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District Line: Victoria to Bow Road

Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament
Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament

I've finished today's walk with a pain in the base of my neck, just above my left shoulder. It's a familiar pain that I tend to get after long hikes, but today's trek through central London was under ten miles long, which normally isn't enough to trigger this particular niggle. I think I know the cause, though: it's the constant stopping and starting.

Victoria to St James's Park

Cardinal Place
Cardinal Place

Compared to the to-die-for buildings of Belgravia that I passed through on the way to Victoria, life heading east of the station is much more businesslike, quite literally. Turn right along Victoria Street, and it's one huge office complex after another, whether it's the graceful curves of Cardinal Place (where Microsoft has its London headquarters), the sky-scraping Portland House, the 'stack of glass cubes' that is the headquarters of John Lewis, or the rather more traditional windowed office block of Westminster City Hall. The designs are not as cutting edge as in the City or Docklands – perhaps not surprisingly, given the deep pockets of the City's tenants – but it makes for an interesting walk.

St James's Park to Westminster

55 Broadway
55 Broadway

The Broadway entrance to St James's Park station doubles up as the entrance to London Underground Headquarters, which you can see just inside the entrance. Step back from the station entrance, though, to take in the bigger picture, because 55 Broadway is quite a building. Designed by the ubiquitous Charles Holden and built between 1927 and 1929, the building is clad in Portland stone and has an Art Deco feel to it, and dotted all over the building are sculptures, ten in all, that denote the winds (north, south, east and west, each represented twice) and day and night. At the time these sculptures caused quite a stir in conservative London, particularly Jacob Epstein's Day and Night, which eventually had to have a couple of inches removed from the penis of the smaller figure. (If you're visiting, Day can be seen on the southeast flank of the building, while Night is on the northern flank.)

A television crew in front of the Palace of Westminster
A television crew gets ready to film in front of the Palace of Westminster

Westminster to Embankment

The London Eye
The London Eye

From Westminster station, the initial views are dominated by the Clock Tower (which everyone knows as Big Ben, even though that's strictly the name of the bell), but walk to Westminster Bridge and look to your left, and it's difficult to know which view is more impressive: the Victorian intricacy of Charles Barry's home of democracy, or the ultra-modern and breathtakingly large hoop of the London Eye on the other side of the river. The Eye is a beautiful piece of sculpture, and I challenge anyone to walk north along this part of the Embankment without missing everything to their left. Did I check out the Norman Shaw buildings, or the Territorial Policing Headquarters, or even the Ministry of Defence? Hell, no, I was too busy admiring the Eye to worry about minor things like government...

Victoria Embankment
Victoria Embankment

Embankment to Temple

Victoria Embankment Gardens
Victoria Embankment Gardens

Next to Embankment station is one of the public gardens created at the same time as the Victoria Embankment, and a pretty little garden it is too. South-facing Victoria Embankment Gardens, as it is imaginatively known, soaks up the sun, while the lovely buildings of the Adelphi and the Savoy loom over the north side (well, the Savoy is currently wrapped in plastic, so it doesn't so much loom as squat at the moment, but you can see the idea). Just watch out for thieves, as they operate in this area, so if you stop for lunch here, as I did, keep an eye on your stuff.

Temple to Blackfriars

Temple station
Temple station

Right next to Temple station, and the inspiration for the station's name, are the Inns of Court. Every barrister in England and Wales has to belong to one of the Inns, which act as supervisory and disciplinary bodies for the profession, and although most barristers have their chambers elsewhere, the Inns are still the spiritual home of the Bar. There are four active Inns of Court – Lincoln's Inn, Gray's Inn, Inner Temple and Middle Temple – with only the last two being in the complex next to the Tube station (Lincoln's Inn and Gray's Inn are a little further north).

A quad near Temple Church
A quad near Temple Church
The Black Friar pub
The Black Friar pub, opposite Blackfriars station

Blackfriars to Mansion House

The Youth Hostel on Carter Lane
The Youth Hostel on Carter Lane, in what used to be the Choir Boys School for St Paul's Cathedral

Again, I chose the backstreets to take me through the City, and again, it wasn't as thrilling as I'd hoped it would be. This whole area pulsates with history, and the way to get the best out of it is to explore the area slowly in the company of a knowledgeable guide or a decent guidebook. Shooting through on a tubewalk probably isn't the best way to appreciate the subtleties of the City, unless you know what you're doing, which I have to admit, I don't particularly.

