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The Rough Guide to Walks in London & Southeast England PDF

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The Rough Guide to Walks in London & Southeast England written and researched by Helena Smith with additional contributions by Judith Bamber NEW YORK • LONDON • DELHI www.roughguides.com London Walks colour.indd 1 3/9/08 15:09:31 London Walks colour.indd 2 3/9/08 15:09:39  Contents Introduction ..........................4 6 The North Wessex Downs to the New Forest ......183 1 London.............................13 The Ridgeway .......................185 Regent’s Canal ........................15 The North Wessex Downs .....195 The Parkland Walk .................20 Stonehenge ...........................199 Hampstead Heath ..................25 The New Forest .....................206 The Thames Towpath .............31 Richmond Park .......................37 7 The Thames Valley ......211 The Grand Union Canal ..........42 Windsor Great Park ...............213 Downe and around ..................46 The Thames Towpath and the Limehouse Basin ....................51 Chiltern Way .......................219 Walthamstow Marshes ...........56 Roman Silchester ..................224 Epping Forest .........................63 8 The Chilterns and 2 The North Downs ..........69 Blenheim .......................229 Box Hill ..................................71 The Misbourne Valley ............231 Guildford to Compton .............76 The Northern Chilterns ..........236 Gomshall and the North Ivinghoe Beacon ...................243 Downs .................................82 Around Blenheim Palace .......250 The Pilgrims’ Way ...................86 9 St Albans to 3 The Weald .......................99 Bedfordshire ................257 The Eden Valley .....................101 The Lea Valley Way ...............259 The Greensand Way ..............107 St Albans and around............265 The High Weald Walk ...........112 Woburn Estate ......................273 Bayham Abbey ......................119 G Essex, Cambridge and 4 The South Downs ........127 the Fens ........................279 Along the Arun ......................129 Along the River Stort .............281 Cissbury Ring ........................135 Uttlesford ..............................286 Mount Caburn and the South Along the Cam ......................292 Downs ................................141 The Fens ...............................298 The South Downs Way ..........147 Index ...................................305 5 The Saxon Shore .........159 The Saxon Shore Way ...........161 The 1066 Country Walk .........168 Chichester Harbour ...............178 ff KENT COUNTRYSIDE f THREE WALKERS ON A GATE IN SUSSEX London Walks colour.indd 3 3/9/08 15:09:40  Introduction to Walks in London & Southeast England Few cities can rival London’s distinctive mix of the urban and the pastoral. Despite being the largest city in Western Europe, home to a staggering 7.5 million people, the capital preserves surprisingly extensive stretches of green space. In fact, over a third of it is made up of greenery, not only in the famous parks and gardens, but also in less obvious places – canalside paths, disused rail- way tracks and reclaimed in- dustrial land – as well as along the banks of the Thames as it winds through the city. These hidden footpaths are thoroughly enjoyable in themselves, and also offer a fascinating insight into the social, architectural and industrial history that went into the making of one of the world’s most vibrant cities. Despite the sprawl of suburbs that girdles the city, many parts of southeast England remain almost miraculously unspoilt. Fast train services make it very easy to reach open countryside from just about anywhere in London – indeed, it’s surprising just how far from the capital you can get in a single day and still have time for a rewarding walk and a great pub lunch. London Walks colour.indd 4 3/9/08 15:09:42 introduction  g SO U TH D O W N S To the south and west of the capital there’s sweeping down- land: the lush North Downs and the barer and more open North Wessex and South Downs. You’ll find spectacular stretches of coast – from the towering sandstone cliffs at Hastings to the wavy chalk formations further west – as well as areas of dense ancient woodland, which are at their most extensive in the New Forest. The Thames cuts a green swathe west of the capital, link- ing a chain of attractive towns and villages, while to the north are the pristine wooded hills of the Chilterns and the limitless flatlands of the Fens around Ely. The striking variety of land- scapes around the city is part of the attraction – from the prettily manicured landscapes of the Kent Weald to the hauntingly bleak chalk uplands of the Wessex Downs. As with London itself, the