All articles by fugueur
Werner Herzog quote
“Why is walking so full of woe?” Of Walking in Ice (1978)...
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Beguiled by Leuchtturm1917 notebooks
I’ve developed a real affection for these Leuchtturm1917 notebooks. My wife bought me one originally, and it got me instantly with its pocket-size, soft cover, and cream dotted pages, with page numbers. It’s the small details that can make all the difference. I’m now on my fourth one. And you get pen loops that go...
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Livestream – Sunday West End Wander
Livestream walk from Trafalgar Square down the Mall to Horseguards Parade then through St James’s Park and along St James’s....
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Autumn Walk on the Capital Ring
Walk 3 – Crystal Palace to Beckenham Place Park About twenty years ago I collected the whole set of free Capital Ring leaflets from Thornhill Square Library in Islington. We used to go there for the ‘Stay and Play’ sessions in the basement and to use the Children’s Library. But as these things often transpire...
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The Black Path – launch at Broadway Bookshop
Last Thursday, 24th October, saw the launch of my text, The Black Path, as part of the London Adventures series at The Broadway Bookshop published by Three Imposters. It was a perfect place for the launch sat right on the course of the Black Path in Broadway Market, Hackney. I’d walked this ancient drovers path...
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Islington’s Lost River and the source of the Walbrook
Islington the Watershed It feels apt to be posting the blog on the day of the launch of my text, The Black Path, in the London Adventure series published by The Three Imposters. Walking the Philley Brook (Filly Brook, Fillebrook) with the brilliant Compilerzone in August that sound artist Brigitte Hart put me in touch...
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Walking in London’s Wonderland
This walk follows the first section of the walk in Chapter 1 of my book This Other London which starts at the majestic Gunnersbury Park in West London. The Park was originally the grounds of Gunnersbury House, a Georgian mansion built for King George III’s aunt Princess Amelia. Today it’s home to Gunnersbury Museum and...
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Looking for the Lost Rivers of Roman London
This London walk takes us to the City of London looking for the lost rivers and streams of Roman London on the western edge of the old Roman City. A number of channels were excavated at 7-10 Old Bailey that indicated this area was a major tributary valley of the River Fleet. Our Roman London...
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Exploring Historic Rye, East Sussex
The Perfect London Day-trip Once one of the medieval Cinque Ports and an important harbour, changes to the coastline and the course of the River Rother altered not just the landscape but the town’s fortunes and it became a haunt of smugglers. Many of the buildings in the town centre date from the 15th and...
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Final night of The George, Wanstead
Closing time for this popular local pub Last night at midnight, Sunday 13th October, Time was called for the final time at The George, Wanstead, as a Wetherspoons pub. There was a sense of occasion from the time we arrived at 10pm. It was packed and stayed that way til midnight when drinks were no...
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Discover London: 35 Questions About Its Pubs, Architecture, and Rich History
Here are the questions I covered in this YouTube Q&A video about London walks:...
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The Black Path – launch events
I’m doing two events to launch my new publication – The Black Path 24th October 7pm – The Broadway Bookshop, Hackney – RSVP books@broadwaybookshophackney.com 21st November 7.30pm – The Wanstead Tap – book via the Eventbrite link below: The Black Path is published by Three Imposters as part of the London Adventures series. The shades...
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Jack Kerouac in London
In February 1957 (On the Road was published in September 1957) Jack Kerouac boarded a ship from Brooklyn to Tangier in Morocco. He traveled back to the U.S via France and England. An account of this trip was published in Lonesome Traveler. Below is his record of his few days in London waiting to catch...
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Secret Islington Walking Tour around Canonbury
This walk takes into a magical realm just off the hustle and bustle of Upper Street Islington as we take a walking tour around the streets of Canonbury. Ed Glinert described Canonbury as ‘The best preserved and most picturesque suburb in inner London’ (The London Compendium). In The London Nobody Knows, Geoffrey Fletcher wrote that...
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A stroll through the colourful story of Paddington
Paddington – more than just a station My previous experience of Paddington was simply as a place of transit, passing through to catch the westbound train to Devon. But I knew there was more to this historic area than Brunel’s steam age dreams and a cute Peruvian bear with a thing for marmalade sandwiches. Turning...
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The sound of the rain at Nottingham Station
Saturday night at Nottingham Station. The heavens opened and the rain lashed down. The over-excited Hen Night parties singing Abba anthems piled onto regional services to other cities. On the way to the station we passed over the Nottingham Canal illuminated by a light installation....
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‘Bound by no programme’
Starting from Leyton I headed out for a walk with no destination in mind in the spirit of a classic dérive or drift following my nose and being guided by my feet.Filmed 22nd August 2024 “So make up your mind to be bound by no programme, to travel with complete irresponsibility, to start nowhere in...
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Walking Roman Stane Street
Walking Roman London Stane Street was the Roman road that linked Londinium to Noviomagus Reginorum (Chichester). In use by AD70, It starts its journey at the southern end of London Bridge and ran for 57-miles. I decided to walk the first 10 miles from Borough to Tooting. Stone Street led me through Elephant and Castle, Kennington,...
