SHORTER WALKS
![]() Group Coordinator: Kate Grant (click to contact) Co-leader: Kate Wark |
When
We usually have two scheduled walks each month on varying days of the week, led by members of the group. We also have extra ‘pop-up’ walks from time to time. |
Where Some walks are fairly local,
others involve some travel.
|
We travel by public transport for up to
about 45 minutes from central London, but many of our walks
are much more local. In the summer months we walk further
afield with some longer country walks. During the winter we
have shorter ones, and tend to keep to parks and towpaths as
we try to avoid muddy paths. We always have a coffee break
during our walks, and almost invariably end with an optional
group lunch.
We don’t tackle any real hills, but there can be occasional fairly steep slopes or flights of steps to manage, and the odd stile, so a reasonable degree of fitness is helpful.
Shorter Walks is a very sociable, friendly group where new members are made welcome. To join the group, please either drop me an email (address as above) or register through Beacon. Having joined the group, to join a particular walk click on the relevant date below. If you are not a member of Islington U3A then you must firstly join this before joining any Group. Go to the Join Us page and there click on the Membership Form.
Our experience of running walks has suggested a few common-sense guidelines, to ensure everyone’s enjoyment and safety on our walks. You can see them here.
Our Next Shorter Walks
Date TBC: A City Centre walk including Tower Bridge, Southwark and parts of the Embankment. Details to follow.
Signup forms will be emailed to members a week in advance of walk dates.
Photo Gallery
Launching a new feature. If you click on the following links you can see many of our photographs. They will scroll through automatically and you can see the walk number and title at the bottom. You need to select which year you want to see: 2017 2018 2019 2020
If you want to find photos from a particular walk you can click here then from the thumbnails find the one you want then click on it. In addition we now have a map feature here — this shows where we've walked in 2018 and if you click on any of the pins the walk details will appear — should you wish to repeat a walk yourself. Hope you enjoy these new features and they bring back some good iU3A memories.
Recent Walks
December: Hampstead Heath — Six walkers
had a great walk,
mostly in the sunshine, for our last meeting before the
Christmas holiday. Starting at Gospel Oak we walked around
the ponds (no swimmers in evidence, but perhaps swimming is
once more out of bounds?), then across to Kenwood House for
a take-away coffee. We escaped the dog-walkers by crossing
over to Jack Straw’s Castle and continuing down to the
surprisingly quiet Hill House pergola and gardens. The
return route took us over Sandy Heath, which we’ve renamed
Muddy Heath for the moment, and along a little-known path
back to Kenwood and eventually Parliament Hill Lido and
Gospel Oak once more. A respectable six miles.
December: Stoke Newington to Str
atford
— Despite the grey and cold, ten of us enjoyed a
six-mile walk from Stoke Newington to Stratford. We stopped
for coffee in Springfield Park and then walked down to the
River Lea which we followed, passing by Walthamstow Marshes
and then joining the River Lea Navigation canal. We then cut
through the site of the Middlesex Filter Beds before
continuing along the towpath. After the Queen Elizabeth
Olympic Park we joined the Greenway briefly, ending up for a
delicious but chilly al fresco lunch at the View Tube café.
December: Pymmes Brook Trail — Despite
a chilly, foggy start
eight walkers enjoyed our exploration of North London’s
parks and green spaces as we followed the path of the Pymmes
Brook, lined by some impressive willows, through Southgate
and Barnet. We were treated to an enlightening chat from a
gardening ‘friend’ of Broomfield Park outside the delightful
conservatory. We marvelled at the impressive multi-arched
Victorian viaduct for the Piccadilly line in Arnos Park. But
the highlight had to be the beautiful Little Egret, almost
close enough to touch, in Oak Hills Park. The sun,
inevitably, came out just as we reached the end of our walk.
November: Richmond Park — We man
aged to squeeze in a
final walk before lockdown and had a lovely day of blue
skies and sun. After a short riverside walk we climbed to
Richmond Hill to enjoy the iconic view of the Thames. Our
route through Richmond Park included Pembroke Lodge (slowest
ever queues for coffee), the Pen ponds and the Isabella
Plantation, resplendent in Autumn colours. We encountered
several picturesque groups of deer, emerging from the
bracken, necessitating a diversion at one point, and
including a pair of rutting stags. The bus at the Petersham
Gate was a welcome sight for most of the group but three of
us opted to extend the walk, along the Thames Path back to
Richmond.
October: Regent's Park — We had a
great walk along the
Canal from Angel to Regent's Park (which took an hour).
After a long stop for coffee and cake at the Broad Walk café
(a deserted seating area with a small café nearby), we
walked on through the English Garden to the Rose Garden,
where the roses were still in bloom, and then to the Lake. A
few walkers left then and another at the north end. Three of
us walked back along the canal — slightly busier now than at
lunchtime — a grand total of 8.7 miles in 3 hours, including
a prolonged coffee break. Luckily we managed to avoid the
wind and rain, which held off until we got home.
October: Finsbury Park to Stoke Newington — T
his was a perfect walk for a full
appreciation of the Autumn tree colours. After crossing
Finsbury Park, we skirted the West reservoir (no
dinghies or swimmers today) round to the wetlands. The
display board informed us that recent sightings included