southeast has always been a densely in- habited area, and the impact of human activity on the land, while more diffuse, is no less profound, visible in Iron Age forts, medieval field terraces and grand country-house estates. All the landscapes de- scribed in this guide, even the bogs of the New Forest and the wind- swept crests of the South Downs, bear the marks of cultivation: a vast testament to the people who cleared, drained, shaped and even – in the case of the prehistoric chalk figures that dot the region – drew upon the land for millennia. London Walks colour.indd 5 3/9/08 15:09:46  introduction How to use this book T g he walks in this book SILC have been designed HE to be accessible from STER the capital as day-trips using public transport; we’ve also included some two-day weekend walks (although these can also be broken down and done as separate day-trips). Each walk includes a map, route details, background his- torical information and a recommended lunch stop, often in one of the fine old pubs that dot the region. The walks are geared to public transport, either starting from one train sta- tion and finishing at an- other, or circling back to the station where you started. At the beginning of each account we’ve given details of the relevant train services; we haven’t recommended specific trains, partly because timetables are subject to change, and also to avoid being prescriptive. Most walks outside London are within an hour’s train journey of the city, although we’ve stretched this crite- rion where we think a really great walk justifies a longer journey. For all but the very longest routes, starting your train journey at around 10am will ensure that you can get to the specified pub for lunch and do the walk in good time. There’s at least one circular walk in each chapter, convenient if you’re driving, although virtually all the non-circular walks can also be done by drivers, who need only make a short train trip back to the beginning of the walk to pick up their cars. For information on train times, journey durations and costs call t08457/484950 or see Wwww.nationalrail.co.uk. For travel in the capital, go to Wwww.tfl.gov.uk. London Walks colour.indd 6 3/9/08 15:09:50 introduction  Five of the best: buildings Blenheim Palace Vanbrugh’s magisterial monument to the victory of the Duke of Marlborough over the French – part stately home, part mausoleum. See p.254 Ely Cathedral The “ship of the Fens”, whose mighty bulk is adorned with delicate stone tracery, dominates the surrounding country from its clay island. See p.302 Hampton Court One of the most spectacular sights along the Thames, this Tudor masterpiece was home to Henry VIII and Oliver Cromwell, amongst others. See p.35 Ightham Mote Half-timbered, moated and packed with fascinating artefacts: the quintessential English manor house. See p.109 Watts Chapel A Byzantine-style chapel in the Surrey countryside, whose interior features a lyrical and lovely decorative scheme. See p.79 g H A M P TO N CO U R T London Walks colour.indd 7 3/9/08 15:09:57  introduction Five of the best: pubs The Garden Gate A cheerful, buzzy place with a big garden, on the edge of Hampstead Heath. Generous portions of food and farm cider on tap. See p.30 The Harrow Inn An arche- typal Kentish village pub, which serves award-winning grub. See p.109 The Ram Spectacularly located at the foot of the South Downs, with good lunches, local ales and a ghost upstairs. See p.144 The Stag & Huntsman A cheery and busy place, located in the attrac- tive brick and flint village of Hambleden in the Chilterns. See p.222 The Swan Tasty organic food is the draw at the seventeenth-century Swan, on the edge of the North Wessex Downs. See p.197 Ticket prices can be surprisingly high, even for shortish journeys, so it’s worth investigating the range of discount railcards on offer, which give discounts of up to a third. Young persons (aged 16–25; Wwww.16-25railcard.co.uk) and senior (60 years and over; Wwww .senior-railcard.co.uk) railcards are accepted on all train lines; both cost £24 per year. Network Railcards (Wwww.railcard.co.uk; £20 per year) give the holder and three other adults savings of a third on off-peak journeys. Other types of travelcard, from one-day two- zone cards to annual all-zone ones, should get you some discount on the price of your train ticket – it’s always worth asking about this, as you’re unlikely to be told. It’s best to buy your train ticket be- fore getting on board; on many lines, you aren’t permitted to buy a cheap-day return from the conductor and you can get stung for a ticket that costs almost twice as much. In the interest of making every walk a great day out, we’ve recommended the very best pubs and cafés along the way. London Walks colour.indd 8 3/9/08 15:10:02

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