Warwick Avenue to Greenwich

A linear walk across London, starting at Warwick Avenue in Maida Vale and finishing at Greenwich. The route took me from the very genteel surroundings of Little Venice, along the Regent’s Canal, down to the River Thames and eventually under the river itself via the Greenwich Foot Tunnel.

Walk Details	Start Point
Distance: 21.88km	Start: Google Maps
Duration: 05:36	W3W: ///level.librarian.fails
OS Maps

Warwick Avenue to Greenwich - A Walk Through London

From Warwick Avenue I made my way down to Little Venice. The canal here is surrounded by elegant Regency and Victorian properties, with their well kept gardens and expensive looking apartments.

From Little Venice I followed the Regent’s Canal eastwards. You can't actually walk along the towpath here as they are all private moorings, but you can follow the road opposite. At this point I lost the canal  as it disappeared into Maida Hill Tunnel, and I had to navigate my way overground until I eventually rejoined the canal further ahead.

One of the things that struck me most along the whole walk was the sheer variety of canal side living. There seemed to be a different version of London life around almost every bend.

There were beautifully maintained narrowboats, complete with little gardens, plants and personal touches outside them, alongside others that looked neglected or even abandoned. I passed a custom built shack and saw signs of rough sleepers under one of the bridges.

Then, as the canal went through Regent's Park, the surroundings changed yet again. Mansions replaced the more modest canal side accommodation, before the canal cut through London Zoo and continued towards trendy Camden.

Then came the gas holders.

Today the area is known as Gasholder Park, but I remember seeing those enormous structures from the train on my many journeys from St Albans to St Pancras. I never really paid them much attention, other than thinking how ugly they looked.

The gas holders have now been converted into expensive apartments built within the old structures. The whole area around King's Cross has been transformed including a building called platform 37 which is home to Googles UK headquarters. To be honest, I found the whole area stunning.

I lost the canal once more at Islington Canal Tunnel. This time I really did think I'd lost it but after a bit more navigating through the streets,  I eventually rediscovered it just past Angel Underground station.

From there I followed the towpath to Limehouse Basin, where the Regent's Canal meets the River Thames.

Here the character of the walk changed once again.

The almost hidden world of the canal opened out onto the much larger river and suddenly I was walking through a very different London.

The modern skyline became increasingly prominent. The contrast between old and new was everywhere -  warehouses, docks and industrial buildings sitting alongside relatively new apartment blocks and the ever growing collection of London's skyscrapers.

I followed the Thames eastwards, taking in the views across the river and the constantly changing architecture before eventually reaching the Greenwich Foot Tunnel.

Walking underneath the Thames felt like a fitting finale to the route. The tunnel, which opened in 1902, links the Isle of Dogs with Greenwich and was originally built to provide dock workers with a way of crossing the river.

I emerged on the Greenwich side and suddenly the Cutty Sark was there in front of me.

One of the things I enjoyed most about following the canal is, despite being in the middle of one of the world's busiest cities and surrounded by millions of people, along the water it can feel surprisingly peaceful and almost removed from London altogether.

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