a penguin, but it unfortunately didn’t materialise on
our visit. A coffee break, lengthened by Covid
protection measures, at the Coal House café at least
enabled us to shelter from a passing shower. Then we
followed the New River path and continued to Clissold
Park (wonderful colours), ending by walking through the
atmospheric Abney Park cemetery.
October: Forty Hall Circular — Blue s
kies
and sunshine provided a glorious start to our walk as we
followed the Turkey Brook through a rural part of
Enfield. The lakeside at Forty Hall was the setting for
a wedding when we arrived, and a Tai Chi group made a
rather picturesque addition to the sweeping lawns. An al
fresco coffee break and stroll around the delightful
walled garden provided Autumn colour, after which we
followed the old course of the New River past the
vineyard to return to Hillyfields Park, where our luck
ran out and it rained on us for 10 minutes as we sped to
Gordon Hill station and a quiet train home.
October: Hampstead Heath — Nine
walkers managed
a five mile circuit of Hampstead Heath the day after a
month’s worth of rain fell in a weekend. We were lucky
to have a break between the early morning showers and
the afternoon rain, and actually walked in sunshine for
most of the morning. From Gospel Oak we headed around
the Vale of Health, then through woodland just changing
colour, over to Kenwood for a coffee break in a
pleasantly quiet garden. No queues! We enjoyed the views
from there across London, (which was a cunning ploy to
avoid having to climb Parliament Hill later) then wended
our way on an admittedly rather circuitous route past
several ponds and emerged back at Gospel Oak with
mud-free footwear, which must be a first for an Autumn
Heath walk. We possibly saw almost as many dogs as
people.
September: Finsbury Park to Alexandra Pal
ace — Our walk on the last day of
September marked a change of season. There was a hint of
bronze in the leaves and fungi appearing among the
trees. Even the air smelt of Autumn. Our
socially-distanced group of six enjoyed a leafy walk
along the Parkland Walk, dodging dog-walkers, and
through both Queen's Wood and Highgate Wood. The sun
didn’t manage an appearance, but we did miss almost all
of the rain forecast for the morning. The Pavilion café
in Highgate Wood was our coffee break, where we dodged a
shower to sit in the garden. The walk ended at Alexandra
Palace with its ever-changing panoramic views and yet
more tower blocks and cranes.
September: Euston to Camden — A b
eautiful
morning showed the lush green allotments in the former
Cumberland Basin (a filled in section of the Regent’s
Canal) at their best. In contrast the white stucco of
John Nash’s and Decimus Burton’s terraces gleamed in the
sun. A leisurely stroll across Regent's Park brought us
to Tom Harvey’s series of wooden chainsaw carvings. Then
it was across the canal to climb the heights of Primrose
Hill for spectacular views under a blue sky and a chance
to sit and chat before the six of us headed back down to
Camden and transport home.
August: Ten City Gardens — These
walks
spread over four weeks with just two people and Hazel
have been delightful. Each person brought different
interests for discussion, plants, history and knowledge
about the area. The first day was 35˚ (95˚F),
and we took shelter in the shade but had the highlight
of finding a lost hawk. The handler was delighted to be
reunited and we had a close-up experience. There was
just one day of slight drizzle, but afternoons were dry.
Two had a drink break at the Barbie Café, otherwise we
stopped to enjoy the Salters Livery Hall garden before
concluding with part of the London Wall walk.
Although most people knew many of the gardens there was
always something new.
August: Angel to Woodberry Wetlands — We
started
in Duncan Terrace Gardens and followed the New River
Walk up to Clissold Park and the Wetlands. It was a very
pleasant walk with few people and the River looked clean
and the gardens well cared for. We also saw lots of
Moorhen chicks and Mallards. The weather was lovely,
considering the extremes of the past few weeks. It was a
discovery walk for two of us and we enjoyed a coffee at
the wetlands “en plain air”. We walked on through
Finsbury Park where we either caught a bus or continued
back to Angel through Gillespie Park and Highbury
Fields.
August: Lee Valley Country Park, Ch
eshunt
— This postponed walk was lucky to have the only
dry day that week. Five walkers left Cheshunt Station
and enjoyed an amusing coffee stop at the White Water
Centre watching beginners tackling the rapids. This was
a real country walk, with few people and lovely scenery.
The pace was gentle with some blackberrying and time to
sit and enjoy the peace of the lakes where it was even
warm enough to shed a layer of clothing. Lunch was
rustic ‘bring your own’ in a forest glade where we
enjoyed the sun dappling through the trees. It was a
welcome breath of fresh air.
August: Angel to T
he Thames — A
small group of us walked and talked from Islington down
to the river in very pleasant walking weather. In
Clerkenwell we passed the plaque to the Musical Coalman
and wandered round the lovely garden by St John Priory
Church. On to Smithfield where we played the xylophone
in the Rotunda Garden before visiting Postman’s Park
with the moving memorial to self-sacrifice by Watts. We
crossed the Millennium Bridge in search of shade and
found benches suitable for social distancing with a view
across the river. Most of us walked back to
Islington via Temple, Lincoln’s Inn Fields and Coram
Fields while others chose their own route home taking
advantage of the flexibility of these walks in London —
you’re never lost and there is always the bus!
August: Islington to the Hoxton Se
cret Garden — Despite the forecast,
we had no thundery showers and the temperature was a
welcome respite from the earlier excessive heat and
