In October I hosted my friend Erin, she’s Canadian and visited in 2012. She was the reason I went to Berlin again as she never visited when she lived in London. After returning from Berlin I took a day off to explore the city with her.
The destination was Camden as she was looking for gifts, specifically prints of the city. Before going to the market we decided to take a stroll along the canal. Even on a weekday in the morning the area was already buzzing so our decision to head down the canal was rewarded with a bit of peace and quiet.
I’ve been down this route before via boat heading to little Venice but I had never walked this far down. We walked and reminisced on the time she lived in the city and the adventures we had. Then we came to a fork in the path near a bridge. Before us were these frames below on the side of the bridge:
After finding this cute take on street art (likely here because you pass the zoo on this route) I wanted to keep walking down the canal to see what else I had possibly missed previously but we had a choice to make.
If we kept on it would veer us from our goal or we could hang a right, head to Primrose Hill and then complete a circle and go to the markets. We decided to do that and Erin finally saw a glimpse of an area she had never visited.
Although very clean and posh there wasn’t anything that we saw on our brief foray through the area that screamed come visit me again. But I shall just to make sure. To be fair we only explored one street and not Primrose Hill proper.
On our route back to the markets we passed a corner of wall near Camden Roundhouse that seems to be a commissioned wall for street art because there is no way to paint a piece this involved and not get caught. I quite liked the colours.
After more aimless wandering we reached our destination and began in the stables market on a hunt for gifts. It was busy, loud, and all of our senses were assaulted at once, but it was fun.
That’s the amazing thing about London, you can visit an area countless times and still see something new. This neon Camden sign was spotted in the market and I know I’ve walked by it many times but this time I looked up at the right moment. It is now my favorite.
This route is pretty great and I’d recommend it as it is easy to extend or shorten. It gave a good taste on the diversity the city and how quickly you can move from a gritty area to a prim and proper one.