Mansion House to Cannon Street

Cannon Street
Looking west from Mansion House station, along Cannon Street towards St Paul's Cathedral

The most famous landmark on the short walk to Cannon Street is probably the house of Richard Whittington on College Hill, though all that remains of the house is a plaque, as it was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666. Richard Whittington, who inspired the pantomime tale of Dick Whittington, was a very successful London merchant who was appointed Lord Mayor in 1397 (and who would go on to be appointed Mayor three times in total). He financed quite a few public works, but almost all of them disappeared in the fire, and all that is left is a plaque in College Hill and the story of Dick Whittington, his cat, and his rags to riches story of walking to London and becoming mayor. I guess it's a legacy, though perhaps not the one he would have chosen.

Cannon Street to Monument

Cannon Street station
Cannon Street station

I don't have anything particularly interesting to say about this leg, to be perfectly honest. Tired of wandering along the backstreets, I simply walked along Cannon Street, leaving the rather ugly 1965 Cannon Street station building behind and strolling past the large shops and office blocks of Cannon Street to the junction of King William Street and Gracechurch Street.

Monument to Tower Hill

The plaza by the Tower of London
The plaza by the Tower of London

The Monument is currently clad in scaffolding and plastic sheeting, with the base cordoned off by barricades, and this does tend to detract from the charm of this area. The Monument, designed by Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke, was built to mark the spot where the Great Fire of London started in 1666, though the fire actually started 202 ft away in Pudding Lane, which is why the Monument is 202 ft high. When the Monument is unwrapped, this area is well worth a visit; sadly, it's less interesting when it looks for all the world like a giant prophylactic.

The northern entrance to the Tower Subway
The northern entrance to the Tower Subway

Tower Hill to Aldgate East

The Dispensary on Leman Street
The Dispensary on Leman Street dates from 1858, and is now a pub

It doesn't take long to leave tourist London behind, and to be honest, I was quite relieved to be heading out into a slightly more real version of London: tourism is fine, but I've lived here for a while and the sights and sounds of the camera shutter are probably less intriguing to me than the clash of cultures in the suburbs.

Aldgate East to Whitechapel

The East London Mosque
The East London Mosque

At last, some real London to explore! Gone are the clean streets and slick tourist operations of the City, and the difference is obvious from the second you step out of Aldgate East and head east. Sure, look back and there's the Gherkin in the near distance, but this is Whitechapel Road, and it sure ain't tourist central; it's a lot more interesting than that.

Whitechapel Road
Whitechapel Road

Whitechapel to Stepney Green

The Blind Beggar
The Blind Beggar

Just along from Whitechapel station is the Blind Beggar, a pub that is home to two very conflicting events. It was outside this pub in 1865 that William Booth preached his first sermon, which would lead to the formation of the Salvation Army (an event celebrated by two statues of Booth in the park a little way along the road). In contrast, it was in this pub on that Ronnie Kray murdered George Cornell, a rival gangster.

Stepney Green to Mile End

Mile End Place
Mile End Place

After Stepney Green station, which dates from 1902, there's a small turn left into Mile End Place, which is worth a detour, as it's home to some gorgeous 19th century workman's cottages, quite a surprise when compared to the surrounding area. Soon after is 253 Mile End Road, which was built as a home for elderly Sephardi Jews, and behind which is the oldest Jewish cemetery in Britain; it is now used as accommodation for the nearby Queen Mary College, which is part of the University of London.

Mile End to Bow Road

Terraces along Morgan Street
Terraces along Morgan Street

The final leg from Mile End to Bow Road is lovely if you take the scenic route (otherwise it's just another hoof along the A11, which is slightly less interesting). The terraced houses along Aberavon Road, Morgan Street and Lichfield Road are neat and attractive, and Tredegar Square is a pleasant Georgian square, the southern and western sides of the square dating from the 1830s, with the rest of the square being completed by 1847.