London Walks

Don't ask me about anything North of the river. I have no comprehension.

http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/England-History/JackTheRippersLondon.gif

now take you hands of me, you peasant!

http://www2.filmweb.no/multimedia/archive/00011/Jack_the_Ripper_11978a.jpg

I often walk between Clerkenwell and Marlybone and sometimes further. Walking in London is great if you seek out the back ways and little alleys that keep you off main main thoroughfares.

between kings cross and farringdon was somewhere i hadnt done before (at least down as far as mt pleasant). then it was familiar as far as liverpool st, but i realised id never seen aldgate high st before. i had also never been through st james park!!

I stole this off another thread; it seems a likely prospect.

That walk has the added bonus of some amazing pubs.

Nothing to do with the Thames, but I know someone who a few weeks ago decided to walk from Alexandra Palace to Greenwich just for the sake of it. We greeted him like a hero when he collapsed on the pub floor.

Or you could go for the full tourist central London whack and walk from Westminster Bridge to London Bridge, which, obvious as it is, has some stunning sights along the way.

Also, I need to persuade girlfriend that this would be A Good Idea.

greenwich-deptford is also a good call...

What is the bit around Wapping like? Has anyone been to the Prospect of Whitby?

Regent's canal from the Cally to Little Venice is a nice walk. Or my house to work which I enjoyed a fair bit.

Any good places to wander round North London other than Hampstead Heath?

The Prospect has a nice riverside patio for those uncivilised souls who think drinking outside exposed to the elements is a good idea. It has a nice metal bar top. Fundamentally, though, it's a dodgy old Chef & Brewer which isn't really my cup of gristle at all. It's nicely placed for the art gallery at the Wapping Project in the old pumping station across the road.

In answer to your question: yes, I've been there. River walking opportunities are limited by the ex-warehouses, but grebt views of lovely leafy Rotherhithe are snatchable.

and going back to the greenway, there a bridge over the railway line that you pass over along the way. the walls are very smooth concrete and it's become a mecca for graffiti writers. i've seen a lot of real superstars paint there, including mode 2. writers from paris, germany (daim) san francisco (giant)new york and all over england have visited. kline/keen one of englands wildstyle legends paints there regularly also.

Eh? The Boleyn is by no means the ugliest football ground in the country, have you seen Middlesborough's ground? or The Reebok, with it's big hole in one end? Or worst of all, Derby's shed on a derelict industrial estate? It's far less offensive than most of the brand new grounds

Taking one of your more coherent points, the walk along the Lea from Tottenham Hale to Victoria Park is decent. Once you clear South Tottenham anyway. The Middlesex Filter Beds (like some Ballardian fantasy according to Luka),look more like disused filter beds to me and are a mini walk in themselves. There's a lack of pubs along the way and the ones you do pass aren't the greatest in the east end, but once at Victoria Park, you are back in latte territory.

I don't like that bit between Vauxhall and Battersea much

I think the original comment from the other thread was mine. It would probably not be first choice if you were choosing ONE Thames walk but I still like it. The bit just west of Vauxhall Bridge isn't that interesting admittedly but I like the waste disposal plant in Cringle Street and the jetty where you can see barges being loaded up with waste to be taken down the Thames. There are some interesting crumbling industrial buildings around Cringle Street as well (some evidently threatened by the Power Station redevelopment) and of course the Power Station shell itself (although you have to leave the riverside shortly after the waste plant and make your way past the Dogs Home to Queenstown Road and Chelsea Bridge). From there you could cross over and return to Vauxhall on the other side, passing the Dolphin Court apartment block, or continue on through the park to Albert Bridge, which is nice, cross there and similarly return
on the opposite side. The section east of Vauxhall Bridge is good as well - the MI6 building and Alembic House (featured in Lights Out For The Territory - the Jeffrey Archer section) plus great views of the Tate Gallery, Millbank Tower and Parliament on the opposite bank and the Power Station away to the south west.

Exiting the tube at Goodge St (TCR was closed), we made for Bloomsbury Way via Bedford Sq, Bloomsbury St., Great Russell St. and Museum St. until we came across St. George's Bloomsbury. The grandeur of the building was somewhat reduced by the portico being covered in scaffolding. I got a couple of shots of the funky spire/pyramid and some DANGER! signs before we moved on.

The walk then took us through High Holborn and into Lincoln's Inn Fields where we stopped to look at the bizarre antiquities grab-bag of Sir John Soane's Museum. Then on to Fleet Street where we stopped for a restorative pint at the Cheshire Cheese. The danger here, of course, was that once we started on the Ayingerbrau, ruin would take over and the schedule would fall to pieces. Luckily, the pub shut.