humidity. But who knew what delights were waiting for
us, so close to home! In St Mary’s Gardens in Hoxton we
bought plants and honey, freshly picked beans and garlic
and all of us vowed to return. At the Swedish Bakery,
Fabrique, some of us succumbed to their vanilla or
cardamom buns which we took into the Gardens to enjoy
with our coffee. In Haggerston Park we found a banana
plant, as well as rose gardens. When we returned via the
Regent’s Canal the family of swans were once again ready
to greet us.
July: Islington to Granary Square — Six int
repid
ladies set out from the Town Hall for a short walk and
some socially distanced conversation. We admired the
architecture in Barnsbury Square and the bird mural off
Caledonian Road before walking past Crumbles Castle in
Bingfield Park. Next came the Maiden Lane estate where a
kind man warned us against a notorious drugs hotspot but
undaunted we marched onward, although we did look
carefully round each corner first, and saw …. nothing!
Once over the canal we turned into Old St Pancras
churchyard to see the Hardy Tree, the Burdett-Coutts
Memorial Sundial, and John Soane’s tomb (inspiration for
the Gilbert Scott telephone boxes). Then into Granary
Square to enjoy the flowers on the high walk and to try
out the ‘all gender’ toilets (very clean). From there
some of us walked along the canal to Chapel Market while
others opted to head off on different routes. Wonderful
to walk in company with other people again!
July: Finsbury Park to Clissold Park — Six
of us went on a pleasant three-mile
morning walk through Finsbury Park and Clissold Park.
This was the first outing of the group since lockdown;
we agreed not to lengthen the walk by going along the
New River Walk as we felt it would be too busy. We ended
up at the café in Clissold Park where we had a
socially-distanced coffee and chat. No-one braved the
toilets although it was good to know that they were
there! We’re all looking forward to being able to walk
in the countryside again when we’re more confident about
using public transport.
March: Bushy Park and Hampton Cou
rt — Our
rather blustery walk in Bushy Park, despite a gloomy
sky, was full of the promise of spring in the woodlands
with carpets of daffodils, camellias and early-flowering
cherry trees. En route to the magnificent baroque
water gardens, we managed to add a
short diversion that avoided the muddy tracks.
Unfortunately we didn’t manage to repeat our success on
the second part of our walk where the path had become an
intermittent stream and we were squelching through mud
once more. It was something of a nature ramble too, with
the usual roe deer and quite a few white (albino?) deer
too, as well as an endearing family of Egyptian geese
with six fluffy goslings and a glorious skylark in full
song.
February: Regents Canal — Angel to Limehouse — After a
change of date and
a last minute change of walk, six of us had a really
lovely walk from Angel to Limehouse along the canal
path. The conditions couldn’t have been better after the
recent gales and floods as it was fine, cool and a
little breezy. The path was quite busy with runners and
the usual cyclists and we were impressed with how clean
and neat the canal path is looking, with some lovely
planting in a few areas. Our usual coffee haunts were
closed so we stopped at the Victoria Park café and
admired the fountain and the ducks. Afterwards we had a
delightful lunch in the Yurt Café Limehouse at St
Katharine’s Precinct.
February: River Ravensbourne — This was an area of Lond
on new to
most of the 14 walkers. Starting with coffee in Deptford
it was not easy to encourage everyone from the cosy
Coffee Room and to the first park along the river. We
walked through four surprisingly quiet parks that made
the sections of busy roads and junctions seem extra
loud. The final park, Pool River, had an especially
rural feel and led to the lunch stop in Mayow Park that
should have been quiet, but was taken over by local Mums
and Babies. Still, nine stayed for the nice food
which we ate outside. An interesting new walk with
appropriate graffiti and easy travel.
January: Alexandra Palace circular — Ten
walkers joined this local five-mile walk through
Alexandra Park, Highgate Wood, and Queen's Wood on a
grey day, with the boating lake providing the only
colour (see photo). It should have been a walk with
far-ranging views but sadly the clouds had descended and
we were left guessing at the distant landmarks of
London. We encountered the Dulwich U3A walkers in
Queen's Wood, straying beyond their usual territory. And
we were back to the mud again, but only a short fairly
manageable stretch this time.
January: Kew to Hammersmith — At last — a mu
d-free
walk! We had a chilly but mercifully dry and windless
walk along the Thames Path with a diversion to Chiswick
House. The decorated garden took us by surprise.
Intended for Chinese New Year, it was more of a
celebration of Disney in plastic. All very odd when
juxtaposed with the Palladian delights of Chiswick
House. The rest of the walk was more tasteful and gave
us many opportunities to daydream about living by the
Thames in style. Although we wouldn’t, because of the
planes. We visited the beautifully preserved 15th
century Chiswick parish church and found Hogarth’s tomb
in the graveyard and finally Kelmscott House, the home
of William Morris, before finding a riverside pub for
lunch just before Hammersmith Bridge.
December: East Finchley to Woodberry Wetlan
ds — The sun broke through the early
morning mist and provided perfect weather for our
post-Christmas five mile walk. After an early coffee
break in Highgate Wood, where our group of 21 failed to
faze the single barista, we continued through a sunlit
Queen's Wood and along the (still pretty muddy) Parkland
Walk, into Finsbury Park, finally reaching the New River
and the wetlands, glorious in the sunshine. We had lunch
