Walking through Hyde park with luggage on a Sat morning?
Sep 30th, 2014, 02:59 AM
#1
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Walking through Hyde park with luggage on a Sat morning?
We will be arriving Sat mid morning in London and are thinking about walking through Hyde park to our hotel with our luggage. We travel light. We'll each have only a small suitcase with wheels. Are we asking for trouble?
Sep 30th, 2014, 04:52 AM
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Yes, the width. I googled mapped it. It said about a 30 minute walk. Thought it might be a way to wake up after a long flight.
You made me laugh, sparkchaser, my mind starts creating fears that are never founded. I guess it's the growing up when there was a lot of talk about the Central park in NY before the big clean up there.
You made me laugh, sparkchaser, my mind starts creating fears that are never founded. I guess it's the growing up when there was a lot of talk about the Central park in NY before the big clean up there.
Sep 30th, 2014, 07:05 AM
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Not a bad idea to get a breath of what passes for fresh air in London. I've never heard of much, if anything, in the way of criminal activity in Hyde Park on a Saturday morning, unless you count those people who charge pots of money for enthusiastic fitness bootcamps and the like (not sure if they're allowed in Hyde Park anyway).
Bear in mind that Hyde Park does have at least one military barracks bordering it, and the Horse Guards regularly exercise the horses in part of it in the mornings.
Besides, my prejudices suggest that most potential muggers aren't up to much before lunchtime, and certainly not travelling into wide open spaces on the off chance of finding a potential victim. I think they tend to stay close to home.
Bear in mind that Hyde Park does have at least one military barracks bordering it, and the Horse Guards regularly exercise the horses in part of it in the mornings.
Besides, my prejudices suggest that most potential muggers aren't up to much before lunchtime, and certainly not travelling into wide open spaces on the off chance of finding a potential victim. I think they tend to stay close to home.
Sep 30th, 2014, 10:38 PM
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I certainly wouldn't even contemplate this walk without checking the weather. I can't begin to imagine what else the poster might be worried about.
Anecdotes (if I've read the poster accurately, she's got no real evidence any of them were actually true at the time) about other people's neuroses decades ago in an insular, crime-ridden, foreign hellhole are of no concern in a civilised city.
But it does rain in London, being stuck in the middle of Hyde Park without an umbrella is no fun (or easily escaped from), and weather seen from a plane window at Heathrow is a pretty unreliable guide to what it's going to be like 2 hours later in a completely different microclimate.
I assume the poster's planning to walk from Hyde Park Corner or South Ken tube to somewhere north of the park. It's a walk I regularly take on Saturday mornings in reverse - but only if it's dry or I've got a brolly: far more easily wielded with a briefcase over my shoulder than dragging a suitcase.
There are some routes across the park that are entirely asphalt: but the most direct - and infinitely prettiest - ones are the standard English invisible lines across grass: clinging to the asphalt can almost double some routes. Any route will be almost entirely surrounded by a 10 yard wide cinder horsetrack. Whether a suitcase is up to this terrain depends on underwheel conditions (dry weather today doesn't mean the grass isn't a muddy quagmire) and is a decision that can't easily be reversed once taken.
Hailing a taxi at HPC tube if the weather (or ground) turns out unpromising isn't much fun either.
If I had a suitcase, I'd go straight to the hotel from the airport, dump it then go for a walk.
Anecdotes (if I've read the poster accurately, she's got no real evidence any of them were actually true at the time) about other people's neuroses decades ago in an insular, crime-ridden, foreign hellhole are of no concern in a civilised city.
But it does rain in London, being stuck in the middle of Hyde Park without an umbrella is no fun (or easily escaped from), and weather seen from a plane window at Heathrow is a pretty unreliable guide to what it's going to be like 2 hours later in a completely different microclimate.
I assume the poster's planning to walk from Hyde Park Corner or South Ken tube to somewhere north of the park. It's a walk I regularly take on Saturday mornings in reverse - but only if it's dry or I've got a brolly: far more easily wielded with a briefcase over my shoulder than dragging a suitcase.
There are some routes across the park that are entirely asphalt: but the most direct - and infinitely prettiest - ones are the standard English invisible lines across grass: clinging to the asphalt can almost double some routes. Any route will be almost entirely surrounded by a 10 yard wide cinder horsetrack. Whether a suitcase is up to this terrain depends on underwheel conditions (dry weather today doesn't mean the grass isn't a muddy quagmire) and is a decision that can't easily be reversed once taken.
Hailing a taxi at HPC tube if the weather (or ground) turns out unpromising isn't much fun either.
If I had a suitcase, I'd go straight to the hotel from the airport, dump it then go for a walk.
Sep 30th, 2014, 10:47 PM
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Yes, it does depend on where this trip would be from and to. But, say, walking from South Kensington (much less hassle as a station and for finding at taxi if necessary than at Hyde Park Corner) would be a long slow uphill up Exhibition Road (not a steep hill, but noticeable with luggage), and then maybe along the carriage road through the centre of Hyde Park. No problem with wheels sinking into gravel or grass, but still a road with traffic on it - on the other hand, easy to see where there might be diversions to stop and have a breather (but bear in mind, there are highly unlikely to be any refreshment places open until late morning). I'd check the maps to see where the paved paths are, as well as the weather forecasts.
Sep 30th, 2014, 11:16 PM
#12
The walk is fine, the practicality, maybe not so much.
Assuming you are staying north of the park, it would be easier to book a car service to your hotel (like justairports.com ) or tube to South Kensington and catch a cab from there, and as flanner suggests, take your walk across the park after dropping your bags at the hotel.
Even if it is dry at LHR, it might be raining at Hyde Park.
(If by any chance you are staying south of the park - then we need to talk because that would mean you are taking a train to Paddington which wouldn't make sense)
Assuming you are staying north of the park, it would be easier to book a car service to your hotel (like justairports.com ) or tube to South Kensington and catch a cab from there, and as flanner suggests, take your walk across the park after dropping your bags at the hotel.
Even if it is dry at LHR, it might be raining at Hyde Park.
(If by any chance you are staying south of the park - then we need to talk because that would mean you are taking a train to Paddington which wouldn't make sense)