We carried on along Fleet Street and Ludgate Hill until we reached a scaffolding and plastic covered St. Paul's. Liz noted that it looked rather like one of Christo's wrapped buildings. We lunched on baked goods from the new Marks & Sparks, took photos of cranes and moved on.

Cannon St and Queen Victoria St led us up to our second Hawksmoor Church: St Mary Woolnoth. Happily, this least church-like of the churches en route was free of scaffolding. The twin towers that topped off the narrow building are superb but I dislike the rusticated blocks surrounding the main door.

We enjoyed the weekend ghost-town of the City for a while. Wandering through the empty Leadenhall market, round the big-budget Dr. Who set of Lloyds and on to St. Mary Axe to get a good look at the Erotic Gherkin. Seeing the big steel & glass cigar close-up finally settled the burning question of how the building's windows are cleaned - there's a great big ring round the top to hold the cradles!

On to Aldgate via Mitre street. We fought a confusing subway system and a closed shopping centre to find our way up Whitechapel as far as Commercial St. where we could see the huge spire of Christ Church Spitalfields waiting for us. We found the building also undergoing renovation. The supposed looming menace of the building and its shadowy portico was tempered a bit by the sunny weather.

We continued our journey through Fournier St., wandering which of the houses belonged to Gilbert & George. After enjoying the various spicy Brick Lane smells, we reached Commercial Road.

At this point we deviated from the schedule. Realizing we were too lazy to hoof all the way down to St. Anne's, we turned into Cannon Street Rd. and eventually reached St. George's-in-the-East. I love this Church. The white pepperpot towers looked fantastic against the blue sky. The whole building sat in utterly serene contrast to the surrounding East End murk.

Our feet now properly aching, we started back along Cable St., past Hawksmoor Mansions, to Shadwell station. Here, we ended our walk, boarded and DLR and set off to NEW ADVENTURES!

(actually we bimbled round the Isle of Dogs for a bit, then headed up to Islington to see Spirited Away)

19 bus to Angel to get film, then continuing via 55 up to Lea Bridge Road, walk down Chatsworth and Powerscroft roads, which had some really nice houses, quite surprised, mary remarked like san francisco. through Clapton Passage and past mark s' abode and through Clapton Square and down into Hackney Central, then along Graham Road, with slight detour into Fassett Square to see the square that was the inspiration for albert sq in eastenders, then onto Ridley Road market, Dalston.

from Dalston Junction, down Kingsland Road as far as faulkners fish and chips, the most upscale fish and chip shop in the world? something incongruous about it really. then east along Haggerston Road, Livermere Road and Shrubland Road to London Fields, quite a mix of houses, some really nice little terraces here, interspersed with council blocks, interesting mix. rest at London Fields, then through onto Mare St to get a bus. bus comes quickly and we end up on a D6 instead of a 106, so, south to Bethnal Green, then east along Roman Road through Globe Town, then south down Grove Road to Mile End, and then continuing along Burdett Road to Limehouse.

then we change buses and head west on a 15 to Whitechapel, passing the Limehouse church (Hawksmoor), which mary says is like disneyland (?) and limehouse basin, new and old, in (dis)harmony. along Commercial Road, and then get off in Stepney, walking up Cavell St to Whitechapel tube station, where we see the market, the blind beggar pub (gentrified into submission), and morrissey landmark The Grave Maurice (not gentrified). then vallance rd, hanbury st and princelet st to Brick Lane, and fournier st onto spitalfields. Looked at the Ten Bells pub, looked very gentrified but strangely rather nice, another hawksmoor on commercial rd, then over into the (closing up) spitalfields market...

Over to Liverpool st, then up to great eastern rd and curtain road shoreditch, where we stop for coffee and a rest, before crossing old st into Hoxton, where we go to the hoxton boutique and see the damien hirst little girl sculpture in hoxton sq

a 55 to clerkenwell, a korean restaurant, and then to calthorpe arms on grays inn road for the fap...

a 19 in the other direction through central london and the west end as far as Sloane Square.

We get out and look at some shops and then walk down kings road, i explain what a sloane ranger is, the shops are ok but not of any great interest, mary has been before we realise. We walk as far as oakley st before heading south over albert bridge. there is a strange message on the bridge which says that troops most walk in single file across the bridge. on the south side we walk east through battersea park, the thames looks gentle and nice, sun glinting, it is rather like dc, we walk past the peace pagoda, which i have never seen before, or even heard about. at chelsea bridge we walk back over the thames and to the north side, and get good views of battersea power station. east through pimlico, along grosvenor road. Pimlico is an odd place, who lives here? there are many blocks and flats here which dont look upscale, but iev never met anyone who lives here before.

