Many a great walk starts by crossing the Sacred River Lea.
I resisted the temptation to see the sunken narrowboat as a bad omen.
There’s always a bohemian air to Stoke Newington Church Street that seems to resist gentrification and somehow stands apart from other North London streets. I wonder if it has something to do with all those anarchists that nested around here.
I sat on a bench in Clissold Park in the late afternoon sun with a flat white and a cannoli and a sfogliatella.
I loved walking these Highbury streets in our happy years living here in the late 90s. I walked through Highbury Barn and briefly stood outside our old basement flat.
Highbury Park
I wandered over Highbury Fields in glorious sunshine and caught the train home from Highbury and Islington drenched in nostalgia.
Here are the questions answered in my mighty YouTube Q&A video: @jacquelinemacleod9699 Hi John, What made you decide to do these videos and podcasts ? Don’t ever stop – they are fantastic! I look forward to them each week @michaelessig6376 have you ever thought of returning to a past walk but at a completely different season or weather to get a different feel for the walk @danspencer862 John I’ve always wondered what you keep in that rucksack of yours? Your videos are just the best. @Jim196819 I’d love to see a walk around Canterbury or York with so much history. Have you ever considered one of those cities ? @mrbensharman Would you consider recording a podcast series of London walks that people could follow whilst listening. @CharlieGeorge_ If you could spend a month walking around another city anywhere in the world, where would you choose and why? @jpingram966 I was wondering if you’ll ever feature neighbouring Queenstown Rd ? It always seemed to me so underappreciated and full of history. @_richie I’d like to ask if you have a favourite modern London building – maybe one constructed in the last 20-30 years? @alib344 Out of all the historical figures in London’s history, who intrigues you the most and why? @miqueln1996 Hi John, would you be able to elaborate more on the concept of psychogeography?
Would a video about pagan London be a possibility? Thanks, Tom. @helenshiner6793 I would love to see a walk including the history of the Huguenots in London @paulfrancis8764 Hello John. Would you be up for a sideline in guided walks? @lindsaymanary9150 My question is how do you determine which areas you start your walk in. @TXMEDRGR I love your London walks but would you consider doing some other cities? @niels.brouwer What has been the most meaningful or thought-provoking conversation you’ve had during your walks? @marylaplante7261 Hi John, Is there any area of london that makes you feel a bit sad when considering how much history/architecture has been lost to modern development? @WoodsideWalker Have you recently found something out about London that’s surprised you and made you say “well I never knew that?” @dpeastman If you were to draw the route of all of your walks around London onto a map, what do you think would be the two most distant points that you could connect with a continuous line? @williamrobinson7435 Hi John. Have you done much on the various Guilds, Worshipful or otherwise, of old London Town? What is the historical relationship between the Guilds and The City Of Westminster? Or Guilds vs Church? How do The Guilds fit into the great 3D jigsaw that is London? @timgallivan1614 What’s your scariest experience while walking in London or surrounding area? @edit511_channel What is/are your favourite pub/pubs in London . What walk/pub crawl would you recommend? @michaeldillon3113 If for some unforeseen reason you were granted one last walk wish – which of the many perambulations you have completed would you choose to do ? As an extra feature what would be your preferred pub and pint at the end of said walk ? @robertgarvey5652 A few days ago, I was reading an online article about the Essex Way. It runs from Epping out to Harwich. Are you aware of this route or covered any part of it yet? @princegears8673 Hi John what is your favourite tube station ?? Favourite Underground tube line ?? And favourite bus route?? And why?? @bnpandsc Have you considered walking the historic River Wey from it’s rising at Haslemere to confluence with the Thames at Weybridge? @paddyharvey6101 Do you miss the walks through larkings orchards and fields, I can remember you and your dad and the jack Russell trotting off for your evening walks @robertcollins1583 Could you recommend a Sunday afternoon walk within zones 1 and 2 that ends in a great area or place for lunch. @battleoftheelements Are you planning to do a walk with those two chaps, can’t remember their names, but they joined you at Maiden Bower and at the huge barrows in Essex some years back. @NorthernCitrusParrot Have you had any issues with your knees? I recently started with arthritis in mine and I’m less inclined to walk. Any tips? @lewiswalker7803 Why not once a month do a ‘Notorious’ walk, depicting the atrocities that happened there, for example, the blitzed east end, Jack the Rippers Whitechapel/Spitalfields, area of 10 Rillington place, Plague pits, Dickens Victorian squalor walks Devils acre etc. Just a thought. @user-gu1we4si4z Hi John can you please visit Cornwall and do a late summer coastal walk ?
@ianjohnson2198 Hi John. Where do you think is the most relaxing place in all of London? Or maybe even top three? @AndrewDickson-bb1jl Would you consider doing a meet and greet/talk in a pub at some point? @re_patel How tired are you after a walk? @christineduke6096 Hello John,just wondered if you would be interested in some facts of Leyton around Skeltons Lane. @donniedarkomtb7048 You must do a piece on Hill Hall in Theydon Mount, Epping. Stunning mansion with tons of history which has now been converted into luxury £1m+ flats. Go see it! @sianwarwick633 Would you ever do a night walk, provided its safe and moonlit or streetlit or torchlit enough ? @robbojax2025 I can’t remember you doing a Marylebone area walk. @chrisprobert5340 If you were going to take a couple of kids out on a London trip ( I only know Soho) where’s something interesting, they’re about 7 I think, my girlfriend’s little ‘uns…love your shows… @CliveMarchant How many pairs of walking boots do you get through each year? @minijames2777 Do you have a driving licence, if no have you ever driven a car or do you dislike cars. Thanks for the great walks
Last night I had the great pleasure of chatting to Liam Davies on Shoreditch Radio about all things London walking. The interview starts at the 30 min mark.
The experience of floating up the River Roding in Ryan Powell’s Sensory Attunement Coralce will now be my most potent association with this blessed River. I’ll leave the video to explain how this came to pass and the beauty, drama and comedy of what unfolded. But it’s safe to say this was an experience I shall never forget.
Make sure to also watch Sean James Cameron’s video of this eccentric escapade up the River Roding.
My walks with Paul Powlesland in 2021 provides important context for this unforgettable riverine odyssey.
“The coracle – also known as the currach, bull boat, quffa, parasil – is a small, keel-less boat. Their main uses has always been as a means for fishing or transportation. Today, certainly within Europe, their main use tends to be recreational, although in Wales a number of licences exist to permit use as a fishing vessel. In other parts of the world, particularly the Middle and Far East, they are still used for their original purpose – as a workboat for fishing or transportation. The coracle has a long history spanning thousands of years, evidenced in cave paintings of their use from the early Bronze Age and perhaps as far back as the Ice Age. The coracle is likely to be the first form of water transportation” https://www.coraclesociety.org.uk/coracles
