Imagine the look on your friend’s face…
when you say –
“You know I said I was going out for a bit of a stroll in London?
Thought you might like to hear where that London perambulation took me…”
“I walked through a woods…
crossed a couple of streams…
cut across a hayfield…
wandered through a pasture…
and ended up in a village…
with a green…
and a pond.”
And your friend looks at you and says –
“London?”
Nobody’s going to believe that.
It’s just as well you’ve got the photos.
Yes, what a hoot, what a high, talk about bragging rights…
telling your friends where that London stroll took you.
That’s The Ultimate London Walk.
And it’s hoving into view.
It’s on deck.
It gets underway in early May.
Two versions this summer.
Two ways to take it on.
First, the Saunter.
The relaxed, spread-out version.
Starting in early May…
two stages a day…
unfolding across the summer…
until we wrap it up with the final stage on September 5th.
And then cometh…
the Pilgrimage.
The Camino version.
That one begins in mid-September…
and over nine days…
two walks a day…
you complete the full crossing.
All fourteen stages.
In sequence.
Now…
you can do the whole thing if you want.
Fourteen walks.
Forty-two miles.
Right across London, north to south.
But you absolutely don’t have to.
You can just take a slice.
One walk.
Two walks.
A day here, a day there.
Because each section stands on its own.
A complete experience.
A different corner of London.
And some of those corners…
well…
you’ve just heard what they’re like.
Now, last summer…
twelve walkers did do the whole thing.
They crossed London, top to bottom.
So yes…
you can go the distance.
But just as importantly –
you can dip in.
And get something just as special.
And this time, we’ve got something we didn’t have before.
We know it works.
It’s been tested.
Refined.
And we’ve got the experience of the people who did it.
What it felt like.
What stayed with them.
One of those walkers – Alison – has written a superb, detailed review of the whole adventure.
Here’s what it’s like when you do it.
So…
Here’s Alison, telling it like it was, like it is.
🎙️ ALISON’S REVIEW
Alison.
October, 12th, 2025.
“Where… why… when… and how exactly did London grow to fill its modern-day big boots?
And who decided the extent of its footprint?
Those were the questions our guide Charlie posed at the outset.
And over the course of fourteen walks…
he set about answering them.
Through explanations that were incredibly informative…
…and frequently entertaining tales…
of the lives, the vision, and the work…
of the Londoners who shaped this great capital.
Because The Ultimate London Walk turned out to be far more than a series of neighbourhoods.
Over seven days – fourteen half-day sections – it became a walked journey through London…
northwest to southeast…
each stage contributing to a bigger picture…
of a living, breathing, evolving city.
A wonderfully handcrafted tale.
Interwoven strands.
The city’s inhabitants.
Its visionaries and reformers.
Landowners, industrialists, investors.
The wealthy…
and those fallen on hard times.
The well-meaning…
and the misguided.
The do-gooders…
and the ne’er-do-wells.
All knitted together…
into the story of the footprints Londoners have left behind.
And then there was the walking itself.
Somewhat surprisingly…
very few of the forty-odd miles were along hard pavements.
Charlie’s vital green thread through the capital led us instead…
along river paths and bridleways…
through woodland…
past orchards…
along the edges of hayfields…
through parks and gardens…
sensory and walled…
landscaped and local…
Royal and country.
Across playing fields.
Alongside golf courses.
And often…
uphill.
Because yes…
we climbed a fair few hills.
And the reward?
Unexpected vistas.
Panoramas.
Views of London you simply don’t see any other way.
We caught more than a whiff of the horsepower of former years.
One-time dairies.
Stables.
Coaching inns.
The sites of horse fairs…
races…
steeplechases long since run.
There were echoes of the military as well.
Former barracks.
Misty morning battlefields.
Monuments to the fallen…
human…
and equine.
And everywhere…
contrast.
Housing once opulent…
now out of reach.
Villas and palaces…
with parkland and pergolas.
And alongside them…
almshouses.
Children’s homes.
Public baths.
Garden suburbs.
Trim hedges.
Homes for heroes.
A square garden…
accessible only to keyholders.
A rescued neighbourhood…
once squatted…
now exotically planted…
and open to all.
Venues for sport…
for ladies as well as gentlemen.
And commerce…
in all its variety.
From historic trades to shopping arcades.
From Burlington to Brixton.
From knicker elastic…
to electric lighting…
to questionable mineral waters…
and patented flush loos.
What fascinated me most…
was the detective work.
Charlie unpicking the bones of long-abandoned parkland.
Deciphering ghost writing on shop gables.
Disused stations.
Revealing a hidden garden.
An unexpected gravestone.
The line of a river…
long since lost from sight.
A fleeting Google Earth footprint…
of a vanished villa.
Or a well-worn park path…
leading…
where exactly?
And then there was Charlie himself.
An encyclopaedic knowledge…
across so many fields.
Housing.
Town planning.
The Enclosure Acts.
Healthcare.
Transport.
Waterways.
Church.
Monarchy.
Parliament.
The military.
Ask him anything…
and he had the answer.
Clear.
Patient.
And all without notes.
Inspirational indeed.
Now…
like quite a few of the other walkers…
I’d signed up for fresh autumn air.
Exercise.
A challenge.
And the chance to learn more about London.
But something else happened.
Something none of us had really expected.
Somewhere along the way…
a community formed.
Out of the shared purpose of the walk…
came conversation.
Friendship.
Connection.
We talked…
on the longer stretches between stops.
Reflected together…
on what we were seeing.
What we were discovering.
And in the end…
it became something more than a walk.
A shared experience.
A memorable one.
Thank you, Charlie.”
And thank you, Alison
🎙️ OUTRO + TRAIL
And tomorrow…
A very different kind of London story.
Because tomorrow sees the publication of a groundbreaking new book on Jack the Ripper…
by our very own superstar guide…
Richard Walker.
That’s tomorrow.
London calling.
London Walks connecting.
This is London.
This is London Walks.
Story time. History time.
And until then…
here’s to discovering a London you didn’t even know was there.
See you then.