outdoors beside the sparkling waters. Could we really be
in Zone 2?
December: Christmas Walk — The morning of our
Christmas walk
dawned grey and wet, but in fact we
did manage to stay dry
for our shorter-than-usual walk around the Walthamstow
Wetlands. We had the Engine Room café almost to
ourselves — just as well since there were 26 of us. The
London Wildlife Trust guides helpfully set up their
state of the art telescopes for us but, other than a
shelduck, it was the usual suspects. A shag turned out
to be a cormorant and a scaup just a tufted duck. The
newly-refurbished Ferryboat Inn was a pleasant venue for
our Christmas lunch. We’ll definitely return to the
wetlands for a more extensive walk, maybe in sunshine
next time.
November: Greenwich and Blackheath — T
hirteen
very lucky walkers had a five mile tramp around our
usual circuit of Greenwich and Blackheath. We were very
lucky as it was quite warm and in spite of
predictions we weren’t rained on, except for a fine
drizzle after lunch. There were magnificent misty views
of the Thames and Greenwich and the dramatic autumnal
colours. We all managed the steepish climb up to the One
Tree Hill vista point (which wasn’t in the notes) to
enjoy the misty views from there too.
November: Capital Ring — Six of us walked
a six mile route from Preston Road
to Hendon Central stations. It was beautiful
weather with the autumn colours at their best. The
walk took in the views over London from Barn Hill
and Gotfords Hill. A bit of urban walking took us
to the Birchen Grove garden centre, where we
stopped for lunch and avoided buying any plants or
Christmas decorations. We then followed the north
bank of the Welsh Harp Reservoir (very few birds
around at the moment) before reaching Hendon
Central and our train home.
October: Windsor and Eton — Fourtee
n
walkers enjoyed a walk of five and a half miles,
avoiding all but the lightest of drizzle, but
under constantly cloudy skies. The walk was
varied, and included many views of the picturesque
Windsor Castle, the Thames riverside path, and the
playing fields of Eton (as well as its swimming
pool and golf course). Although we’d hoped for a
peaceful rural walk the soundtrack was of planes
taking off from nearby Heathrow, the
not-so-distant rumble of traffic on the bypass
and, of course, the screeching parakeets. No
matter, we had a dryish walk in a very wet week
and even managed to squeeze in two coffee breaks.
October: Hadley Wood — After alm
ost a solid week of rain the skies
cleared just in time for our walk in Hadley Wood.
The sun even made a few half-hearted appearances.
The wind had also dropped so, if it hadn’t been
for the inevitable mud — a lot of mud — it would
have been a perfect autumn walk. As it was, the
beech trees were starting to change colour, very
decoratively, above a carpet of already fallen
bronze leaves. We even saw someone we took to be
foraging for fungus, although, just as we were
about to pick his brains on where to find the ceps
and chanterelles, it transpired that he was in
fact litter-picking. Oh well… We ended our
lovely walk as usual, in the Cock Inn restaurant,
where the food is reliably good. We did however
lower the tone somewhat in our muddy boots.
September: Hampstead Heath — We luckily
chose
the only fine day for about a week for our
Hampstead Heath Walk and it was glorious. We set
out straight to Parliament Hill and were rewarded
with magnificent views (see photo). Skirting
around the Men’s Bathing Pond and the “Boating”
Pond, we then walked through lovely woodland to
Kenwood for coffee, taking in the Henry Moore “Two
Piece Reclining Figure” and a glimpse of Barbara
Hepworth's “Monolith Empyrean” nearby. We then
walked via a circuitous route to West Heath and
the Pergola (the garden looking very autumnal) and
the lily pond. Just before our stop at the Golders
Hill Park café, we wandered through the small zoo
and the stumpery.
September: Roding River and Claybury W
oods
— This new walk proved to be very popular with the
15 walkers who set off in blazing sunshine along
the nature trail beside the Roding River, which
has been left to mature naturally and is abundant
with butterflies and dragonflies. There was a lot
of scrumping and munching going on — blackberries,
sloes and apples, but not the hops. We had our
coffee break at the lovely Anglers Rest Café
beside a pretty lake, before going on to Claybury
Woods. In the dappled shade we met almost nobody
else, only realising just how close we were
to central London when,
at the end, we saw The Shard and Canary Wharf in
the distance. The Friday lunch specials at The
Fairlop Oak were enjoyed in the sunshine of the
courtyard.
August: Stoke Newington to Stratford — Ten
of us enjoyed our late summer walk
of five miles from Stoke Newington to Stratford in
beautiful weather. We stopped early in our walk
for coffee in the sunshine in Springfield Park,
then followed the River Lea, passing Walthamstow
Marshes to the remains of the Middlesex Filter
Beds (built by the East London Waterworks Company
in 1852). We then continued along the towpath with
views of Hackney Marshes and the Queen Elizabeth
Park. Our final stop was for lunch at a community
café, the View Tube, where we again sat in the
sun.
August: Trent Park — After such awful weat
her for the past two weeks it was
perfect walking weather, sun and nice breezes, for
this tried and tested walk. Twelve walkers enjoyed
the calm of the woodland and water garden. We
noticed the changes brought about for the
renovation of Trent Park Mansion, thinning of
trees to give a vista from the obelisk and the
lake. Ending at the Cock Inn, a favourite of the
Shorter Walks Group, the order was for six fish
finger sandwiches.
August: Epping Forest — Eleven of us
walked the Epping Forest circuit from Chingford
Station. It was a lovely cloudy/sunny day for
walking and not too hot. We managed the route in
three hours, and with the help of the iFootpath
