Regents canal

Cool dwelling

Regents canal, London

For something completely different take a canal walk through the centre of London. The Regents Canal runs for over nine miles from Paddington Basin in the west to Limehouse Basin in the east. We met up at Paddington station, one of the main London rail termini where you catch the train to the west country. It's a good place to load up with supplies as it has all the services needed including Marks and Spencer's and a Sainsburys to stock up on food.



If you take the right hand exit from the station as you face the platforms there is a bridge that takes you into the Paddington Basin, a shiny modern complex of offices and services bordering our start to the Regents Canal, and a bit of a sideshow at the beginning. We had a very informative guide who told us about two very modern small bridges in the vicinity, both of which straddle short stretches of canal. They are just as much for decorative purposes as they are to carry pedestrians, because one bridge rolls up into a hexagonal shape from a flat start when the right buttons are pressed, whilst the other splays up sections which fan out to give a Mohican effect. We were privileged enough to be given a personal demonstration by the very friendly staff. Officially demonstrations were given on a Friday but they did it for us on a Saturday. This part of the canal is all modern in its ambience, steel and glass constructions on the quay pointing to the sky, with one building designed to look like the bow of a ship.

Little Venice

The next section takes you the other way from Paddington towards Little Venice, and you can see why it is called this. It's a bit like some of the poshest property in London mixed in with the romance of a mature waterway. Here the property must be some of the most desirable in London because you have your palatial mansions blending in perfectly with barge laden waters. This is a bit of London I had never set eyes on and reminds you of the amazing variety London has to offer.

This sort of water based opulence continues all the way to Regent's Park, with beautiful architecture catching the eye all the way along, and the odd cafe suspended on a bridge over the canal. I have to say that if I was looking to live in London this area would be on my list. Years ago this canal would have been strictly for industrial purposes, transporting all manner of merchandise up and down the capital's arteries. Now of course it is a testimony to Britain's rich  industrial heritage, but given over primarily to leisure.

Regent's Park continues the theme, with attractive buildings rather more spaced out at this point. We took a diversion up to the top of Primrose Hill for lunch where many others had the same idea, eminently sensible as we sat and admired the view in front of us of the London Basin with the Shard, the Post Office Tower and the Gherkin all prominent on the skyline.

The canal is a great place to cycle along as well, and plenty of cyclists were trying to negotiate the Saturday afternoon strollers on the towpath. Basically however, Saturday is not a good day for cyclists to chance this journey due to the extreme preponderance of pedestrians.

A little further on and you get to Camden Lock which is like someone scooped up all the young people in London and tipped them into this tiny corner of the capital, another 'where it's at' kind of place. Spot the hipster anyone? We breezed through fairly quickly when everything cried out 'sit down and enjoy some refreshments.' You make your way along the shore past bundles of people consuming food and drink on an industrial scale. The lock is surrounded by a market, sheds, parked barges and overall an atmosphere of having a good time. Somewhere to return to without a doubt.

Camden Lock  Rocks!

The ambience changes when you get towards the St Pancras/Kings Cross stretch where the skyline become decidedly more commercial and industrial, old gasworks, railway architecture, workshops and desolate waste spaces. Here we are near one of the hubs of the European rail transport system, in the near distance you can see the roof of the new St Pancras, rising over the skyline like a silver hump backed dolphin. Eurostar trains with limitless numbers of carriages slide in and out of the terminus over the bridge above us, and a little further on we reach Kings Cross. This area always had a slightly sleazy reputation as a red light district and arrival point for kids running away from home, with all the attendant charities and church workers trying to minister to the jetsam and flotsam of human life. Now there is a major effort to renew the whole area with shiny new squares and glass and steel high rises. The old Kings Cross goods shed is being turned into a Waitrose plus ancillary activities, the Granary building, an old industrial warehouse turned into university building presides over London's newest square with chIldren bathing in the waters of the fountains and new cafes springing up like flowers in the desert. In the midst of modernity is the abandoned underground station of York Rd with its classic old station frontage, and there has been talk of reopening it to relieve congestion at Kings Cross especially with the new development. Specially built viewing platforms provide the opportunity to check out the new development.

New King's Cross

Swimming pool as well!

Going on from Kings Cross you get the same lazy ambience all the way to Limehouse Basin where you are in Canary Wharf territory. However, it's a fair hike still from the rail hub. The section of canal this side of the city lacks some of the glamour associated with little Venice or Camden Lock but people still sit beside the water eating and drinking at various bars, or sit on the top of barges with a beer can or glass of
wine.

The canal passes through Islington where it disappears into a canal tunnel. This is where I lost it like a dog slipping its lead. Thus I had the opportunity to wander throughout the centre of Islington, a new experience for me and a chance to adjust any stereotypes of the political elite indulging in endless dinner parties in leafy Georgian terraces. Perhaps the demise of New Labour has done for some of those parties. There were certainly traces of wealth, with fine looking streets of old terraced houses, but Islington town centre does not seem anything out of the ordinary, just a typical well established suburban centre the type of which you would find all over London.

Meanwhile I am totally lost, where has this wretched canal gone, can't find it anywhere? Has it disappeared into some CS Lewis fantasy land full of pipe smoking jolly barge men in waistcoats and eternal sun playing on dappled waters ruled over by an Aslan like creature full of benevolence and goodwill? I follow the instructions of my iPad and it leads me this way and that, until finally I manage to rediscover this watery artery after a considerable detour. During that detour I find a massive spur coming off the main route, surrounded by prestigious new development. Back on track, I follow the towpath onwards past worn old industrial architecture and new builds, under ancient bridges and through old locks, dodging the usual bevy of cyclists. The canal runs past Victoria Park (Vicky Park or the People's Park) for some way, which adds a somewhat leafy feel again, although we are in the London borough of Tower Hamlets. This park is considered by some as the finest park in the East End, for that is where we are. Originally this park was an essential service for the East End working classes. In the past it has also been the centre for all sorts of political meetings and rallies, attracting socialist speakers like William Morris. It must be some park, as it was awarded second place in a national award for the public's favourite Green Flag Awarded park.

Victoria Park

Furrowing on, the glass, steel and concrete of Canary Wharf increasingly loom ahead indicating we will soon be at the end. So we arrive at Limehouse Basin,  once at the heart of London's industrial port superstructure but now looking more like a marina dedicated to boating pleasures. Here you can catch the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) back into town and the Bank underground station.

End of the voyage - Limehouse Basin

The DLR s a lot more interesting than the underground as it is overground and gives some good vistas of the East London skyline. Just a little tip at this point. When you get off at Bank underground station there is an endless network of tunnels linking different lines, and also the toilets were shut on a Sunday evening which was slightly uncomfortable since I spent an appreciable time discovering the delights of the tunnel network only to find them closed. Funnily enough, in a 2013 poll Londoners rated Bank tube station, one of London's busiest, as the worst on the network!

Still, we must not finish on a negative. A nine mile watery walk through the centre of London laced with copious amounts of food and drink is a totally cool way to spend a day.