Seeing London on Foot
If you are a visitor to London it may be very tempting to join a guided tour but in all reality, if you walk, you will undoubtedly see and learn much more about this great capital city and if you will pardon the pun, at your own pace.
London lends itself to walking.
If you look at a map of London and mark the sites you particularly want to see, you will find that they can be grouped into areas. If you are anxious to go shopping then you can start at the Piccadilly Circus end of Regent Street, walk North, passing Hamley’s famous toy shop and the iconic Liberty’s building, until you reach Oxford Circus. Then turn either left or right down Oxford Street, depending on the type of purchases you wish to make. Turning left will take you towards Marble Arch and Bond Street, where some of the designer shops are situated. It will also take you to Selfridges, one of London’s major department stores.
Turning right will take you to Tottenham Court Road, home to electronic and furniture stores or Charing Cross Road where book stores abound. If Royalty is to be your theme for the day, start your walk at Trafalgar Square, pass through Admiralty Arch and then continue along the length of The Mall towards Buckingham Palace. You will walk by Clarence House, once the home of the late Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother and now the London home of Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall.
If the Royal Standard is flying above Buckingham Palace it means the Queen is in residence. Only during August and September is the Palace open to visitors but on most days throughout the year, come rain or shine, the Changing of the Guard takes place in the Palace forecourt at 11.15am. If you walk through St. James’s Park you will find yourself facing Horse Guards Parade where the Trooping of the Colour takes place on the Queen’s official birthday. Strangely it will be the venue of the Beach Volleyball Competition during the London Olympics in 2012.
If you turn right along Horse Guards Road you will pass the Foreign Office and on the corner of King Charles Street you can visit the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms. Continuing straight brings you into Parliament Square and there you will see both Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament. You can return to your starting point, Trafalgar Square by walking the length of Whitehall, passing the entrance to Downing Street, where number 10 is the home to the British Prime Minister, and the Cenotaph, the war memorial designed by Edward Lutyens.
There are also some wonderful walks along the banks of the River Thames. From the London Eye, situated on the South Bank by Westminster Bridge, it is possible to walk alongside the river passing the Festival Hall, the OXO Tower, the Tate Modern, the Globe Theatre and HMS Belfast. You can cross back to the North Bank at the Tate Modern by using the Millennium Bridge. This gives you direct access to St. Paul’s Cathedral.
These are just a couple of examples. There are many more. Get out your map, put on your comfy shoes and walk!
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