At Vauxhall bridge we turn south back over the thames, with a brief stop to look at the spring gardens, it is a piece of burnt rough grass. then we get a 322 down through stockwell to brixton. we walk along the high st and back, mary gets called a freak. brixton feels like there is an edge, it is somehow different to other areas that should have such an edge but don't. i havent been to brixton in ages, i'm not sure i like it really. perhaps it is because i am south of the river again. we get a 345 through camberwell to peckham. it is early evening sunlight and peckham feels nice, we see the library, which i havent had a chance to see before. ive only been through peckham before, never stopped, i prefer it to brixton.

we get a 177 through new cross and deptford to greenwich. on the way we pass the montague arms, is this the place where the mooted se london fap is to take place? we dont really have time to do much in greenwich, so we look at the thames for a while, then get the DLR up through docklands to Bank. now it is dark. we walk along cheapside as far as st pauls and environs, before taking a 76 up to the vietnamese restaurant on englefield rd, de beauvoir town, or is it islington, or is it kingsland? the food is good, the place is an ex-public baths, i shall eat here again.

the 243 takes us back, to much needed sleep

a late start, and, after much to-ing and fro-ing through covent garden, soho and carnaby st, we get a bus to notting hill, examine the 2nd hand bookstore, where mary purchases a book (ballard?) then walk along pembridge road and portobello road up to ladbroke grove. it is the same as i remember it from the last time i was here, i dont like it so much, though there was a serbian cultural centre, which was of some interest. then a hammersmith&city line tube east, the tube, as stevem says, running parallel with the westway, but this isnt the edward platt/leadville tour. engineering works, so we only get as far as paddington before having to take a bus west as far as great portland st, then a C2 north through camden, kentish town and gospel oak to parliament fields, and a 210 to the crest of the hill, highgate village, mary says mock-americana. i like highgate, it feels rich but somehow, not oppressively so, a relaxedness about it maybe...

dusk, we walk down through waterlow park, there is fear that the gates may close before we are able to make our exit, but we manage it, leaving at 7.35. gates close at 7.40. We exit at swains lane, where we are able to see the cemetary gates, ominous, imposing, strangely central european, then some private residences that appear to be their own self contained villages. Swaines Lane eventually emerges from the gloom back at parliament fields, where we get another C2 back to gt portland st, where we walk west to drummond st, euston for indian food.

nightime, and a bus south to waterloo bridge, we get off at the southbank and walk north to get nighttime thames views. as we look east to blackfriars we see a chinese paper dragon and fireworks making its way slowly across the bridge, what could it be?

we walk east along the victoria embankment to blackfriars to find out, but by the time we get there the dragon is gone, there is only confetti and people in events and organisation t-shirts, and police motorcyclists, we head back along bride st, but we dont see hopkinstims church. back past another sainsburys, and sleep...

This was put there as back in the day the constructors were scared that a column of troops all marching in time would destroy the bridge with the resonation, so they were told to march out of time, to prevent this from hapening.

(I said that Highgate Vilage was like an American interpretation England. More Disneyland.)

The dragon was because of the Mayor's London festival, I think it went on the next night too.

I bought Concrete Island -- more study.

I got the photos developed from that walk the other day. I'd post them but I have no webspace right now.

I've been looking into following the Lea all the way down to the Thames. I tend to make it as far as Victoria Park and then start thinking about Frocks and before I know it, I've got a latte and poached egg in front of me.

A sign by the railway bridge says they have 'mooooooved on'.

Lea / Lee is interchangable btw, but downstream Lea is more popular and it empties at Leamouth.

I used to play in the bomb shelters along it in Herts. as a child. I wish I could find where they were now!

Picked it up from the north side of the Islington tunnel. Odd walkway takes you down from the extension of Rodney Street. Odd, because it has a viewing platform, but no view. Lots of fishermen drinking Stella. Is that what fishermen drink? Is it bait? Through Somerstown, looking at the arse end of King's Cross and St Pancras. Wheezy bloke in front kept stopping every ten yards. Listing barge under the Kentish Road bridge. Full of junk. Baby moorhens called it home.

More walkers as the canal approaches Camden. Abandoned goths in the shallows. Quick detour into Camden market. Throngs of people, varied food, "Venezuelen pastries", veggie this and that. Back down to the canal, more walkers, goths thin out. The smell of spring at Regent's Park. Lunch in Primrose Hill where every shop now has a cafe too. Scrambled eggs in the toyshop, then home to Hackney.

they're wasting away as it is. sounds like a great trek tho.

Tentative date Sunday 6th March. Maybe.

(BTW, how do I get a blue badge myself? that seems like a fun job!)

"Transport for London are sponsoring these two walks as part of the Mayor’s vision to make London one of the most walking-friendly cities by 2015."

I walked from Paddington to Holborn this morning, along Wigmore Street and environs, it was nice. I may well walk back a bit later on. And while I'm at it, I might eat an apple.

