Contents
Introduction
The geology of London
London’s open spaces
When to go
Safety in London
Getting around London
Access
What to take
Maps
Using this guide
East to the Lea
Walk 1 Rainham Marshes and Coldharbour Point
Walk 2 Dagenham’s open spaces
Walk 3 Epping Forest from Chingford
Walk 4 Wanstead Flats and Park
Walk 5 Olympic Park and Greenway
Walk 6 River Lea
Lea to Brent
Walk 7 Enfield Chase
Walk 8 Regent’s Canal
Walk 9 New River and Parkland Walk
Walk 10 Royal Parks
Walk 11 Hampstead Heath
Walk 12 Dollis Valley Greenwalk
Brent to Wandle
Walk 13 Ruislip Woods
Walk 14 Yeading Brook
Walk 15 Crane Park
Walk 16 Bushy Park and Home Park
Walk 17 Wimbledon Common and Richmond Park
Walk 18 Kew and Isleworth
Walk 19 Wandle Trail
East of the Wandle
Walk 20 Happy Valley
Walk 21 Hills and woods of Croydon
Walk 22 Sydenham Hill Wood
Walk 23 Woodlands of south-east London
Walk 24 Chislehurst
Walk 25 Downe
Appendix A Long-distance paths in London
Appendix B Where to find out more
July 2021
Walk 13: Ruislip Woods
P111. There is now a pub at the finish in Northwood Hills, the Three Wishes.
P113. Note that the left turn for the car park in Mad Bess Wood now occurs at a wooden crossroads sign.
P111. Important change to the walk start. Works for the HS2 rail line have now started, and as mentioned on pp111-2, the first part of the walk can no longer be followed. Instead, follow the alternative start below.
At West Ruislip station, cross the road and turn right to descend Ickenham Road off the bridge. Take the first road on the left (Clack Lane), opposite a petrol station.
Ruislip station is an alternative start – as both Ruislip and Northwood Hills are on the Metropolitan Line, and are also linked by the H13 bus, this makes it easier to return to the start by public transport. From Ruislip station, pass the bus stops, turn left onto Pembroke Road, and cross the junction ahead to enter Kingsend.
Cross the roundabout by the White Bear pub and follow the right-hand pavement of Ickenham Road. Opposite a petrol station, turn right onto a road (Clack Lane), joining the route from West Ruislip station.
Clack Lane soon becomes a lane rather than a road, but when this veers right, continue on a gravel path for 400m, where the path forks. Take the right fork, and after 80m, turn left on a footbridge over the River Pinn, and enter a long meadow. Look for a stile on your left; cross it, and continue on a path.
You come to Old Clack Farm. Turn left, and follow a green lane (Tile Kiln Lane), keeping straight ahead where it becomes metalled. Turn right onto a busy road (Breakspear Road South), but only for 30 metres, when you turn right over a stile through the hedge.
Cross a field to a gate, then keep a hedge on your right, later steering through a gap in it. Turn left then right to return to the same direction you have followed from the road, the hedge once again on your right all the way up to the top. Looking back, the North Downs are in view, and the very top of the Wembley Stadium arch, amongst other landmarks.
Cross a stile at the end of the field – beware the nasty drop on the other side. Turn left onto path U39 to reach another stile and then turn right downhill, soon crossing an access track to a warehouse complex. Enter a meadow and later join a track: go left for a few metres, then turn right through a fence to a stile. This gives onto a road (Newyears Green Lane). Cross it, and enter a green lane which lies ahead and just to your left: it soon becomes path U35, and you have rejoined the route on p112, just before waymark ❶. Note that gas main work in this area – another consequence of HS2 – is expected to last until 2022, but it does not affect the rights of way on this walk.
March 2020
Walk 11
Page 97: penultimate paragraph sentences four and five: replace as follows.Keep above them, passing just to the left of Two Tree Hill, which is simply two oaks on a small knoll. Just beyond the furthest pond, kept on your left, turn right onto a broad track. Almost back at Spaniards Road, turn left on a path, almost immediately ignoring a left turn, and drop down to a road.
March 2020
Walk 5
As of March 2020, there is building work in the Olympic Park which leads to two small diversions while the work is being completed, but completion of works elsewhere means that the closed section of Greenway has now reopened.
Page 48: building work blocks off the end of the path that winds between water features. When you can go no further, keep right to access the zebra crossing.
Pages 48 last sentence and paragraph on pages 49-50: replace with:After the next steps, cross the bridge, and then turn left keeping above the river. Cross the next road at a pelican crossing and head towards the London Stadium. After passing the Park café, zig zag down to the City Mill River on your right, and keep ahead beside it. At the second bridge go up the steps to a road, cross the bridge and then a zebra crossing, and take a ramp up to the Greenway ...
Page 50: the stretch of the Greenway south of the railway has now reopened.