App had no detours,
so we were very pleased, particularly the leader.
On the way we admired the wonderful trees, which
looked very green (especially the hornbeam),
Leighton Camp (Iron Age fort), some brilliant
butterflies, pretty water lilies, a few horses and
riders, and a stray cow. It was wonderfully devoid
of other people. The only casualty was some very
sore feet.
July: Lavender Fields — Banstead to Woodmans
terne. What a wonderful walk with the
temperature 6˚ lower than central London, 80% in
the forest shade and a nice breeze. Eight walkers
left Banstead and were straight into the woods and
golf course and on to the coffee stop in lovely
gardens. Then into the Lavender fields that were
at their vibrant best. We all even managed to
kneel down for the photo and get up. The walk
continued through fields of wild flowers with rare
chalk habitat for butterflies, that were
everywhere. Back into the forest and on to
Woodmansterne for a sandwich from the bakery and a
welcome drink in the Smugglers Inn. Even the
trains to and from were air-conditioned.
July: Ruislip Woods and Lido. Ten
happy Shorter Walkers ‘yomped’ six
miles around the Ruislip Lido and luckily it was
very comfortable weather-wise. We had considered
bringing our swimming costumes but it wasn’t quite
warm enough for us. Unexpectedly, we were given a
dousing at the coffee stop as we sat too near the
children’s water fountains but we easily dried
off. We enjoyed the walking through Ruislip Wood,
a Site of Special Scientific Interest and national
nature reserve, Copse Wood and Park Wood then
around the Haste Hill golf course and beside the
miniature railway. Afterwards, a few of the group
stayed for a special pub lunch.
June: Chesham. Yet again the June weather had led
us to
postpone a walk, but six of us finally made it to
Chesham (after the usual complaints about the
Metropolitan Line and TfL's alleged ‘timetable’).
The previous night’s rain made for muddy paths,
and the narrow tracks through waist-high fields of
rape and barley meant parts of the walk were
rather soggy, but at least the rain held off. The
views across the Chiltern Hills were impressive
and again we were butterfly-spotting, Holly Blues
we think. The Red Kites of the Chilterns were
conspicuous by their absence; we saw only one
solitary kite all day. But it was a pleasure to
walk with the background music of birdsong rather
than traffic or planes.
May: Colne Valley. Our Colne Valley walk
had been postponed from the previous week of rain
and wind, but we didn’t quite get away unscathed
on the walk. The shower didn’t last long but
unfortunately coincided with the path alongside
the lake, so the birdlife was less in evidence
than we’d hoped. The coffee break at the Visitor
Centre was overrun with children but they soon
disappeared with their nets for a session of
pond-dipping. I don’t think we scared them away…
After the flat towpath the final uphill trek to
the Old Orchard was the usual struggle — it’s
quite short but felt surprisingly steep, but we
were rewarded by the lovely views and, of course,
lunch.
May: Dollis Valley Greenwalk. Summer arrived s
uddenly after the cold
winds and rain, for our last walk in May. Sixteen
walkers set off from Totteridge station following
the Dollis river (well more of a stream really)
and were soon peeling off fleeces as we made our
way through the green spaces of Barnet. Before
long we were walking through meadows brimming with
buttercups and clover and being challenged in
butterfly-identification. The convenient Three
Hammers pub in Mill Hill produced a decent lunch
too. A lovely rural walk for an early summer’s day
— and so close to home.
May: Cassiobury Park and Whippendell Woods. Twelv
e
of us set out from Watford underground station for our walk.
After a few minutes we stopped for coffee in the
garden of the Cassiobury Park café. We then walked
through the park into some of the nature reserve
woodlands, across a golf course and through a
field before entering Whippendell Woods. There
were some slopes, but none too long or steep — it
was a beautiful day for walking and we all enjoyed
the warm sunshine and blue skies. Coming back, we
walked through the nature reserve then along a
rural stretch of the Grand Union canal before
stopping at the cafe again for lunch in the
garden.
May: Richmond Park. The azaleas in the Isabella
Plantation were more spectacular than
any of us could remember. The sun didn’t manage
more than the odd appearance but the 17 walkers
enjoyed a varied walk, along the Thames Path to
the Petersham nurseries (where the wisteria bower
made up for the eye-wateringly expensive coffee)
then through the western part of Richmond Park via
the stunning azaleas, and ending with an al fresco
lunch at the lovely Pembroke Lodge.
April: Banstead Woods. The bluebells were
splendiferous this year — eight of us enjoyed the
seven mile walk around Banstead Woods in lovely
rural countryside. It was a real breath of fresh
air. The predicted rainstorm didn’t materialise so
it was perfect walking weather as well. Some of us
stayed to a delicious outdoor lunch at the
Rambler's Rest.
April: Borehamwood. This was a relaxed
‘easy’ walk — easy travel, flat
terrain and quiet. 14 walkers enjoyed the sunshine
(note all the sunglasses) in this rough parkland
and although it was quite cold the trees were
starting to flower. The circular path ended in
‘The Spinney’, before a short walk back to
Borehamwood High Street for lunch in the Shenley
Bakery and Café. The new Station building had only
just opened — they must have known we were coming
— with sparkly toilets a bonus. Details here.
March: Forty Hall and Myd
delton House gardens.
The wild winds and rain of the
previous week meant we had to postpone this north
London walk but we were rewarded by a magnificent
show of spring flowers in both gardens. From
Gordon Hill station and Hillyfields park we