I discovered that there is a little bit of Clerkenwell which is really in Cambridgeshire!!! Isn't that exciting? I found it amazing.

a longer walk than i thought it would be, and i didnt know where i was for large amounts of it. i really rather like that sleepy timelessness, yet, really, just off archway road.

have previously done:

wormwood scrubs - holland park - south kensington - vauxhall - elephant and castle - new cross - ladywell - lee (5 hrs)

shoreditch - hackney - archway - brent - colindale - edgware (6 hrs)

JUST NOW (well, about 20 minutes ago) completed the following:

haringey - bethnal green - limehouse - canary wharf - millwall - greenwich - blackheath - lee (4 1/2 hrs)

there is nothing fucking better than this shit, especially as all 3 have been on *roasting* hot days after a previous night's party

especially with all the detours, digressions, wrong moves, and discoveries you chance upon

shit i wanna be a walking tour guide or something

navigate using only the sun and a vague knowledge of where things are at

i recently did Archway to Wembley via Hampstead Heath, and then Wembley to Ladbroke Grove via GU Canal later that same day. mega awesome.

i'm kinda relieved someone is doing even more mentalist epic walks than me

the shoreditch - edgware one was meant to go as far as moor park, but upon reaching edgware i went into a petrol station, checked a map, saw i'd gotten about a third of the way there, and decided to cut my losses and see at least some of the cricket match i'd been going to see

didn't help that for that one i'd been up all night drinking in a) some lesbian bar b) gaz's and c) shoreditch art-pad

somewhere along the watford road i became convinced i was about to die from a heart-attack

this one involved a sleeveless shirt = tantastic (apart from the greenwich foot tunnel obv)

and i touched canary wharf with my hand. this was important. the whole area round there is like some kind of ridiculous yuppified white-collar heaven. in cabot square they gather like pigeons for lunch, all in work-clothes. it is both ridiculous and slightly sad. some of them have changed into joggers' outfits.

the best parts of these walks are always the weird unearthly residential zones with nobody except you walking around in 'em

i need to a big one before i go on my Cornwall walking holiday, as prep. Isleworth to Crystal Palace maybe. Stanmore to Cockfosters also appeals.

Isleworth to CP is pretty mental. I hope you like South London. The other one I'd know little about but I'd imagine much of Barnet would be involved.

The one I really want is like Chigwell - Stratford - Beckton - Woolwich - (ferry crossing) - Charlton - (watch Charlton home game) - Lee

apparently the Stratford to Beckton walk is like some sort of crazy urban nature reserve

yeah it kinda is. the Greenway is cool but maybe a bit dull due to its straightness. Beckton Alp tho.

Well, I'm gonna do it some day. In Haringey there's also an abandoned railway line on a viaduct that my friend keeps telling me about; gonna have to nail that one as well at some point. North-East London is like the holy grail, especially for a crazy Iain Sinclair stan such as myself (n.b. I did the first two walks before I'd basically even heard of Sinclair)

How feasible is following the Central Line from Epping (or better, Ongar) to Leytonstone? My plan to photograph every station on the tube network (without using the tube if i can help it) may yet come to pass.

RIP Ongar ;_;

I wonder if the old extension's now a walk?

Probably an energetic day's work but definitely doable. Depends whether you wanna do the Roding Valley loop :D

i covered half the loop when i went to Hainault from Whipps Cross. the idea was to carry on round anti-clockwise to Woodford but i was fed up with Essex teens asking me to buy them booze so bussed it ha.

Lots of - well some of to my knowledge - the Greenway is closed now due t'olympics.

lol what time of day/week was this? I find concentrating the walk around the early afternoon works best, even if chance of sunstroke is exponentially increased

w hike iw blueski fwiw

Oh, I've heard you start the walk right by the Olympic development. Perhaps some of it has been closed. I know Mr Sinclair has had much to say about this.

the entrance by hackney wick was definitely shut and not looking like it was opening any time soon. which means that this is bullshit:
http://www.london2012.com/documents/oda-publications/greenway-change.pdf

^ actually i might be wrong. some path somewhere was shut but the canal towpath was still open.

maybe an ILX walking FAP?

FAW?

FAStroll? I could go on

In Haringey there's also an abandoned railway line on a viaduct that my friend keeps telling me about; gonna have to nail that one as well at some point.

Yes, this is great, if short to walk along unless you combine it with a trip around Ally Pally or all the way up to Highgate.

Thursday i am gonna walk the Grand Union canal from Warwick Avenue to Greenford

Saturday i'm going to try and walk in as straight a line/easterly direction from Ruislip to Hampstead Heath as possible seeing as they are pretty much level with each other on the map

i need me some good south london walks

perhaps i should walk to crystal palace tomorrow to look at the dinosaurs. if the snow clears, that is

is there a thread about crystal palace walks on this board?

