Fourteen walks. Forty-two miles. One great journey across London. From the Hertfordshire border to the Surrey Downs, these are the people who walked the whole thing. Here’s what they made of it.
Ian and Deborah’s London Camino
“One of the ‘highlights’ of our six week tour in London this year (2026) was the Absolutely Brilliant!!! London Camino walk aka ‘Ultimate London walk’, led by Charlie. He is an outstanding coordinator, highly compassionate, and possesses a vast knowledge of London, not to mention a dry sense of humour! We spent seven days travelling from the north to south crossing through Buckingham Palace and Westminster. Amazingly over four of those days we walked in green spaces along trails. With Charlie’s direction we gained a comprehensive understanding of the forces that shape London’s development to the great city it is today.
“We are so glad to have had the privilege of participating in the London Camino experience! Well done Charlie and we both hope to connect again on another London walk.” Ian & Deborah Mills
Antoinette’s London Camino
“I completed the full (almost!) Ultimate Walk – 13 out of 14 walks over 7 days, from the Hertfordshire border to the Surrey border – with our guide Charlie.
“From the very first walk, Charlie put the whole group at ease and set out the practicalities clearly each day – terrain, timings, toilets, food, safety, transport – so everyone knew what to expect. Walks started and finished on time, and the organisation throughout was excellent.
“What made the walk special was Charlie’s depth of knowledge. He wove together the story of how London grew – stagecoaches to railways to roads – and used it to explain everything we passed: common land, woodland, old mansions, new estates, garden suburbs, social mobility across the centuries, and how wealth and poverty shaped different areas. Nothing was ever just scenery; there was always a story behind it, and always more than one side to that story.
“The route itself was a journey in miniature of London’s geography and character: starting in green, semi-rural Hertfordshire, through Hampstead’s Garden Suburb, into increasingly built-up London, through Marylebone and Mayfair’s wealth (with pelicans spotted in Green Park along the way), past Royalty, palaces and the Abbey, across the river at Vauxhall into a completely different south London landscape, through wooded stretches to Crystal Palace (with its fascinating history and freshly renovated dinosaurs), past racecourses, golf courses and up to one of the best views of London, and finally down to the Surrey border for a walk of reflection on the whole journey, north and south.
“A few things stood out consistently across all 14 days:
• Every walk stands alone. Whether someone joined for one walk or all fourteen, Charlie made sure they felt as included as the Ultimate Walk regulars, and each walk worked as a complete experience in its own right – even though a few themes ran through all of them.
• Genuinely unhurried pace. Walkers could go at their own speed, and Charlie never started explaining anything until the whole group had caught up.
• Attentive to the group. If one person asked a question, he’d repeat it for everyone else, so nobody missed out.
• Reliably punctual and well-organised, even when public transport delays hit much of the group on one morning (Charlie included) – he adapted the route seamlessly and still got everyone to a lovely lunch spot he recommended.
• Deep, well-researched knowledge, clearly the product of real time spent planning routes and researching history, architecture and social change – delivered with obvious passion rather than recited.
“By the end, there was a real sense of achievement and a touch of sadness that it was over, but the knowledge gained along the way will stay with me for a long time. Three cheers for Charlie – a real gem of a guide.”