followed a rural stretch of the Turkey Brook past
fishing lakes to the Forty Hall estate and coffee.
The walled garden was brimming with daffodils and
primulas under the blossom of magnolias and cherry
trees. But Myddelton House garden’s spring meadow
was even more entrancing with glorious sweeps of
blue camassia dotted with anemones and narcissi.
Definitely a walk for garden-lovers.
March: Bushy Park/Thames Path. Thanks to disrupted train services we had two simultaneous walks: the original Bushy Park walk with a delayed start, and Plan B, the Thames Path from Richmond. Many thanks to Jenny for stepping into the breach and successfully leading the Bushy Park walk, armed only with the leader’s notes.
Bushy Park — Bushy Park is relatively unknown
to north Londoners, and far less
manicured than many London parks, with rough
grass, streams and large herds of deer. After
crossing an expanse of grassland we entered the
enclosed woodland garden, for a coffee break,
continuing our walk through lovely flowering
cherries and spring bulbs. We later discovered the
newly restored water gardens, and our final treat
was the Silver Birch glade, full of more colourful
spring flowers. Following a stream to the Diana
fountain we continued through the Lion Gate into
the grounds of Hampton Court, where we either
headed straight to the station, or had lunch in
the Tiltyard Cafe before returning to Waterloo.
Thames Path — Opting to avoid National Rail
services, we stuck to the tube and headed off from
Richmond station. First we took the Thames Path
along a picturesque stretch of the river from
Richmond to Marble Hill (with Egyptian geese and
one very new gosling), followed by a ferry ride
across the river to Petersham, a diversion into
Richmond Park with lunch at the Pembroke Lodge,
then the Thames Path back into Richmond. We
luckily managed to avoid the high tides that had
recently flooded the path.
March: Highgate to Stoke Newington. Mud, mud,
glorious (!?) mud .... Fifteen of us met up at Highgate
Station for our walk to Stoke Newington. The first
section along the Parkland Walk to our Finsbury
Park coffee stop was uneventful and we sat outside
for our break. All went well until we got to the
walk along the New River. We had been warned that
it would be muddy, and it was! Thick and slippery
for half a mile, but we all made it through
despite very muddy boots and one pair of torn
trousers. Things improved as we walked the second
part of the New River and we stopped for lunch at
the café in Clissold Park (mixed reviews). The
walk ended with a gentle walk down Stoke Newington
Church Street and through the Victorian Abney Park
Cemetery.
February: Lee Valley Park, Cheshunt. A
repeat of a circular walk from last
September, 16 walkers set off from Cheshunt
station on this lovely peaceful walk alongside
woods and water. The weather was amazing for
February and it was warm enough for us to sit
outside for coffee at the white water centre.
Plenty of birds were spotted, including herons and
cormorants, and one lucky walker saw her first
ever kingfisher. The walk ended at Cheshunt where
some of us had a bring-your-own lunch in the
Windmill pub.
February: Regent's Canal. In spite of dire weather
warnings eight of us set off from
Little Venice to walk the canal path to King's
Cross. We were extremely lucky: there was only
drizzle for a short period and we were quite
protected on the path. After a lovely walk, in
which we managed to negotiate the several
diversions off the path, we stopped for coffee at
the Regent's Park boathouse and lunch at King's
Place. Walk details
here.
January 2019: Hampstead Heath. Under
stunningly
blue skies fourteen Shorter Walkers braved a
wind-chill temperature of 2º at the start of our
walk. The early climb to the top of Parliament
Hill soon warmed us up and we continued past the
Highgate Ponds, which were sparkling in the
sunlight, via Kenwood to Jack Straw’s Castle where
we heard (and finally saw) woodpeckers in the
woodland as we approached the Pergola. Irises and
even camellias were already in flower, as well as
the expected snowdrops. After a diversion to visit
the animal enclosure and aviary in Golders Hill
Park (discovering that the Ring-tailed Lemur was
actually a Coati), the temperature had risen
enough for an alfresco lunch.
Walk details here.
January: Regent’s Canal. Our first ‘pop up‘ wal
k for 2019 had a record number of
walkers as 20 of us (including four first-timers)
walked from Angel to Limehouse Basin along the
Regent’s Canal. It was a clear, crisp day with the
sun trying to come out and just perfect for
walking. The canal path was quiet but the canal
itself was quite busy with boats moving around and
boat chimneys burning fuel. There wasn’t much
birdlife on a cool winter's day apart from the
usual coots and swans.
January: Thirteen walkers enjoyed a w
alk around Greenwich Park and
Blackheath on a mild though cloudy day.
After crossing the Thames via the foot tunnel we
emerged at the Cutty Sark and walked along the
Thames Path to the strains of Trinity College
music students busily rehearsing, then walked
uphill through the park admiring the views of the
historic riverside buildings on the way. We
diverted around Blackheath sticking to footpaths
and imagining how lovely it must have been before
it was dominated by the A2, then back into the
park to check if the Meridian Line was still there
(it was) and lunch at the Pavilion restaurant
before a downhill stroll back to Greenwich for the
DLR. And we managed to avoid mud for the
whole walk.
December: Christmas Walk — Regent's Park
& Primrose Hill
— An unexpected blue sky and
sunshine greeted 25 walkers for our stroll around
Regent's Park, after the previous night’s
torrential rain. We dropped into St John’s Lodge's
‘secret’ garden, still lovely even out of season,
then enjoyed the vibrant colours of the winter
borders and the artistry of the Japanese garden,