I totally fucking owned South London just now

did u leave anything for the rest of us?

I dunno man there's a trail of win scorched into the earth between Lee and Purley via Addington, wouldn't go near there

(real talk: the fire brigade were called to a house I was passing while I was there)

thats ok wasn't planning any addington any time soon phew

btw that's a FUCKING long walk ISN'T IT

GO TEAM JAGGER

that's kinda......a long way

Naturally, having gone with no cash save a few spare pence for a drink, I jumped the barriers at Purley (by waiting for a chap with a suitcase to use the big gates) and went home via London Bridge at our rail companies' expense

ballin'

the outer reaches of croydonia possibly not the most obvious venue for rimbaudian peregrination but i guess that only adds to the intrigue?

not even kidding - the art of the flâneur pays no heed to precise location, as long as there is terrain to be quartered

I mean, I set out with the intention of 'heading south-west' - I was interested in what I might find. I found a number of things. Bethlem mental hospital for one. The Croydon tramway, which I briefly strolled along. A thoroughly lovely hill in the Riddlesdown area. And Beckenham Place golf-course which I cut straight through like Michael Douglas sans evil intent

The maypole around which my path rotated was of course the Crystal Palace antenna - I pretty much described a GIANT arc around it swinging clockwise from Lee almost 180 degrees

Anyway, I'd bet Rimbaud and Will Self wouldn't deign trip the slabs of Bromley and Croydon. They don't know what they're missing. Now, for instance, I know that Sainsbury's touch-of-blueberry-and-blackberry fizzy water is slightly nicer than Tesco's touch-of-peach.

Flaneur = Baudelaire, non?

Damn, and I even Wiki'd 'Flaneur' when I got home, dimly remembering that it was an applicable term (it totally is and I'm going to start a London Flâneur club or something)

I know this because it's in the essay I'm supposed to be working on right now. Le sigh.

that whole area where the north downs bleeds into the city is thoroughly nontranscendent interwar exurban sprawl despite having the most interesting topography of the london suburbs

it must be conceded that I didn't find nearly so much of man to remark upon this time around (save for the FIRE(!!) in someone's back garden which diverted me for a decent while, and the aforementioned Bedlam), but the area is chock full of lovely valleys to gaze across, and even the occasional hillside meadow one could imagine oneself gallivanting athwart - Mitchley Hill, as I now discover. also one can see Croydon's abysmal edifices from quite the distance - far away but still substantial they seem like they could all be destroyed in one glorious instant, or herded like cattle and flung in the sea

the whole area needs terraforming so childhood trips btwn london and the sticks don't have to be such carsick travails

maybe an arid castillian plateau w/ occasional plane trees and billboards for fundie xtian cults interspersed among the scorched homesteads and downed pylons

I quite like the undulating nature of that region, helps that I don't live there but occasionally visit with a tourist's benign favour

the multi-storey abominations are by far the worst thing about Croydon as far as I can tell

also I looked at a map and Purley is disappointingly far from the M25 - next time I'm going to Leatherhead

tabula rasa would sooner be inflicted on Welling if I had my way

the only good thing about croydon is the flyover afaik

well at least you did not say Selhurst Park

never get out of the car

never let them see the whites of your eyes and live to tell the tale

I watched cricket at Whitgift School not so long ago, and it was lovely, although I realised today roughly three hours into my walk that South Croydon was actually closer to my house than where I was, and that I could easily have saved myself the rail fare

haha you sound like one who has narrowly escaped the talons of eagles

I am thinking that increasingly I will walk anywhere I need to be in and around London

no i've never been there

charon never needed to go to tartarus etc

the whole area needs terraforming so childhood trips btwn london and the Styx don't have to be such carsick travails

if I was rly on my game that wdve been 'boatsick'

l'esprit de l'escalier

anyhow any system of transport that uses overhead electrification lends class to a borough - it says 'power courses our veins', or at the very least 'come and have fun on our dodgems'

this whole cult of the transcendally banalized london suburbs doesn't quite work ime

there are some curiosities but rly anything developed past 1910 or so is mostly w/e

*transcendentally*

are you saying I should have stopped at Bethlem, gone in and explored, perhaps committed myself

am now wondering which suburbs best bear the wizened marks of regenerative subsistence - old buildings with purposes not entirely in keeping with MMX, streets quietly energised with London As Agency

this dude on flickr often finds amazing(ly grim) stuff tho

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3392/4641625177_2f9da0ca34.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4034/4639212685_d294e0a911.jpg

