London Parks Way
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The London Parks Way has been designed as an attempt to produce the definitive walking route through London beginning at Kingston station and finishing at the Cutty Sark at Greenwich. This London Parks Way passes through the Royal Parks of Bushy Park, Richmond Park, Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, Regents Park, St James Park, and Greenwich Park as well as Hampton Court Park, Holland Park, Victoria Park and Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The approximate distance is 65 miles
This website is split into 6 sections each of which is a self-contained walk that can be reached by train.
If you walk the London Parks Way you will also see some of the prettiest sections of the River Thames, walk along the Regents Canal, see the regeneration of London Docklands with the ever changing skyline in Canary Wharf, visit a traditional London street market, and pass through a city farm. Most of the sites used in the hugely successful 2012 Olympic Games will be seen on this walk.
I first started leading walks in London in 2008 and developed an interest in the history of the London parks. The idea of linking them all together in a major route occurred to me around 2011 but I waited until the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park was opened in May 2014 before I launched this site.
Hopefully the website will encourage people to plan a good day out involving a walk along one of the sections perhaps also taking in one of the attractions along the route.
The intention is to constantly improve the website and the route. Any feedback or questions will be welcome.
Wix just provides an external mailbox service using Google which is too expensive for a hobby site. If you have any questions or feedback can you please contact me Rob Myers at London Parks Way Info. I will get back to you ASAP. It would be particularly interesting to hear from people who have completed the route.
The site consists of 4 main headings:-
ROUTE. This contains a route description of each of the six sections. The route instructions are very detailed but an up to date London A-Z is useful because of possible temporary diversions.
NOTES. This is my personal take of the history of each of the six sections. It contains links to some of the attractions passed on route.
SLIDESHOW. Contains over 100 photographs which I have taken along the route over the past few years
OTHER WALKS. After gaining a lot of satisfaction from developing the London Parks Way over the past few years I have decided to add a further walk. This is about 9 miles long. Together with the 6 sections of the London Parks Way there will be a choice of 7 day walks of between 8 and 13 miles.
Route descriptions, history notes, and GPX files can be downloaded using dropbox see Route section.These items can also be emailed, however the response could be slow in event of holidays etc.
The London Parks Way has been included in the Long Distance Walkers Association (LDWA) database of long distance walks: https://www.ldwa.org.uk/ldp/members/show_path.php?menu_type=S&path_name=London+Parks+Way
My decision to resurrect this website was partly due to reviews of the London Parks Way on other websites which I found during lockdown notably:
Petes Logs:
http://www.c8h10n4o2.org/walking/london_parks/index.html
Fastest Known Time:
https://fastestknowntime.com/route/london-parks-way-united-kingdom
Musical Slide Shows:
Javier Lopez aka Javier Vagabond has produced a series of videos on youtube of a large number of walks which he has done over the years. In 2021 he completed the London Parks Way. His photography is a lot better than mine and the videos are well worth watching. The links are:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwP-p1-lhnI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWxPI5qnPnA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sm4BgxiR1Do
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