before skirting the lake with its thriving
birdlife. Past the mosque and along the canal, we
managed the climb up Primrose Hill to its
never-disappointing views and finally into Lemonia
for a well-earned delicious Greek lunch.
December: City Walk — Tower Bridge to Blackfriars — Ou
r group was small but beautifully
formed with three new members in the seven
walkers. This walk was unusual as it was a
‘stopping’ walk, passing the ancient Tower of
London and modern boats in St Katharine Docks. As
we got festive, coffee was a great new find in the
Science Museum café at Guy’s. A shopping stop in
Borough Market for food goodies was followed by
the lovely Southwark Cathedral. The rain kept away
for the final lap along the embankment to Tate
Modern and then on to lunch at a real local, The
Cockpit near Blackfriars. Sparkle and good company
was the order of the day.
November: Barnes Bridge to Putney — Bri
ght sunshine, warm
breeze, blue skies — what could be better for the
14 walkers than the banks of the Thames on such a
lovely day? We even sat outside for our coffee,
before moving off alongside the Barnes Wetland
Centre and Thames Path to Putney Bridge and into
the lovely autumnal grounds of Fulham Palace. Even
the secret walled garden had interesting
plantation. We thought we might have had the first
lost walker as we mislaid one of our regulars in
the churchyard, who was eventually found
conversing amiably with Palace staff, none the
worse for the adventure, so all was well.
November: Hadley Wood — We had the
most wonderful walk from High Barnet to
Cockfosters in magnificent Autumn sun and almost
Autumn colours. There were ten of us who walked
through Hadley Wood and passed Jack’s Lake, Dr
Livingstone’s and Fanny Trollope’s houses, a 12th
century church and medieval alms houses. We had
our traditional ‘light lunch’ at The Cock Inn
after.
October: Thames Path — Richmond to Barnes — A larg
e group of 19 walkers enjoyed fine
Autumn weather along the Thames Path. Starting in
Richmond (fortunately at Low Tide as the path
there floods regularly at High Tide), we were soon
glimpsing Kew Gardens on our side of the river
whilst enjoying splendid views of Syon House and
the historic buildings of Old Isleworth across the
water on the north bank. There’s quite a rural
feel to this stretch of the Thames and cormorants
and herons were performing for us for much of the
walk. We ended the walk in Barnes village where we
were able to eat lunch by the pond on the common,
or in the nearby pub.
October: Stoke Newington to Oly
mpic Park — Eleven
of us walked the five miles from Stoke Newington
to Pudding Mill Station. Our first stop was for
coffee in Springfield Park café and then our walk
took us along the River Lee Navigation waterway,
passing the Walthamstow Marsh Nature Reserve and
taking in the Middlesex Filter Beds, which were
constructed in 1852 to improve water for East
London. We then followed the towpath between the
River Lee Navigation and Hackney Marshes and past
the Queen Elizabeth Park. Our walk finished with
lunch at the View Tube, a community café with
excellent food, on the Greenway.
September:
Lee Valley & Cheshunt
— This
circular country park walk proved to be delightful. Within minutes of
leaving the station the ten walkers were in quiet country
parkland with interesting rustic artwork dotted amongst the
trees. It being firm
underfoot the going was easy, enabling us to take in the
lakeland scenery, birds and enjoy the peace. Coffee at the White
Water Centre was great and with warm weather we kept up a
good pace over the five miles.
Sadly we did not spot the otters, but ‘bring our own
lunch’ in The Windmill pub with a cool drink finished the
morning off nicely.
Previous Walks
The following links take you to our archive files of previous walks:
For information and photos of our walks in 2017/18 (October to September) have a look here.
For information and photos of our walks in 2016/17 (October to September) have a look here.
For information and photos of our walks in 2015/16 year (October to September) then the details are here.
For information and photos of our walks in our first iU3A year then the details for 2015 (May to September) are here.
We don’t tackle any real hills, but there can be occasional fairly steep slopes or flights of steps to manage, and the odd stile, so a reasonable degree of fitness is helpful.
Shorter Walks is a very sociable, friendly group where new members are made welcome. To join the group, please either drop me an email (address as above) or register through Beacon. Having joined the group, to join a particular walk click on the relevant date below. If you are not a member of Islington U3A then you must firstly join this before joining any Group. Go to the Join Us page and there click on the Membership Form.
Our experience of running walks has suggested a few common-sense guidelines, to ensure everyone’s enjoyment and safety on our walks. You can see them here.
Our Next Shorter Walks
Date TBC: A City Centre walk including Tower Bridge, Southwark and parts of the Embankment. Details to follow.
Signup forms will be emailed to members a week in advance of walk dates.
Photo Gallery
Launching a new feature. If you click on the following links you can see many of our photographs. They will scroll through automatically and you can see the walk number and title at the bottom. You need to select which year you want to see: 2017 2018 2019 2020
If you want to find photos from a particular walk you can click here then from the thumbnails find the one you want then click on it. In addition we now have a map feature here — this shows where we've walked in 2018 and if you click on any of the pins the walk details will appear — should you wish to repeat a walk yourself. Hope you enjoy these new features and they bring back some good iU3A memories.
Recent Walks
December: Hampstead Heath — Six walkers