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicohogg/

am now wondering which suburbs best bear the wizened marks of regenerative subsistence - old buildings with purposes not entirely in keeping with MMX

difficult to find anything like that outside of the victorian inner suburbs i'd have thought?

the metroland suburbs will likely never be so interesting because they still house more or less the same ppl they were built for in more or less the same way

success in planning terms probably correlates to boredom by your criteria

this nicohogg/nicobobinus person is brilliant - I am minded to play photoaster to his bard

and yes, I will have to locate certain disasters of urban organisation. in fact plenty of north-east london could be very fruitful in this regard - leytonstone calls. would also like to explore the likes of plumstead and erith - riverside southbank approaching dartford

it's certainly true that zone 3 inward houses plenty of compelling urban terrain - more of intrigue than without - I must take my camera next time I carve the city into left and right

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2798/4477342829_599aaf1a5c.jpg

this is quite near where I live

how do you know about this guy, nakh? he's a class act

think it was this

class act indeed so i guess he's pretty well known

Where is that last one, LJ? I'm thinking of it as somewhere about the railway line in the Hither Green area but I might be wrong.

that's city 17 iirc

it's in Abbey Wood

"An open door in the night.. walking past this block of flats I saw a few bits of graffiti inside and wandered in to take a look, curious. The walls were saturated, completely, every surface, a spiralling hysteria. A clamour for the ownership of space gone insane. Nothing 'artistic' in the traditional sense, just tags tags tags tags tags on everything, saturation bombing.

"There's an identical block right next to it that has properly locked entrance doors, and that was totally untouched. Most of Mitcham is pretty tidy. This one block was like a pressure vent for some force, some statement. I hadn't seen anything like it outside of club toilets and squatted buildings, where that sort of thing is tolerated – or even welcomed - by the people who share the space. It felt like it belonged to a different era and a different place. Suburban South London meets 1980s New York. There's some principled part of me that says graffiti is wrong, an eyesore, report it, get rid of it – the "right thing". But really, I love it. I think you need to feel threatened by graffiti to want to get rid of it, but I see a game in it, laying a claim to a space lays down a gauntlet for that space to be challenged, questioned, and that's exciting to see."

this guy knows his deleuze/guattari, his iain sinclair and god knows what else. fucking hero.

^^^ J-Punk

fucking hell, city boy goes for a walk, wants medal- urban film at 11 imo

Oh you guys

I walked from Brentford to Richmond yesterday, it's really not that far.

I work just opposite that graffitied Mitcham flat stairwell :/ (Though it does also border a very picturesque cricket green - the oldest one in continual use in the world, I believe.)

MIA, incidentally, grew up just round the corner.

EVERYWHERE IS STORIED

As did the Noel out of the Mighty Boosh!

this guy knows his deleuze/guattari, his iain sinclair and god knows what else. fucking hero.

that stuff is kinda w/e but the eye for detail is a+

now london looks up to me

now I am the king of London

I wish I lived in london just so I could beat you at this

you are not going to beat what I just did

crazy fool

how long was that, all told?

I walk 15-18 miles some days here

we would probably be good friends really

we would stroll for the joy of it, aye

oh, and it was I'm guessing about 35 miles maybe?

a marathon is 26 miles, for reference

that did not occur to me once

:P

this would look more impressive if drawn on a map

still 15-18 is about the scale of every other really long walk I've taken, so if you do that regularly it probably balances itself out

yeah but what was ur pace lj

at first, forthright, later a rapid hobble, then jogged the last half-mile in a desperate and narrowly vain attempt to beat midnight

if you're going to walk for distance sake why not just hammer a nail into your face for pain's sake

^^^ doesn't 'get it'

Ronan, check out my Facebook photos in about half an hour - they may help you understand

but yeah jeez you feel like king of the world when it's over - an amazing way to fulfil yrself imo

well if it's about seeing things then not about how long the walk was surely...

it's a combination of learning the city and conquering it, really - the art of the flaneur

I set out with goals in mind and had I not fulfilled them, the achievement would have been spoilt.

also can I spell out my route in brazen simplicity?

cockfosters -> wembley stadium -> beckton -> charlton -> lee

the only time foot was relinquished was to cross the Thames between King George V station and Woolwich Arsenal station on the DLR

wtf u cant swim

lj come to nyc and we'll have a 5 borough day

when I have any money at all I shall do that

oh yeah - this is the sort of fun that costs like 5 quid total and that was mostly on getting to C'fosters in the first place - great way to spend one's penury...I packed an Oyster Card, spent about 3 quid on it, and brought 2 quid for drinks, nothing else

fuck i paid 65 quid to do a half marathon where i live last month. i probably have landowner's fuckin rights to most of where i was navigating. feel ripped off now

i probably have landowner's fuckin rights to most of where i was navigating.

