Degas

Read that you can take a cruise along the Regent?s canal from Little Venice, through Regent?s Park to the street markets of Camden Lock. Company called Jason?s Trip runs the boat on a 1.5 hour trip from Apr through Oct. Wharf is close to the Warwick Avenue Tube. Adults 5 pounds.

Is Little Venice a nice place to walk around or shop? Is this a good company? Are there other company?s that run these type tours. Anybody tried biking or walking along the canal? I'm not expecting it to be like Amsterdam or Venice, just something a little different to do on a nice day.

ron

I've done the trip a couple of times with the London Water Bus Company; I've walked the towpath a couple of times as well. It's a pleasant walk. You can leave the path at Primrose Hill and climb the hill for great views over London, or go into Regent's Park near the zoo. Little Venice is strictly an up-market residential area - no shopping.

flanneruk

I frequently walk along the canal towpath: others bike it (though at their own risk: the towpath is very unevenly surfaced, and if you fall in they pump your stomach out before worrying about artificial respiration. The water is VERY unpleasant)
I like it - though the walk from Little Venice to Camden Lock is pretty short: say 3/4 mile at most. 20 mins and it's done
Little Venice is a misnomer. It's one canal, with pleasant, mostly leafy houses and almost no shops. Architecture there is nice early 19th century.
The bit through the park sort of goes through the zoo: you can't get into the zoo, but bits are visible as you walk.

IMHO it all gets a lot more fun after (ie eastward of) Camden Lock. Much seedier (though perfectly safe by daylight): you get a back view of lots of London. At weekends it's lined with fishermen, though I've never seen anyone catch - much less eat - anything.

Carry on for the couple of miles to the Islington Tunnel. Follow street signs through Islington to Camden Passage (an antiques market) and the Islington bit of the canal, where for the first few hundred yards really lovely Georgian houses' gardens go down to the canal. After that it goes on for miles. You can, with energy, follow it, partly through parks, till it gets to the yuppified area in East London where it joins the Thames. Little Venice-Limehouse Basin (the Thames junction): about six hours. But there are several canalside pubs along the way, which really did, once, cater to bargees

Or if you're really energetic, turn right at Little Venice. Keep walking for 230 miles and you get to the Irish Sea at Liverpool.

Much more interesting than being stuck on a boat.

TuckH

I dunno, Degas...with everything else you have on your agenda, I'd drop this idea. A bit of an anti-climax I think.

Patrick

I have done the trip by boat and have walked it. I much prefer the walk which allows you slight detours, especially up the hill for spectacular views out over London. (OK, I'm not at home and am drawing a blank on the name of that hill -- Primrose something or other???) It is quite near the zoo.

Degas

Thanks for the feedback. Still don't know if this one is a keeper given only six days in London. Walking the path might actually be a better way to go. What's a few more miles after having done some many already!