March 2020
Walk 6
Page 55: as of March 2020, there is a significant rebuilding programme under way at Tottenham Hale station. The underpass is now closed. From the rail / tube station, walk round by the bus station, and turn left on Ferry Lane, crossing this main road if you need to avoid pavement works.
Page 55 last paragraph: the route described through the Wetlands may be closed at various times, for example during the breeding season. If so, turn left after the Engine House, then left again, and then take a path right between the next pair of reservoirs. Fork right twice to reach the Coppermill Tower. The kissing gate (1) has disappeared and is replaced by a gap in the fence.
Page 57 first paragraph: Walthamstow Marshes are prone to flooding and if so the boardwalk may be closed. If so, don't turn right towards it, but continue on the covered aqueduct. At the next signboard turn right on the track past the Ice Rink, cross the river and rejoin the route.
Walking in our capital city is not all pavements and traffic fumes!
As any London LDWA Group member will tell you, walking in our capital city is not all pavements and traffic fumes. It is home, as Peter Aylmer points out, to eight million trees and, for every acre of land that bears a building, road or railway, another is open space.
An example he gives is Wanstead Flats, that tussocky plain between the A116 and Wanstead Station, just under one mile square and where, in 2016, the local wildlife group counted 1508 species - all in 0.2% of London's area.
So this is a book whose 25 walks are on a relatively unusual theme: viewing London as a range of habitat for wildlife. Expeditions take in one National Trail, six regional trails and a plethora of local trails and informal paths and, as the author points out, on every one of these walks you will find yourself wondering where all the roads and houses have gone. Routes are easily accessed by London transport, and range from 4ml shorties that can beguile a lunch hour to six-hour day hikes.
This most readable little book is stuffed with bags of information as well as the usual maps and is a must for anyone who wants to explore the big city in a different way.
Julie Welch, Strider, the Long-distance Walkers' Association magazine
A wealth of information
London can be an expensive place to visit but why not try a free activity walking to discover green spaces and nature reserves. Usefully all the walks can be accessed by public transport and whilst some are quite long they could be broken down into shorter sections. Covering both the city centre and Greater London area the 25 walks take in woods and forests, parks and heaths, canals and rivers, the guide includes a wealth of information about some of the species you might encounter as well as the history and conservation of these areas.
Life In magazine
There is lots to explore and [this book is] a great size to fit in your pocket.
This a book which gives you 25 walks around the greener parts of London where you will bump into birds and other wildlife at some part of your walk.
It is not written as a ‘where to watch’ but a walking book with many pictures of habitat and wildlife included. It starts with the RSPB reserve at Rainham Marshes and includes the River Lea avoiding the wetlands when most here would prefer to get closer! Many walks are lines not circular but then again there is a transport network to bring you back again.
Interesting facts are found by each walk like Hampstead Heath has ¼ of the British spider species on this one site! Ruislip Ancient Woodlands has a stream and even a ‘Lido’! There is lots to explore and a great size to fit in your pocket.
A comprehensive guide to walking that covers the whole of the London area.
It's been a while since we had a comprehensive guide to walking that covers the whole of the London area. Peter Aylmer's new guide may be the best since Colin Saunders' London: the definitive walking guide in 2002.
The 25 walks range widely across the capital, reaching into the Home Counties while not neglecting the many opportunities in the inner city and centre. All are accessible by public transport, most follow manageable terrain, and most are under 10 miles long. They focus on London's green spaces, rivers and canals, and particularly nature reserves-which together, and still to the surprise of many Londoners, account for half the surface area of the metropolis.
Each walk description features flora and fauna as well as historical and other features to be found along the way. The information has the backing of conservation groups and a historian. All this is beautifully illustrated with photographs by the author and other skilled enthusiasts. The guide is aimed at individuals, families and groups who want to fill perhaps half a day, or the winter daylight hours of a whole day, in the open air. The routes are original, devised by the author, but some give a taste of the long distance footpaths (Thames Path, Lea Valley, London Loop and others) and brief information on these is included. For leaders of what most of us call 'short' walks and belonging to Groups in the London boroughs, Walking in London will be standard reading. It will also appeal to Groups based in Hertfordshire who want to include London in their walks Programmes.
It should certainly be acquired, read and referred to often by new walk leaders. Its choice of off-the-peg fine walks offers an excellent way to break into leading; it also contains sound practical advice on safety, transport and so on that complements what we are taught about country walking.
And if any friends or family are thinking even vaguely of taking up walking, make sure Walking in London helps fill their Christmas stockings.
The book is simply tremendous.
The book is simply tremendous. Superb graphics, amazingly easy to read maps, terrific prose that is helpful but not elephantine (at the end of the day, it is a GUIDE to physical exertion, not a novel or series of scientific vignettes), and astonishingly effective illustrations all spark my imagination. I am now in that happy state where I can realistically envision a number of future visits where my efforts will be devoted to exploring as many of the individual routes suggested in the guidebook as I can compass.
Sam S.