loooool oh you

where did you go between wembley and beckton

descended into kensal green then harlesden via harrow way but then turned right at the paddington tracks and wound up walking the entire length of portobello road, which was an eye-opener. having safely boosted my street-cred by 200 points i walked along bayswater road/oxford street until a little after tottenham court road, whereupon i wound my way down past the phoenix theatre to aldwych and then the strand. after a sizeable detour via the tower of london and st katharine's dock, i joined 'the highway' which was walked to its easter extremity, then i cut up to commercial road. continued to bear east along the motorway, before slipping right into canning town, then cutting through a few residential streets to reach victoria dock road. eventually i rejoined a motorway and with london city airport and some of the finest urban desolation i've seen to my right i continued forth until beckton simply happened

there are a few nice pictures - maybe i will post some. or you can facebook-add me!

1. well done for not getting rained on

2. how are the feet?

1. was rained on, briefly, right at the beginning and right at the end!

2. god DAMN.

I spent five years of weekends doing that sort of thing and am feeling a glow of pride for you right now. Never quite that epic, though - consider my topper doffed.

Well done for surviving E16 too - I thought my time had come on several occasions in that locality, most terrifyingly when cornered by a rottweiler outside the airport. I hope you did the walking-on-the-spot thing aboard the dlr to avoid entirely discrediting your day's effort?

If I ever have a free day in London again, LJ, you and I shall flân twixt Parliament Hill and Crystal Palace or Chesham and Bat & Ball, or some other route of suitable epicità.

Did Greenwich to London Bridge along the South Bank once, miles of soulless estates for both the poor and rich with the occasional surprising point of interest like a cool city farm and a German bombs surviving Georgian forecourt that had been converted into council flats. Then Rotherhithe and Bermondsey, both of which are nice.

Were you walking solo, Louis?

Did Greenwich to London Bridge along the South Bank once, miles of soulless estates for both the poor and rich with the occasional surprising point of interest like a cool city farm and a German bombs surviving Georgian forecourt that had been converted into council flats. Then Rotherhithe and Bermondsey, both of which are nice.

Were you walking solo, Louis?

Once did a fine walk from Little Venice marina along the canal to Southall, with CURRY at the end.

I hope you did the walking-on-the-spot thing aboard the dlr to avoid entirely discrediting your day's effort?

Fuck that, I enjoyed my sit-down, all 2 minutes of it (actually every time I tried to sit down and take a break I found myself unable to remain still for more than half a minute or so - the urge to carry on was overpowering)

Klata, a couple of already-made captions to my Facebook photos eerily echo stuff you've said! And I quote:

"At this point, my battery started to fail, so you have only this as a VERY mild taste of why the area south of King George V dock is probably the sketchiest place I have been to in Britain, bar none"

Absolutely fucking terrified me, did North Woolwich. Ridiculously intimidating murderhole of a place - amazed I wasn't at least accosted. Never, ever go there.

Also, I said this as my suggestion-garnering status:

" Think I can do better? OK, here's YOUR challenge. I have an Oyster Card. Tomorrow, I will travel to a London station, and make my way home thence. This is YOUR opportunity to send me TO A PLACE OF YOUR CHOICE! Best suggestion wins. N.B. 'Chesham' is not the best suggestion"

Chesham to Bat & Ball obviously has to happen now. It's too outlandish to refuse. And yes, I would be down for an accompanied walk! This one was entirely solo - only my camera for company. I had a fully-charged iPod Shuffle but never once felt like using it.

Oh, and a friend of mine linked this rather splendid article (penned by YOU KNOW WHO), pertinent to my wanderings: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/may/29/iain-sinclair-richard-mabey-rereading

Alas that I only discovered ILX after leaving London! Afraid I have no current plans for a visit, but will give you due notice next time I do.

You're not wrong about North Woolwich. My visits there were characterised by said rottweiler; a brawl breaking out mere feet from me as I passed a beer garden; sight of some ladies who looked like russian prostitutes with belts-for-skirts striking poses above me on a bridge and accompanied by extremely burly gents, meaning I had to stare at the ground as I passed for fear of somehow causing offence and being murdered. I had actually been thinking about moving to its eastern end at Gallions Reach, which would've been the single worst decision of my life.

The oddest thing is that the north side of the dock was/is so derelict as to be virtually wilderness - very strange to be wading through waist-high grass and picking over hedgerows, with only the odd boarded-up country house and chain-link fence to tell you there was once a city here.

I did actually flân to Chesham from I think Chorleywood exactly four years ago, which is pretty much wall-to-wall countryside and pleasant to boot. I know it was during the last world cup because I have a picture of myself in England garb (Owen 10) at Chalfont & Latimer station and recall chatting to some locals about England's game that day, which for some reason I didn't consider worth watching.

