in and out of the seething crowds between your target shops. Or walk between Harrods, Selfridges, Liberty, Harvey Nicholas and Heal’s for a bumper helping of luxury treats.
Love the green stuff? London is a famously leafy city with loads of gorgeous parks. You could link a few up, walking in and out of heavenly green spaces with ice cream vans, cafes, deckchairs, sculpture, statues, monuments, playgrounds, lakes and cool woodlands.
Does a spot of detective work ding your bell? Some of London’s ancient rivers, many of which are tributaries of the Thames, run underneath the streets, others are completely gone but you can still trace their route through the patterns of the streets. The Fleet, for example, ran Thames-wards from Hampstead Heath down Fleet Street, the biggest of London’s underground rivers. And a river called Lamb’s Conduit, a small tributary, once flowed west to join the Fleet near Mount Pleasant, forming the old boundary between Holborn and St Pancras and revealed in the sweeping curve of Roger Street. Amazing.
A London pub crawl is a hoot, best of all when you’ve planned a route to stick to through thick and thin!
Tip three: Walk in circles
A circular route keeps life simple. There’s no backtracking and you end up conveniently where you started.
Tip four: Linear routes and bus adventures
Circular routes are one way to do it, the other is linear. Catch a bus to a starting point, enjoy the scenery along the way, then walk back. Walk one of the capital’s enormously long roads from one end to the other, for example from the tube station at Sloane Square along the King’s Road all the way to World’s End. There’s something cool every step of the way, from amazing period homes to beautifully-appointed pubs, smart restaurants to designer stores, along with fairly grotty bits and tatty bits.
Tip five: Shoes
This is pavement territory, not the wilderness. But the last thing you want is sore feet and blisters. Comfortable shoes make all the difference, even when you’ll only be wandering a couple of miles. When you’re planning a proper hardcore hike along the Thames between Victoria and Docklands and back the shoe thing gets serious, as any seasoned urban hiker will tell you. Proper walking shoes, boots or trainers are the bunny.
One thing’s for sure, walking in London is never boring! You’ll get exercise, see interesting things, get blasted by city smells, jostled by the crowds, soothed in leafy squares and gardens, nourished with wonderful food, and knocked for six by the sheer vibrancy and variety of the place.
Comment (0)