Pub Walk - London hange W rc a te r n e I h Regent’s Park to Camden

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walk time 45-55 minutes distance 2.4km / 1½ miles

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(0.8km/½mile/15mins)

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Charlbert railway station

Bridge 8 London Underground

05 52 Park Road A Bridge 7

start Baker Street (1.3km/¾mile/25mins) (1.2km/¾mile/25mins) The Walk - Step by Step

This walk begins with palatial air, following water lined with grand mansions. It’s where the city’s office-suited people run unleashed in their lunchtime jogging shorts. Regent’s Canal was named after the Prince Regent (later King George IV), and first opened in 1820. The canal treads on land that was once the hunting grounds of Henry VIII, until landscaped the Royal Park in 1811. The canal was built to connect the Midlands, London Docks and across the seas. As transport progressed, the canal and its buildings were left unused, so in the hippy 1970s, a market moved into an unwanted building. As your journey leads into today’s Camden, layers of tourists and locals make every cliché of ‘colourful’ ring true.

Come off busy Park Road down steps to the canal. Turn back 4 Moored boats appear shortly after the Grade II*-listed towards the bridge and follow the towpath under the main footbridge 12. To the right, Cumberland Basin’s moorings START road. You then enter a scene of tranquillity, greenery and include a strikingly unusual Chinese restaurant boat. The short CANAL: Regent’s Canal birdsong as the canal skirts around Regent’s Park. basin is all that remains of the Cumberland Arm, as most was filled in with rubble from World War II bombings. START: Park Road 1 White mansions line the canal, their weeping willows swooping OS Grid ref: TQ272827 Postcode: NW8 7EA down to the water. John Nash was designer of both the canal 5 The canal curves sharply left under a road bridge then winds and Grade I-listed Regent’s Park. Renowned for his Regency its way under a quick succession of low road and rail bridges. FINISH: Camden terraced houses, his legacy includes other London landmarks The unexpected Pirate Castle on the right is home to a OS Grid ref: TQ286840 Postcode: NW1 7BX such as Regent Street and Marble Arch. He had intended the community boating charity. canal to run through the park, but was persuaded that DISTANCE: 2.4km / 1½ miles delicate residents of the park would be horrified by foul 6 As the towpath swoops upwards over the water entrance to (double if walk back to start) language used by navvies building the canal - so in the end, the Grade II-listed Interchange Warehouse, notice the boat in he took the canal round the edge of the park instead. the canal basin underneath. The warehouse opened in 1905 to APPROX TIME: 45-55 minutes replace a 1860s warehouse over the dock basin and is an 2 The Grade II-listed bridge 9 straddles the canal with sets of intriguing link between the railways and the earlier canal PUB: The Engineer a short walk from bridge five cast-iron Greek Doric pillars on either side of the water. system. A couple of horse tunnels and stabling for 50 horses 16, also plenty of choice in Camden Look closely at the pillars to see rope marks gouged by boat demonstrate the continuing importance of horses in the early horses pulling boats filled with heavy loads. In 1874, a boat years of the railway. PARKING: Car park near St. John’s Wood laden with gunpowder bound for the Midlands exploded station Postcode: NW8 6AA demolishing the existing bridge and terrifying residents. When END Crossing the canal via the turnover or ‘roving’ bridge, the walk the aptly named ‘Blow-up Bridge’ was rebuilt, its pillars were ends at busy multi-coloured Camden and its world-famous TRAIN/BUS: turned round, so rope grooves unusually appear on both markets. The bridge allowed working horses to cross the Nearest train/Underground stations – sides of the pillars. There are handy benches here and at the canal without uncoupling their ropes – notice rope marks St. John’s Wood, /Camden Road next bridge to sit and watch boats and ducks pass by. gouged out of the stone and metal of the bridge. Ask anyone National Rail Enquiries where you are and they will most likely say, “Camden ,” Tel: 03457 484950 www.nationalrail.co.uk 3 Just beyond bridge 10, keep your senses sharp as the canal but there isn’t actually a lock by that name. Camden Lock is Transport for London cuts through London Zoo. Lord Snowdon designed the huge the area around the twin Hampstead Road Lock in the heart of Tel: 0343 222 1234 www.tfl.gov.uk aviary on your left which, when built in 1962-64, was the first Camden. Twin locks are an unusual feature on the canals, and ever walk-through aviary. It is Grade II*-listed and once were created on busy canal routes to allow boats travelling up housed majestic birds such as white ibis, but is currently and down the canal to use the locks at the same time. Enjoy being restored to create a new walkthrough primate exhibit. and explore Camden, then options for your return include There’s even a water bus stop for passengers wanting to visit train or bus, or even a waterbus. the zoo by the alternative route. canalrivertrust.org.uk