New to London? Why Walking is Best For Exploring

When we first move to London, we are amazed by the scale of the place. We can be here for months or even years without coming to recognise certain areas and routes. The prospect of exploring these by tube and bus can seem a long and expensive way to spend your weekends. However, the best and possibly only way to truly learn the ins and outs of central London is by walking.

It is by walking that you find interesting places, new shops, pubs and grand old establishments. The bus and tube are about the destination. You see the beginning and end in isolation, like little pockets of London. Exploring London is not about little glimpses within five minutes of a tube station, but a vast living and breathing place and society. It’s not about the destination, it really is so cringingly about the journey.

 

The Journey by Foot

Think of somewhere you want to see- St Paul’s, Covent Garden, the South Bank? Whether you start central or sightly further out, just start walking in that direction. Don’t worry too much about phone maps or how long it takes. It is very unlikely you will end up slightly lost. This is the joy of it.

In a town or another city you will likely have had a fairly simple town layout- maybe just one or two major streets and a mall. Obviously in London this is different- like clusters of different areas all made up of a web of roads and buildings old and new. Hampstead Road becomes Tottenham Court Road which becomes Charing Cross Road. Oxford Street extends to High Holborn and on to the City while the Strand becomes Fleet Street before hitting St Paul’s.

Imagine the cross-section of the city you get from this, with Covent Garden and Soho so close yet very different. You will likely have familiarity with one place but not realise what lies beyond. Even if you have taken buses regularly to various destinations you won’t know what lies either side of you in little streets and alleys.

The Mental Map

The result is you form a true map in your head that rotates as you do. The more experienced you get, the more efficient you become in finding shortcuts. Your mental map will become more detailed and colourful, so you can imagine yourself flying through those streets.

Then you have the perimeter where what lies beyond is less well known and your imaginary flying camera flies headlong into grey. It seems odd that we should know so little of where we live, but then we are here for a reason, balancing work and social matters that mean our own bubble is all that’s necessary day to day.

Geography is arguably the first step to becoming an adopted Londoner- when you can give a lost tourist directions or simply know where the nearest KFC is. Walking through central London is a strangely fulfilling exercise steeped in history. Don’t follow a blue-plaque route but walk into them and be surprised!

Try the Shard Game!

This can be an oddly fulfilling experiment. You guessed it. Keep walking towards the shard from wherever you are, North or South. Whatever you think of it, the Shard is a true landmark you can see from Hampstead Heath (though that would be a very long walk) down to the City. One way or another you will have to follow the Thames at some point and experience the paths, the mudlarks as well as the bridges and closed sections you have to navigate around.

 

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