December: Stoke Newington to Str

December: Pymmes Brook Trail — Despite

November: Richmond Park — We man

October: Regent's Park — We had a

October: Finsbury Park to Stoke Newington — T

October: Forty Hall Circular — Blue s

October: Hampstead Heath — Nine

September: Finsbury Park to Alexandra Pal

September: Euston to Camden — A b

August: Ten City Gardens — These

August: Angel to Woodberry Wetlands — We

August: Lee Valley Country Park, Ch

August: Angel to T

August: Islington to the Hoxton Se

July: Islington to Granary Square — Six int

July: Finsbury Park to Clissold Park — Six

March: Bushy Park and Hampton Cou

February: Regents Canal — Angel to Limehouse — After a

February: River Ravensbourne — This was an area of Lond

January: Alexandra Palace circular — Ten

January: Kew to Hammersmith — At last — a mu

December: East Finchley to Woodberry Wetlan

December: Christmas Walk — The morning of our

November: Greenwich and Blackheath — T

November: Capital Ring — Six of us walked

October: Windsor and Eton — Fourtee

October: Hadley Wood — After alm

September: Hampstead Heath — We luckily

September: Roding River and Claybury W

August: Stoke Newington to Stratford — Ten

August: Trent Park — After such awful weat

August: Epping Forest — Eleven of us

July: Lavender Fields — Banstead to Woodmans

July: Ruislip Woods and Lido. Ten

June: Chesham. Yet again the June weather had led

May: Colne Valley. Our Colne Valley walk

May: Dollis Valley Greenwalk. Summer arrived s

May: Cassiobury Park and Whippendell Woods. Twelv

May: Richmond Park. The azaleas in the Isabella

April: Banstead Woods. The bluebells were

April: Borehamwood. This was a relaxed

March: Forty Hall and Myd

March: Bushy Park/Thames Path. Thanks to disrupted train services we had two simultaneous walks: the original Bushy Park walk with a delayed start, and Plan B, the Thames Path from Richmond. Many thanks to Jenny for stepping into the breach and successfully leading the Bushy Park walk, armed only with the leader’s notes.
Bushy Park — Bushy Park is relatively unknown

Thames Path — Opting to avoid National Rail

March: Highgate to Stoke Newington. Mud, mud,

February: Lee Valley Park, Cheshunt. A

February: Regent's Canal. In spite of dire weather

January 2019: Hampstead Heath. Under

Walk details here.
January: Regent’s Canal. Our first ‘pop up‘ wal

January: Thirteen walkers enjoyed a w

December: Christmas Walk — Regent's Park

December: City Walk — Tower Bridge to Blackfriars — Ou

November: Barnes Bridge to Putney — Bri

November: Hadley Wood — We had the

October: Thames Path — Richmond to Barnes — A larg

October: Stoke Newington to Oly


Previous Walks
The following links take you to our archive files of previous walks:
For information and photos of our walks in 2017/18 (October to September) have a look here.
For information and photos of our walks in 2016/17 (October to September) have a look here.
For information and photos of our walks in 2015/16 year (October to September) then the details are here.
For information and photos of our walks in our first iU3A year then the details for 2015 (May to September) are here.