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Classic East London Walk
Chrisp Street, Limehouse Cut, Bow Locks, River Lea, Stratford Last summer I recorded a podcast with sound recordist Joel Carr with the intent of capturing the environmental sounds experienced on a walk along with my usual natter. This recording was broadcast on Resonance Fm as ‘Sonic Perambulation: Chrisp Street Market to Stratford’. I also shot...
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Inside St Bartholomew the Great, Smithfield
I was walking through Smithfield the other day and took shelter from the sun in the churchyard of St Bartholomew the Great. I noticed that the church was open so decided to pop inside for a look around this majestic historic building. St Bartholomew the Great was founded in 1123 by a courtier of Henry I...
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Marrakech
That excitement in the airport that comes with the realisation that we were embarking on a much bigger adventure than our recent European jaunts. I was using a Lonely Planet for the first time in over 20 years. Arriving at night in Marrakech and that first experience of the maze of the Medina trying to...
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The Stonebridge Brook in Tottenham
I received this brilliant email from Barry Parker with information about the Stonebridge Brook around Culvert Road and Seven Sisters Road. “As a child I lived in Greenfield Road,N 15. The area where Culvert Road met Seven Sisters Road would flood when there was heavy rain in Hornsey. This flooded houses in Culvert Road, Durnford...
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Is this the Only Road in the City of London?
In a recent video I repeated a statement I’d been told by a Freeman of the City of London, and somebody who’d worked in the Lord Mayor’s office. He’d declared that there are ‘no roads in the City of London’. In the comments of that video several people countered that in fact the lower section...
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Trip to Norwich for the launch of W.G Sebald’s Shadows of Reality
Writing starts with a photograph, W.G Sebald said on a German TV arts magazine programme about the publication of his book The Emigrants. This clip was played under the looming 15th Century timbered roof of the Dragon Hall in Norwich on Wednesday at the launch of Shadows of Reality – A Catalogue of W.G. Sebald’s...
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Visit to the Marx Memorial Library
I was passing the Marx Memorial Library on Clerkenwell Green at lunchtime and realised that I’d never actually been inside. Not even as an eager Politics student in my youth. The papery smell in the reading room instantly transported me back through the years. It was intoxicating for a brief moment. The Library was established...
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Sniggs Alley & the Oldest Pub in England
“Every town on the multiverse has a part that is something like Ankh-Morpork’s Shades. It’s usually the oldest part, its lanes faithfully following the original tracks of medieval cows going down to the river, and they have names like Shambles, the Rookery, Sniggs Alley …”Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett A walk to find a location...
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Pub Chat from the George, Wanstead
London Pub Chat – Old Traditions, Best Walks, Tube Problems etc. Sunday chat over a pint in the historic George pub in Wanstead, East London. There’s been a pub on this site since at least 1716 (see the shot of a historic sign on the side of the pub) and it’s reported that Wetherspoons have...
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National Park City – Walking Week Talk
Back in early May I had the pleasure of giving a talk about my new book, Welcome to New London – journeys and encounters in the post-Olympic city for London National Park City as part of Walking Week. The venue was a disused chain coffee shop on Fleet Street, just yards away from where the...
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Screening: London Recorder: William English / Emily Richardson / John Rogers / Andrew Vallance
Delighted to be screening an extract from my 2021 Hackney Wick video at this great programme at the brilliant Close-Up cinema, curated by Contact. Programme details from the Close-Up website below:Films that cover several regions of London, including the outer edges of Hackney, the centre of the city and Brixton. Hackney Wick: The Changing Face of London
John...
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Walking the Mardyke Way from Purfleet to Bulphan
A couple of weeks ago I returned to the border of Greater London to walk the Mardyke Way. This ancient river has followed the same course for over 30 million years. Today it carves a path through the Essex countryside on the edge of London. The route I took from Purfleet was around 11-miles followed...
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Albion Island Vortex revived – Iain Sinclair’s Histories and Hauntings
Legendary London writer Iain Sinclair takes us on a tour of his exhibition, Histories and Hauntings, at Swedenborg House in Central London. Histories and Hauntings was partly a re-staging of an exhibition that Iain Sinclair organised at the Whitechapel Gallery in 1974 with Brian Catling, Renchi Bicknell, Sam Torrance and others, Albion Island Vortex, but...
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Speaking at Dalloway Day – Hatchards Piccadilly
I’m delighted to be celebrating Dalloway Day at the brilliant Hatchards Piccadilly on 22nd June 2024. I’ll be in conversation with writer Matthew Beaumont “to reflect on walking in London both in Mrs Dalloway’s 1920s and today.” “In people’s eyes, in the swing, tramp, and trudge; in the bellow and the uproar; the carriages, motor...
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Walking the Counters Creek – lost rivers of London
Lost river walk that links two of the magnificent seven The Counters Creek has haunted me for a few years, just as the lost rivers of London collectively haunt London. It was there as a presence when I’d documented the protests to save the communities and buildings in Earls Court in 2015 & 2016. It...