My practice was to walk routes between stations, which explains the photo. It becomes tricky only at the eastern ends of central and district lines, enabling me to once boast (if that's the right word) familiarity with every tube stop on the network.

My suggestion for tomorrow: Ickenham

My suggestion for tomorrow: Ickenham

My suggestion for tomorrow is that I'm playing in a football match so have no time for a long walk - also, the desire to retain the use of my legs is an issue - but I may do this at some stage! People have been volunteering for walks after seeing my pictures. Perhaps ILX should see them too:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2390616&;id=36910239&ref=mf

A few stations in there! Mostly DLR, but still. Also, PLENTY of the Docklands, especially the North side of London City Airport, which is glorious in its perfect isolation. An area of true austerity, one of the last few London locations thus imbued.

North Woolwich had me genuinely fearing for my life. There was a rave in this old-school dive called The Royal Oak that looked like it had started let alone ended in violence. Getting my camera out would have been, um, silly.

um let's link those photos again

Did a marathon walk last saturday, but not much of the dérive about it, a pretty conventional route along the river from Hampton Court to Waterloo. Still, plenty of variety - once you get past Wandsworth you get soulless and empty new waterfront builds interspersed with run-down industrial wastelands.

SW London is a fort I need to storm...

Nothing on Louis's epic scale, but some recent improvised walks:

Vauxhall > London Bridge > St Paul's > Whitechapel > Brick Lane > the fuzzy Shoreditch/Hoxton area > Dalston > Stoke Newington (and back)

Vauxhall > Battersea Park > Chelsea > Earl's Court > Warwick Road sort of area > Hammersmith > Shepherds Bush > Holland Park > Notting Hill

Vauxhall > Royal Festival Hall > Charing Cross > Brewer Street > BT Tower > Regents Park > Primrose Hill > Swiss Cottage > a bit of Hampstead > Finchley (and back)

I've been pretty much been doing this everyday all this week. And now I'm going to attempt to walk to the Whitechapel gallery from Paddington. Wish me luck.

Good luck !

I started used www.walkit.com - but it's more fun to use it as a rough guide (if at al) and improvise your own walk. You can use walk it to plot your own walks on the map afterwards (and wonder why burning up over 1000 calories doesn't seem to lead to any weight-loss whatsoever).

I also take a small digital camera to capture anything particularly interesting, or take visual 'notes'. Yesterday evening, for example, I captured a painting through art gallery window to remind me to investigate further at a later date. I also find having a camera makes you look at the scenery in a different way.

good new "dickens walk" in the guardian podcasts...

Not only did I succesfully walk there, I spent like 1/5-2 hours walking around Shoreditch after, then walked back. I think that's like 6k.

where are you living? we must catch up now you're over here, whether by fap or otherwise. maybe add me on fb?

I live just by Paddington Station (Uni residence). And sure! My fb account is Edw4rd B4c4| (de-googleproofed, obviously; or just look on the ILE page) for any and all people that care to add me.

Has anyone done this?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkland_Walk

It's lovely - started from Finsbury Park and after 10 minutes or so it gets really quiet, like walking through the countryside. Give or take the odd dog walker and a bunch of people studiously graffiti-ing a tunnel. Made it up to Highgate before it completely belted it down with rain and so decided to get home. But it'd be so nice to do on a sunny winters day.... Not long now.

Yeah, it's a charming bit of hidden wilderness, and very atmospheric, with the all remnants of the abandoned railway.

Vauxhall - along the river to London Bridge - across the river to Liverpool Street - Shoreditch - Kingsland Road - Stoke Newington - Highbury and Islington - Upper St - Angel - Kings Cross

(about 11.5 miles)

has anyone done the greenway (from hackney wick out east)?

i want to do it and while i'd be into an east east london wilderness vibe, for the sake of others i kind of want to know whether there might be any nice pubs en route. nice as in not racist, no st george's crosses etc

(last weekend did battersea to richmond along the river and it was really nice)

Thinking about doing Stoke Newington to Highgate this weekend. Along the New River Path as far as Alexandra Palace, then down the Parkland Walk from Muswell Hill, through the woods to Highgate. Any idea how long this will take, and where is good for food and beer on the way?

Battersea to Richmond along the river is also under consideration for the future, maybe going further and taking in Eel Pie Island.

Any particular recommendations for country walks within about an hour from London on the train?

I did the Balcombe Circular a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it. Didn't get much more than exercise out of the Haslemere Circular this weekend but it was pleasant enough.

The Time Out guides are great but it would be good to know any favourites.

I had a v nice day pootling around the Rickmansworth aquadrome & then up the grand union canal yesterday, also quite good for birds if that's your thing

That looks lovely, thanks.