Trip Report - Capital Ring, London, March 2012

I have just posted some pictures and trip report from doing the Capital Ring (the 78 mile loop of London, roughly following Zone 4) in March. Overall not too bad, as a bit of a change! A reasonable mix of interesting viewpoints, some leafy stretches, lots of parks, river and canal sections, interspersed with a fair amount of navigating quiet suburban streets.

Some interesting sights - cracking views up the Thames from the start (at Woolwich), dinosaurs and views at Crystal Palace, the surprise view of St Pauls at Richmond Park, riverside scenery at Richmond and Isleworth, grand old school buildings at Harrow on the Hill, the elevated Parkland Walk near Highgate, various Olympic venues and construction near Stratford Marsh, and the eerily deserted foot tunnel under the Thames to finish off. Also constant glimpses from parks or even just suburban streets back to the various buildings in the city, the Gherkin, the Shard, Canary Wharf.

Its surprisingly well signposted throughout. As luck would have it, there was a bit of a heatwave during March, so I even ended up with a bit of a sun tan. A few pictures:






















Full trip report and pictures at http://www.c8h10n4o2.org/walking/ring/index.html

Pete

Loved the pix of Isleworth and the Coot!

Thanks for putting the link up

Sweet. It's not all about mountains.

 true.

Very nice, thanks.

It looks like you set off about three weeks after me!

Indeed! Looks like you got similarly good weather, judging by the lovely clear blue skies at Oxleas Meadow.

Trouble is, its now left me with a nagging urge to go and do the London Loop too!

I think your weather was better overall. I got some grey, overcast days, but no rain.

It looks as though there was no-one in the Woolwich Foot Tunnel when you were there, unless you just got an empty-looking view one way. It was completely empty from end to end all the time I walked through it, though the ferry above had long queues of vehicles and foot passengers.

The tunnel was empty for us too, apart from two blokes who appeared right near the end. I quite enjoyed it, in a way it felt like a definite ending to the route.

The final stretch of Thames leading up to it was interesting too, good views both up and down the river and to the mud banks below, and totally deserted, it felt quite off the beaten track.