See the bigger picture. Instead of seeing London as a collection of separate fragments, see how it links up. I have cycled all the possible routes and these are the best I have found.
A lovely walk starting and finishing at Embankment tube station. It gives a taster of the West End including Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus, Soho and Covent Garden, and ending by the river. If you would rather include China town and finish at Piccadilly Circus tube station, follow the dotted line alternative route when you reach Covent Garden.
There is a straight route through the parks directly to the river, where you can cross Westminster Bridge and continue your walk along the south bank. Notice that the walk passes Buckingham Palace.
This is the best route through Marylebone. Take in a bit of Oxford Street then turn left into James Street with its eateries, continuing straight up into the upmarket and charming Marylebone High Street.
Earl’s Court tube is in zone 2 so if you are arriving from the west you can avoid paying to enter Zone 1 and have a lovely walk through the parks into the West End. Watch out for the little snicket off Kensington High Street just before the Ivy restaurant on the left. This is a cut-through across a lovely little hidden park to Holland Street.
This is a lovely walk down St John’s High Street then along the canal to Camden with a detour up to the panoramic view of London from Primrose Hill, together with that area’s pretty streets and cafes.
When Ealing was linked by rail to central London, it was known as the Queen of Suburbs because of its greenery. From Ealing Broadway station, this walk takes you along shopping streets then through a series of lovely parks to the Grand Union Canal, passing by Brentford until it reaches the river Thames. I have finished it by Kew Bridge where you can catch the Overground, or take the 65 bus straight back to Ealing Broadway Station.
Piccadilly Circus with its billboards and Eros statue is a destination in itself, but here are my favourite routes from here to Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and the river, Covent Garden market, The British Museum, and Carnaby Street.
Here are some great connecting walks from St Pauls. You can walk north to Postman’s Park with its Victorian dedications to brave Londoners who have died saving others, and on to the Museum of London via ancient St Bartholemew’s Church. East along atmospheric Carters Lane you will reach 17th century Dr Johnson’s House, passing historic St Bride’s Church with its tiered steeple, and one of London’s oldest pubs, Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese. If you go south you will cross the formerly wobbley Millenium Bridge to Tate Modern and the South Bank. Finally, walking East I have given you a route to the Dickensian Leadenhall Market via ancient Watling Street, the Temple of Mithras and the Royal Exchange.
If you are in Clerkenwell, perhaps visiting the new Museum of London, and would like to walk to a different area, these are my suggestions with the best routes I could find: down to Fleet Street via the Old Bailey, through to the Barbican, up through Clerkenwell and onwards to Islington High Street and Regent’s Canal, or West to the Dickens Museum in Bloomsbury, or the John Soanes Museum on Lincoln’s Inn Fields (or through to Covent Garden)
If you fancy walking towards Town from Paddington while taking in some of the sights of Marylebone and Fitzrovia, this is the nicest route through that I have found.