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Visit to Ljubljana, Slovenia
A 3-day trip to the capital city of Slovenia in the former Yugoslavia with my wife at Easter. Featuring some of the major architectural sites of Ljubljana and a trip to Lake Bled in the Julian Alps. We arrived in Ljubljana to a downpour that lasted into the evening, Easter Monday. We wandered the rainy...
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Edit Day – Alan Moore & Iain Sinclair
Sunny day spent editing this illuminating video of a trek across Northampton with Iain Sinclair to the home of Alan Moore. How do I cut anything from this footage? Feels like a crime. Screening of Unearthing Alan Moore at Swedenborg House, 23rd May. Extended YouTube version shortly afterwards....
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Pub Chat – talking walking at Filly Brook, Leytonstone
Episode 3 of Pub Chat finds me having a pint at the brilliant Filly Brook, Leytonstone. This is obviously my favourite ‘pub’ name in the world (Filly Brook isn’t strictly a pub, more of a tap room) being named after Leytonstone’s lost river that gurgles beneath the street just yards away. In fact, Weston’s map...
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Iain Sinclair – Pariah Genius quote
“All I know is that place dictates the story. The petty interventions of humans are of no account. We raid the past to make the present bearable. But there is no present. Just images, scratches, blood colours. Chalk, oil, aerosol: legacy. And outliers to record it.”P.61...
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Video: In conversation with Iain Sinclair at Hatchards Piccadilly
Here’s the full unedited video of my wonderful conversation with Iain Sinclair at Hatchards Piccadilly on 25th January. The event was to discuss my new book, Welcome to New London – journeys and encounters in the post-Olympic city but we wandered as we’re wont to do and even had a chat about Iain’s latest book...
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Record Store Day local wander
More infoLea Hall, Leyton – from Leyton & Leytonstone Historical SocietyDreamhouse Records, LeytonLea Bridge Library – new pavilion Vinyl Vanguard, Walthamstow St Mary’s Church, Leyton...
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London Loop Section 2 – Petts Wood to Old Bexley
Continuing my walk on the London Loop How can it have been two years since I ended Section 3 of the London Loop at Petts Wood? It felt both fantastic and odd to find myself back at Petts Wood station picking up the 150-mile long trail and knocking off the final couple of sections of...
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Fever Dreams of Iain Sinclair … and John Deakin
“Fever dreams empty the streets and let the old ghosts out.” Iain Sinclair, Pariah Genius...
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Some Fantastic Tales of Bloomsbury
This London walking tour takes us around the fabulous squares of Bloomsbury with its fantastic tales. Our walk starts with the incredible story of Oliver Cromwell’s body being kept in the cellar of The Red Lion pub in Holborn in 1661 and its possible secret burial. Then in Red Lion Square, we investigate the story...
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Photos from some early April London Strolls
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The most Eastern Point in Greater London
Sometimes quests come to you unexpectedly. I was looking for the source of the Mar Dyke on Google Map and spotted a heritage marker in a field near the village of Bulphan in Essex. Zooming in on the map to see what artefact or building was to be found, it simply read ‘Easternmost Point of...
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Socialist Modernism in Ljubljana (and other modernisms)
I was hoping to find some examples of Socialist Modernism on my recent trip to Ljubljana, capital of Slovenia, and spotted this glorious concrete structure, initially from the bus to Lake Bled. Upon return to Ljubljana we doubled back to pay homage to this example of peak ‘Soc Mod’. ‘Petrol’ by noted architect Milan Mihelič...
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Walking historic Whitechapel
Join me on a journey through the streets of Whitechapel, one of London’s most vibrant and storied areas. Our East London walking tour begins at Petticoat Lane, a bustling market dating back to the 1600s now known for its lively atmosphere and diverse range of goods. From there, we’ll make our way to Wentworth Street...
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Resonance fm fundraiser at Cafe Oto – Richard Dawson
9th March: Great scene at Cafe Oto for the Resonance fm fundraiser, Richard Dawson headlining, Kamura Obscura opening the night, Ben Thompson on the decks. Saw some wonderful people in the audience.Richard Dawson was something else, transcendental, picking, strumming, thrashing that electric guitar and hitting those incredible vocal notes....
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Pub Chat episode 2: walking Roman London
Here’s the next instalment of my ad-hoc series of pub chats at the end of a walk. This time I’m talking about walks in Roman London – once again in the brilliant Red Lion Leytonstone supping a pint of East London Brewery Bow Creek. See me in conversation with Travis Elborough at the Bookseller Crow...
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Coastal walk from Folkestone to Dover
Last summer I headed out to do the two harbours walk from Folkestone to Dover in Kent, partly following the North Downs Way. This beautiful coastal walk follows the chalk cliffs with stunning views across the Channel ending at the famous white cliffs of Dover. We pass the Martello towers, Abbots Cliff Sound Mirror, Battle...
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Event at Bookseller Crow with Travis Elborough 28th March 2024
Chuffed to bits to be doing an event at Bookseller Crow bookshop in Crystal Palace on 28th March with the brilliant Travis Elborough.Get your tickets here: https://booksellercrow.co.uk/event/26190/?instance_id=338 Welcome to New London is not just a book about a city; it’s a vivid, personal account of a city in flux, where the author’s passion for exploration...
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