The Weekend Walks
The regular 'Pay what you want' walks are currently taking place on most weekends of each month (please check the dates on the Home Page). Saturday has two walks to choose from; a morning one called Trafalgar Square to St Paul's (because it starts near Trafalgar Square and finishes at St Paul's Cathedral), and an afternoon one called St Paul's to the Monument (bet you can't guess why). Sunday comprises of one walk dubbed My neck of the woods in east London.
The itineraries for the walks are in place, but not set in stone, as I like to allow room for a bit of impromptu-ness (which isn’t really a word, but perhaps should be).
I also like to try and tailor walks, wherever possible, to the interests of those in the group and can guarantee that at no point will I laboriously regurgitate pre learned facts and anecdotes to you. That is not to say that I won’t furnish you with lots of fun, interesting bits of information, but I just won’t spew it out in a pre-rehearsed manner.
This means that no two walks will ever be the same. I think this is good for everyone involved. Myself included.
The itineraries for the walks are in place, but not set in stone, as I like to allow room for a bit of impromptu-ness (which isn’t really a word, but perhaps should be).
I also like to try and tailor walks, wherever possible, to the interests of those in the group and can guarantee that at no point will I laboriously regurgitate pre learned facts and anecdotes to you. That is not to say that I won’t furnish you with lots of fun, interesting bits of information, but I just won’t spew it out in a pre-rehearsed manner.
This means that no two walks will ever be the same. I think this is good for everyone involved. Myself included.
SATURDAY morning - Trafalgar Sq to St Paul's
Starts at 10.30am
This walk begins in the very centre of London and weaves through Covent Garden and Fleet Street, finishing at the rather splendid St Paul’s Cathedral.
A few things you will very possibly discover along the way (and in no particular order) include a statue that went in to hiding, a statue that isn’t actually officially on English soil, fire, some lions that took a long time to arrive, the house where the first definitive English dictionary was compiled, lawyers, journalist, Blackfiars, Whitefriars, templar knights, probably more fire, lost rivers, tall churches, bombed churches, churches that are the wrong way round, a King who invented a whole new religion just so he could get divorced, Queens who did things, Kings that didn’t, old statues, tiny statues, really, really tall statues, statues of animals, statues that have their own income, Romans (how could I forget the Romans), inventors, a really old pub, writers, various forms of capital punishment, language, an old flower market, the first police force, street performers, musicians, actors, architects, the west end, theatres, galleries and quite a lot more.
This walk begins in the very centre of London and weaves through Covent Garden and Fleet Street, finishing at the rather splendid St Paul’s Cathedral.
A few things you will very possibly discover along the way (and in no particular order) include a statue that went in to hiding, a statue that isn’t actually officially on English soil, fire, some lions that took a long time to arrive, the house where the first definitive English dictionary was compiled, lawyers, journalist, Blackfiars, Whitefriars, templar knights, probably more fire, lost rivers, tall churches, bombed churches, churches that are the wrong way round, a King who invented a whole new religion just so he could get divorced, Queens who did things, Kings that didn’t, old statues, tiny statues, really, really tall statues, statues of animals, statues that have their own income, Romans (how could I forget the Romans), inventors, a really old pub, writers, various forms of capital punishment, language, an old flower market, the first police force, street performers, musicians, actors, architects, the west end, theatres, galleries and quite a lot more.
Saturday Afternoon - St Paul's to Monument
Starts at 2.30pm
This walk begins at St Paul’s Cathedral and crosses the Thames to pass by Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, the bustling Borough Market, Southwark Cathedral and then back over London Bridge to finish up by the Monument.
There's far too much to mention, but a few snippets you might see and glean include Christopher Wren’s masterpiece, fire, destruction, wars (mainly with the French), bridges, old bridges, new bridges, bits of bridges you never knew were there, pubs, really old pubs, more fires, plague, tall buildings, small buildings that used to be tall buildings, a medieval food market (don’t worry, it’s modern food now), a simultaneously old and new cathedral, Francis Drake and the circumnavigation of the world, the only thatched roof in central London, prisons and prostitutes (won’t visit either), more wars (mainly with the Germans), Shakespeare’s old stomping ground, an old power station that’s now a massive modern art gallery and has a sugary connection, a bridge that no longer wobbles and the largest free standing stone structure in the world. I will very probably also mention the GREAT fire of London quite a bit too.
