TaniaP

There is a circular walk (about 5 miles) along canal towpaths, starting and ending at Limehouse - walking along the Limehouse Cut to Bromley-by-Bow, then heading north, turning west along the bottom edge of Victoria Park, and heading back down to Limehouse through Mile End Park.

Has anyone done this? Is it interesting? Safe? My oldest friend lives in Woolwich, so I have some sense of what east London looks like... is this more of the same, or something different?

Thanks!

PatrickLondon

It will be different from Woolwich, especially once you get on to the Regent's Canal going back down to Limehouse Marina - lots of gentrification. Vicky Park is a gem, Mile End Park is full of interest (go up on to the Green Bridge).

Limehouse Cut can be a bit deserted at times, but as far as I know it's reasonably safe. Three Mills is worth a look. You'll find the towpath a bit muddy in places. My main worry at the moment would be how much of the top end of the walk you might need to divert from because of building work on the Olympic park (I don't honestly know). Take a good street map.

flanneruk

It's nothing at all like the East London you see from buses (mostly Victorian drek with the odd postwar highrise ex-Council horror), or from riverboats (Legoland).

There's an astonishing amount of greenery on this walk, an impressive slug of that wondefrful sense of design the early Victorians had when they were building industrial things, abd as PL says, a few nice bits of gentrified "Georgian" (almost always built a good few years after George IV flobbed off to his grave).

No need, of course, to do the circular walk. Stay on the Regents' Canal till you see the sign for Liverpool and Oxford at Camden Lock, and you've got another 100-300 miles of fine walking. Or just stay on till you get to the Islington Tunnel and return by public transport.

Unlike rural circular walks, you're always just a couple of hundred yards from a bus stop or tube on the Canal. Great way of seeing London

TaniaP

Thanks, Patrick and Flanner - you have convinced me! I am planning to do this walk next week with a friend, weather permitting. I think the Grapes in Limehouse might be the perfect start/end point - agree?

PatrickLondon

I like The Grapes. But if I used it as a start point, I might never get started.

If you do do the circular walk, start with Limehouse Cut to Three Mills, as it is the more obviously ex-industrial, and less interesting for the latter part of a long-ish walk.

Along Regent's Canal, do take the opportunity (if there's time) to divert a bit in Victoria and Mile End Parks, and possibly at Broadway Market (the market itself is likely to be in full swing only on a Saturday afternoon, and will probably be less interesting at other times).

Some pics:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/patrick...7594204710194/
http://autolycus-london.blogspot.com...bike-ride.html