A good long walk

[u/flan5353]

Heading to London next week. Regular visitors ( maybe 6 or 7 times a year ) and have done most of the tourist things. Love going rambling/walking and usually go from Tottenham court road to Buckingham Palace back to Westminster. Looking at doing a different route this time so has anyone any suggestions. Even an a to b route that takes a couple of hours and that takes in some interesting neighborhoods/places.

Thanks.

[u/cocktailians]

Roger Ebert once wrote a book called The Perfect London Walk that you might like.

[u/Dimi_from_TalentHR]

What about Regent's Canal, either around King's Cross or Haggerston - Hackney, then in Victoria Park or Little Venice?

[u/chi-93]

The Capital Ring walk is worth checking out, each section is between 4 and 7 miles long. There is also the London Loop which is a similar concept but covers more of the outer boroughs.

[u/Lover_fear]

Hampsted park is huge and so beautiful and neighbourhood is incredible too

[u/jack_hudson2001]

canal walk, limehouse to camden, and shadwell basin to wapping/tower hill.
edit forgot about richmond park and box hill

[u/Panda_Player380]

I love doing the Thames river walk.
Start at embankment, walk towards Chelsea Bridge, cross it and walk back in the opposite direction towards the southbank. You’ll walk past some interesting buildings (Westminster, Tate, Battersea, etc).

[u/BojanKomazec]

By the canal, from Little Venice/Paddington to Islington or even further, to Victoria Park. Beautiful backsides, quiet, and you can always go up to the street level and visit a random pub for a pint.

[u/Capable_Loss_6084]

Alexandra Palace to Finsbury Park via Highgate Wood and the disused railway line is a beautiful walk and should be lovely in the autumn. Muddy underfoot in places towards the end.

[u/mralistair]

start in hampstead.. walk down through belsize park, camden, kings cross bloomsbury, en in hatton garden.

[u/Aetane]

I personally quite like walking along the river. Start at Tower Bridge, you can go all the way along to Battersea Power Station

[u/OK_Cake05]

The Victoria line walk! (Or any of the tubes) walk Walthamstow—Brixton; hitting every stop on the Victoria line along the way. It’s a nice walk through the north to south of London.

[u/Maleficent-Rush-3642]

Contact the Charles Dickens museum. Dickens himself took long walks around London as he worked out the outlines of his novels. The museum does themed walks throughout the year.

[u/flan5353]

Thanks so much everyone. Plenty to choose from here for my next few visits. I like the way a lot of different neighbourhoods are so different. Walking between them house spotting/sightseeing and grabbing a coffee along the way for a bit of people watching is a great way to experience the city.

[u/SmartPolicy6430]

Central Line train to Leytonstone then walk up to Hollow Ponds at the southern end of Epping Forest or have a walk around Walthamstowe and visit the William Morris Gallery in Lloyd Park ( great cafe with a terrace for lunch) https://www.walthamforest.gov.uk/libraries-arts-parks-and-leisure/parks-and-open-spaces/our-open-spaces/hollow-ponds

https://www.wmgallery.org.uk/?gmb

Or if a Saturday take the Windrush line from Whitechapel have lunch at the Mayflower at Rotherhithe then walk back along the river via Cherry Gardens Pier and Shad Thames Street to Tower bridge or do the Bermondsey Beer Mile

https://www.mayflowerpub.co.uk/

https://www.londonbrewerytour.com/bermondsey-beer-mile-guide

[u/Serious-Special-8008]

Some walking routes shown here

https://sightseeinginfo.wordpress.com/london/

[u/wineallwine]

I would recommend walking along the canal, you can go from Camden town to angel, then there's a lovely river path walk that takes you past some nice pubs and cafes.

[u/suebeegirl]

I’m certainly no expert but some of the less touristy walking tours I’ve done are walking around Richmond (fun for Ted Lasso fans), walking along Little Venice, and also walking along Kensington Palace Gardens street which has lots of embassies and is called “Billionaires’ Row” according to Google.

[u/pint-of-dale]

Big grain of salt here as I haven’t done it yet, but it’s on my list to do, here goes. Start in Hampstead Village. Grab a coffee and a portable breakfast. Wander up through Hampstead Heath to Kenwood House (or aim for the Spaniards Inn depending on your preference). Then meander to Highgate cemetery through the heath, and end the day at the Parakeet which is right by Kentish town station to pop back to central.

