Canal Guides

Aileen, Carla, Charlie, David, Flora, John, Lulu, Mike G., Naomi, Richard and Roger all have many years’ experience of the Inland Waterways and have explored them extensively by narrowboat (and, in Roger’s case, canoe). They’re all active members of the Inland Waterways Association, which works in partnership with us to provide the towpath walks in the London Walks programme.

All of Canal Guides's walks

The Regent's Canal – Mile End to Limehouse
The Regent's Canal – Mile End to Limehouse

Sunday, 01 October 2023 @ 2.30 pm (Click here for more dates)

"from the Age of Canals to cutting edge, 21-st century London"

The Regent's Canal - King's Cross, Granary Square, St. Pancras
The Regent's Canal - King's Cross, Granary Square, St. Pancras

Sunday, 15 October 2023 @ 2.30 pm

"unseen, untrodden, unexplored, unknown London beckons"

Royal Victoria Dock to East India Dock Towpath Walk
Royal Victoria Dock to East India Dock Towpath Walk

Sunday, 05 November 2023 @ 2.30 pm (Click here for more dates)

A new towpath walk created by the London Walks team of Regent's Canal guides (in conjunction with the IWA – Inland Waterways Association)

The Regent's Canal – River Tyburn to Little Venice
The Regent's Canal – River Tyburn to Little Venice

Sunday, 19 November 2023 @ 2.30 pm (Click here for more dates)

"we step into a different world here, a different world bouquet’d with incidental delights – 'The Upside Down House', for example..."

The Regent's Canal – Islington to Kingsland Road
The Regent's Canal – Islington to Kingsland Road

Sunday, 07 January 2024 @ 2.30 pm

"ankle power, water power, horsepower, steam engine power, electric power, internal combustion engine power – the walk, er, runs the gamut"

The Regent's Canal:   King's Cross-Granary Square-Camden
The Regent's Canal: King's Cross-Granary Square-Camden

Sunday, 21 January 2024 @ 2.30 pm

The London of a couple of centuries ago. A London of tunnels and bridges and narrowboats and locks.

Grosvenor Canal & Battersea Power Station
Grosvenor Canal & Battersea Power Station

Sunday, 18 February 2024 @ 2.30 pm

Combines the hidden byways of London's least known, most secret canal and the Thames' mightiest cathedral. What's not to like?

The Regent's Canal - Little Venice to Camden Town
The Regent's Canal - Little Venice to Camden Town

Sunday, 31 March 2024 @ 2.30 pm (Click here for more dates)

Life's better by water...

The Regent's Canal – King's Cross to Hitchcock's Hackney
The Regent's Canal – King's Cross to Hitchcock's Hackney

Sunday, 07 April 2024 @ 2.30 pm

out of the chrysalis of old 19th-century industrial London into the buzz of a new London

Other walks Canal Guides can do - they can be booked privately.

Grand Surrey Canal, Rotherhithe, Mayflower, Surrey Water, Greenland Dock
Grand Surrey Canal, Rotherhithe, Mayflower, Surrey Water, Greenland Dock

"We've got an old canal here. And a dock. And memories. And traces..."

The Grand Union Canal – Little Venice & Paddington Green
The Grand Union Canal – Little Venice & Paddington Green

"a secret corner of London closed to the public for 200 years"

Grand Surrey Canal, Royal Navy Victualling Yard, Greenland Dock
Grand Surrey Canal, Royal Navy Victualling Yard, Greenland Dock

A get away from it all walk – down on that towpath it's 200 years ago. 

The Regent's Canal – Mile End to Haggerston
The Regent's Canal – Mile End to Haggerston

"Welcome to an English rainforest of different types of trees and plants. Then a POW! of a contrast..."

The Grand Union Canal – Kensal Green to Little Venice
The Grand Union Canal – Kensal Green to Little Venice

"the Cinderella of London's canal network"

Limehouse - Thames - Docklands
Limehouse - Thames - Docklands

"part gentrified, part solidly working class"