Every Sunday we’ll pluck just one walk from the vast London Walks repertoire and put it center stage.
You can check out the full schedule at www.walks.com
But if you only take one walking tour this week, why not make it…
The Regent's Canal - Little Venice to Camden
Sunday 17th January 2:30pm Warwick Avenue Tube
This one is undoubtedly the prettiest of the three Regent's Canal Walks. It begins at Little Venice, harbor and home to waterfolk and landlubbers alike. There's prestige – and catch-in-the-throat attractive – real estate on and off the water. On the water because many of the "narrow boats" have been converted into very desirable houseboats.
It's been said, with very little exaggeration, that this is quite possibly the most beautiful residential neighbourhood in the world.
The scene is almost more Dutch than Venetian. Uniquely, the canal here is an extra ingredient in a London street. The buildings flanking the street vary from elegant semi-detached stuccoed villas and terraced houses to Edwardian mansion flats. They're very fine in their own right. Add to them the green of the mature trees forming a canopy to the canal and the water itself and the palette of brightly coloured boats (in exquisite counterpoint to the creamy stucco of the houses) and the delightful bridges that bookend the ensemble...well, it makes for a very special place.And that's just for starters. From there the canal runs through a tunnel under the Edgware Road and on to St. John's Wood...where it emerges to stunning views of Primrose Hill Regent's Park and the London Zoo.
And always with the canal walks – because you're in an automobile-free-zone – everything slows right down and you're back in the 1820s. Back in the 1820s seeing a London you'd never otherwise see. It's back-door London. Grand houses that back onto the canal. In some cases they have their own little pier with their boat tied up to it. All very much in marked – and delightful – contrast to the "public face" of these houses – which of course is the front, the view you get from the street. That's a view anybody can get anytime. It's the lazy, easy option. We go for richer pickings...we see their "private face".
And of course at the end of the walk we're right into Camden Market – we end at the lock – with all of its Sunday afternoon huzzah and color and panache and buzz.
To go on The Regent's Canal – Little Venice to Camden Walk meet Roger (or one of his Inland Waterways Associations colleagues) just outside Warwick Avenue Tube at 2:30 pm on the Sunday 17th January
The "Latecomers Catch-up Stop" is by the "pool" – the "pool" is where the three canals meet – at Little Venice. And then from there we'll of course go along the canal itself.
The walk ends very near Camden Town Tube. A London Walk costs £10 – £8 concession. To join a London Walk, simply meet your guide at the designated tube station at the appointed time. Details of all London Walks can be found at www.walks.com.