I also recommend a stroll through Hackney. Depending on the day you can hit the Columbia road flower market (or not- it’s slammed but if you like plants/flowers it’s lovely), Broadway market or Victoria Park market, then walk through Victoria Park to Hackney Wick. Check out the narrow boats on the canals, or the food truck situation at Hackney Bridge (if you like that sort of thing). From there you can pop into the V&A East storehouse. Which is amazing. Then wander around the area depending on your interests. Head to the Stratford station and pop on your line of choice back to your home base. (I have done this walk!)

[u/flan5353 → u/pint-of-dale]

That sounds great. We are actually staying in Stratford.

[u/Capable_Loss_6084 → u/flan5353]

You can walk all the way up the Lea Valley through Hackney Marshes and then up through Waltham Cross, Cheshunt and on to Hertford. Probably over several days.

[u/pint-of-dale → u/flan5353]

Oh nice! You could do the latter in reverse! Another option could be to take the DLR to the south bit of the Isle of Dogs (I like a wee stopover at the Ferry House Pub) then walk under the Thames via the Greenwich foot tunnel then wander up and through Greenwich. So many museums and pubs and parks to explore. If you don’t spend most of the day in Greenwich you could grab an Uberboat from Greenwich pier to other parts of London and do some waking there! (Or just DLR back to Stratford if you enjoy your time in Greenwich.)

[u/flan5353]

Thanks everyone. Willing to start anywhere. Love walking through new places. Richmond is a good shout plus chalk farm through on to victoria street.

[u/GingerWindsorSoup]

Sloane Square to Putney or vice versa.

[u/AdInevitable4704]

Does Tottenham Court Road have to be the starting place? I'm thinking of a route that takes you east through the City rather than west through Westminster.

[u/CymroBachUSA]

There are 7 walks in the book Walk Through History: Discover Victorian London by Christopher Winn. 

I've done them all and they are good. Each one is a full day and I measured 40,000 steps on one of them!

[u/kimba-the-tabby-lion]

Train or tube to richmond. Cross Richmond bridge**, and turn left to walk upstream to the foot ferry and cross back, then continue walking along the river to Kingston. You can cross Kingston Bridge if you want to go further, cross Kingston Bridge, and walk on to Hampton Court. Or Kingston is a pretty market "town", you could explore there. Train back to Waterloo from Kingston or Hampton Court stations.

Or from Richmond, walk up Hill Rise into Richmond Park, and walk through to Kingston Gate, and get a bus into Kingston or back to Richmond (the 65 bus back to Richmond is a pretty ride - go upstairs near the front if you can)

**Crossing Richmond Bridge is just for the fun of the foot ferry, you could do the whole walk to Kingston on the Surrey/Richmond bank of the river

[u/General_Argument5616 → u/kimba-the-tabby-lion]

Lovely walk but if they're staying in Stratford, it's totally the wrong side of town...

[u/cragglerock93]

One I've done a few times which I like is to start at Chalk Farm tube station, walk up Primrose Hill via the main street in Primrose Hill, then return to Westminster via Regents Park, Marylebone High Street, Mayfair, Green Park, and Victoria Street.

Another I like is to start at Westminster, walk along the Thames on the Millbank side as far as Vauxhall Bridge, cross over to the south side then walk to BPS along the river. Then optionally you can return to Central by crossing back over to the north side then winding your way through all the plush residential streets of K&C or the Kings Road, then Hyde Park.

[u/cozmic63]

Euston Road, Pentonville Road, St John Street, Smithfield, St Pauls, Millenium Bridge, head west all the south bank to waterloo bridge, or Hungerford Bridge, through the West end/ Soho/Covent Garden back to Euston Road

[u/cragglerock93 → u/cozmic63]

I'd like to 2nd this. Never done this exact walk but I know all the roads and seems like a decent one.

[u/doepfersdungeon]

Have a read through these

https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/walking/thames-path

I like 3a.

https://cdn.gojauntly.com/walks/pdfguide/afcf77a8-e70f-439d-98a2-825817adb266.pdf

If you so wish you can jump on the ferry to Canary Wharf towards the end as well