I have a very good friend who likes following the courses of hidden or disused rivers – so a couple of years back we set off on a walk to follow the River Fleet from it's source in Hampstead to where it joins The Thames near Blackfriars. Now there is a fundamental flaw with following an underground river – you don’t see a lot of it.
So our next plan was to walk the length of The Regent’s Canal – very much visible – and a lovely walk from Paddington Basin to Limehouse. The walk is about 10 miles in all, rarely leaves the tow path and like any canal walk is broadly speaking flat (bonus there).
If you don’t fancy such a long walk the walk can easily be split in to three sections; Little Venice to Camden Lock passing through London Zoo, Camden Lock to Islington and Islington to Limehouse. There are also river boats that run along The Regent’s Canal so you might want to combine a boat trip and a walk.
This has to be one of the most unique and picturesque walks in London – to be able to walk that far hardly leaving the tow path and seeing such varied parts of North London from a completely different perspective not to mention the incredible history of the locations along the canal. It’s also broadly speaking peaceful save for the threat of cyclists on the tow path.
Just to step back a minute, a bit of history, The Regent’s Canal was built in the early 19th century to connect The Grand Union Canal coming from the North with The Thames at Limehouse.
Canals were a crucial part of the industrial revolution enabling mass transport of goods and The Regent’s Canal joined the canal network from the North of England with The Thames for the import and export trade.
The canal was used extensively until the mid 20th century though the railways took away much of it’s trade; since then the canal has become much more of a leisure asset and more recently there has been large scale development of the various warehouses and basins along the route.
So back to the walk – the canal starts at Little Venice where the tow path follows the line of multi coloured house boats moored alongside the canal.
After a minor detour as the canal passes through the Maida Hill Tunnel, you’ll follow the tow path through St John’s Wood and then along the North side of Regent’s Park passing through the middle of London Zoo.
As the canal heads towards Camden Town look out for the Feng Shang Princess – the floating Chinese restaurant.
Next stop is Camden Lock and the world famous market– you probably deserve a refreshment stop by now – and you’ll be spoilt for choice here with a great selection of food stalls in the market and some great pubs in Camden.
Suitably refreshed you’ll be ready to tackle the next 7 miles to Limehouse.
Between Camden and Islington you’ll pass large areas of old canal side warehouses, many now redeveloped, the old TV-AM studios (remember them), numerous basins occupied by canal boats, the redeveloped gasometers now known as Gasholder Park and a series of locks including Hawley Lock, Kentish Town Lock and St Pancras Lock.
Just past the gasometers, you'll find Words on The Water – The London Bookbarge, a 100 year old Dutch barge converted in to a floating book shop – well worth a browse.
Approaching Islington, the canal enters a long tunnel (nearly 900M long) and here you have to leave the tow path for about ¾ of a mile, picking up the canal again at the end of Duncan Street.
After the relative hustle and bustle of Islington and the stretch through Dalston and Hackney, the final couple of miles of the walk are much greener; the tow path passes along side Victoria Park, Millenium Park and Mile End Park past a series of locks before arriving at Limehouse Basin – your final destination.
Fancy a well earned drink at the end of your walk? Why not try The Grapes – one of London’s most historic pubs.
If you’re heading back in to Central London after your walk, pick up one of the Thames Clipper river taxis from Canary Wharf pier just few minutes walk downstream from Limehouse – another great way of seeing London from an alternative perspective.
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