This walk begins at St Paul’s Cathedral and crosses the Thames to pass by Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, the bustling Borough Market, Southwark Cathedral and then back over London Bridge to finish up by the Monument.
There's far too much to mention, but a few snippets you might see and glean include Christopher Wren’s masterpiece, fire, destruction, wars (mainly with the French), bridges, old bridges, new bridges, bits of bridges you never knew were there, pubs, really old pubs, more fires, plague, tall buildings, small buildings that used to be tall buildings, a medieval food market (don’t worry, it’s modern food now), a simultaneously old and new cathedral, Francis Drake and the circumnavigation of the world, the only thatched roof in central London, prisons and prostitutes (won’t visit either), more wars (mainly with the Germans), Shakespeare’s old stomping ground, an old power station that’s now a massive modern art gallery and has a sugary connection, a bridge that no longer wobbles and the largest free standing stone structure in the world. I will very probably also mention the GREAT fire of London quite a bit too.
Sunday - My neck of the woods
Starts in Old Street at 11am
This east-end walk does pretty much exactly what it says on the tin, except that at no point will we go anywhere near a wood. I live in east London and it gets quite lively on a Sunday what with Columbia Road flower market, Brick Lane market and Old Spitalfields market to name but three. It’s also an interesting and diverse area chock full of history and street art. I really like showing people around my patch.
It’s a real hotchpotch, but you will stumble across, uncover and experience:
A massive amount of street art, the plague (not first hand hopefully), a cemetery where Defoe and Blake hang out, perhaps an original crapper if you’re lucky, the founder of Methodism, the church where Margaret Thatcher got hitched, a bit more street art, some uber trendy hipsters, the hang outs and bars where the aforementioned hipsters go, giant letters, a power station that’s now a circus school, a female only sex shop, one of the oldest squares in London, tiny doors, the gunpowder plot, a shop for monsters, one of the two remaining Victorian music halls in London, a museum that will transport you through time, giant animals, a huge toaster, the bustling Columbia Road flower market, an estate agent that used to be Shakespeare’s first theatre, some old tube carriages that aren’t where you’d expect them to be, the shiny financial centre of London, a griffin or dragon or both, a giant gherkin, some big mushrooms, the house that painter David Hockney described as one of the world’s greatest works of opera, Old Spitalfields market, a writer who turned her house into a shop, Jack the Ripper, a church that kept adding more bells, the street where Queen Victoria had her Coronation gown woven and where artists Gilbert & George and Tracy Emin live, a mosque that was a synagogue that was a church, the most curry houses you’ll see on one street in Britain, a brewery that Dickens wrote about, a farm in the city and numerous other things along the way.
This east-end walk does pretty much exactly what it says on the tin, except that at no point will we go anywhere near a wood. I live in east London and it gets quite lively on a Sunday what with Columbia Road flower market, Brick Lane market and Old Spitalfields market to name but three. It’s also an interesting and diverse area chock full of history and street art. I really like showing people around my patch.
It’s a real hotchpotch, but you will stumble across, uncover and experience:
A massive amount of street art, the plague (not first hand hopefully), a cemetery where Defoe and Blake hang out, perhaps an original crapper if you’re lucky, the founder of Methodism, the church where Margaret Thatcher got hitched, a bit more street art, some uber trendy hipsters, the hang outs and bars where the aforementioned hipsters go, giant letters, a power station that’s now a circus school, a female only sex shop, one of the oldest squares in London, tiny doors, the gunpowder plot, a shop for monsters, one of the two remaining Victorian music halls in London, a museum that will transport you through time, giant animals, a huge toaster, the bustling Columbia Road flower market, an estate agent that used to be Shakespeare’s first theatre, some old tube carriages that aren’t where you’d expect them to be, the shiny financial centre of London, a griffin or dragon or both, a giant gherkin, some big mushrooms, the house that painter David Hockney described as one of the world’s greatest works of opera, Old Spitalfields market, a writer who turned her house into a shop, Jack the Ripper, a church that kept adding more bells, the street where Queen Victoria had her Coronation gown woven and where artists Gilbert & George and Tracy Emin live, a mosque that was a synagogue that was a church, the most curry houses you’ll see on one street in Britain, a brewery that Dickens wrote about, a farm in the city and numerous other things along the way.
