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Northern Line: Kennington to Euston to Kennington

Kennington station
Kennington station

I'm genuinely surprised how long today's walk took. Given the mileage, it should have been a bit shorter than yesterday's longer haul through south London, but instead it took over an hour more. The reason? Almost all of the loop from Kennington to Euston and back is through heavily built-up areas, and they're so much slower to walk through.

Kennington to Elephant & Castle

Metropolitan Tabernacle
Metropolitan Tabernacle

From Kennington station it's a short wander along the busy A3 to the Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre, past some rather faded buildings that look as if they're suffering from the effects of sitting in exhaust fumes for too long. The shopping centre is not much better, being voted in 2005 by readers of Time Out as London's ugliest structure, but there is a £1.5 million regeneration project afoot for the whole of the area that plans to restore Elephant and Castle to the major south London hub it once was, rather than the depressing concrete jungle it's become. These plans include the demolition of the shopping centre in 2010, as well as the redevelopment of social housing in the area that is deemed to have failed.

Michael Faraday Memorial
Michael Faraday Memorial

Elephant & Castle to Borough

Trinity Church Square
Trinity Church Square

From the chaos of the main roundabout, it's a relief to dive into the quieter streets to the northeast, though it is still very urban (the park I walked through to the east of Avonmouth Street was more concrete than grass, and perhaps could do with cheering up a bit). However, Trinity Church Square is well worth a visit, with its Georgian terraces, dating from between 1824 and 1832, surrounding the bulk of Trinity Church, which is now called the Henry Wood Hall and is used for orchestral rehearsals. The garden is only open to residents, and contains one of the oldest statues in London, possibly of Alfred the Great, though you can't see a lot from the plebian side of the fence.

Borough to London Bridge

The George Inn
The George Inn

Being part of the main road from the south of England into the City, Borough High Street makes for a busy walking companion, but there is respite to be found. The George Inn, just off the main road on the right, is London's only surviving galleried coaching inn. The current inn, which lives on its own large cobbled courtyard back from the noise of the traffic, dates from 1676, when it was rebuilt after a fire swept through Southwark, though originally all three sides of the courtyard would have been galleried, rather than just the one side that survives (the Great Northern Railway used the George as a depot and pulled down two of its galleries to build warehouses, leaving just the south face). It was too early for a beer as I walked past, which is a shame, as it's an amazing pub.

Borough Market
Borough Market

London Bridge to Bank

Leadenhall Market
Leadenhall Market

The architecture around London Bridge is not among the prettiest in the capital, so it's a relief to cross over London Bridge, with its great views east towards Tower Bridge. A bridge has existed on or near the existing London Bridge since Roman times, and it was the only bridge over the Thames below Kingston until Westminster Bridge was opened in 1750. It's easy to see what an important bridge this is, even though these days it's a fairly functional concrete structure that was built between 1962 and 1972, and looks it.

The Royal Exchange
The Royal Exchange

Bank to Moorgate

The Guildhall
The Guildhall

Heading northwest from Bank, there are some lovely thin streets of a type that I just love stumbling upon; my favourite is the relatively plain Ironmonger Lane, as it's not wide enough to carry a bus, and curves at just the right angle to enhance the feeling of being hemmed in by city buildings. It makes it a bit of a shock to burst out into the wide open courtyard of the Guildhall, which makes a great spot for contemplation and maybe a bit of lunch. The Guildhall is the ceremonial and administrative centre of the City of London and the Corporation of London, so it's effectively the town hall for the City. The current building along the northern side of the courtyard is impressive, and parts of it date from 1441; it was the only stone building not belonging to the Church that survived the Great Fire of London in 1666, though there have been plenty of additions since, such as the rather grand entrance, which was added in 1788. St Lawrence Jewry Church on the southern side of the square was rebuilt by Christopher Wren after being destroyed in the fire, but it was burned down again during the Blitz, after which it was rebuilt yet again in a similar style to the Wren church.

Basinghall Avenue
Basinghall Avenue

Moorgate to Old Street

Finsbury Square
Finsbury Square

Heading north from Moorgate, the first point of interest is Finsbury Square, which is either a lovely square or a bit of an architectural disaster, depending on which angle you look at it from. In the middle of the square is a lovely bowling green with some very pretty flower beds, and as the square is large and surrounded by some grand buildings, this makes for some great 'city square' views. However, the southern end of the square is full of rather ugly pre-fab buildings that make it look like a failed experiment in cheap urban development, and this is a great shame, as otherwise it's an impressive place.

Old Street to Angel

Estates north of Old Street
Estates north of Old Street

I worked in Old Street for three weeks a couple of years ago, and as a place to work, it's not great. Old Street itself is busy and doesn't have a terribly wonderful selection of shops or eateries, and I couldn't wait to get out of there and onto another contract; I therefore didn't waste much time heading north from the main road and into the estates that dominate this area. The estates aren't at all ugly, and there's evidence of redevelopment work of gardens and play areas along Radnor Street, which is good to see after the sorry state of some of the inner-city estates I've visited.

Regent's Canal
Regent's Canal

Angel to King's Cross St Pancras

Mews near Lloyd Square
Mews near Lloyd Square

From Angel to King's Cross, the walking is delightful. This is expensive territory, and Myddelton Square and Lloyd Square are wonderful. The former was built between 1826-1828, with the church of St Mark the Evangelist in the middle being added in 1827 at a cost of £16,000; the Georgian terraces surrounding the central green are great. Lloyd Square is even more impressive, the surrounding houses dating from 1820-1830, each of them sporting a distinctive pediment instead of a third storey (thankfully without supporting columns, which would perhaps be too much). There's a private garden in the middle of the square, with great views down the hill towards the BT Tower.

King's Cross St Pancras to Euston

The terraces of King's Cross
The terraces of King's Cross

From the station, I decided to wander through the backstreets to the south of the busy Euston Road, and it's a surprisingly enjoyable part of town. I say 'surprisingly' because I've never heard anyone associate King's Cross with good walking, but I came across a nice little pub and a number of quaint terraces well away from the noise of the main road. OK, so there are quite a few monstrous buildings that don't exude a lot of charm – for example, the UNISON Headquarters is huge and not the prettiest monolith in the world – but I enjoyed my wander towards Euston.

Euston to Warren Street

The Bree Louise
The Bree Louise

It isn't far from Euston to Warren Street, and by far the best way to walk it is via Euston Street, and in particular the Bree Louise, one of those pubs you wish you'd known about for a lot longer. It serves a massive range of great real ales, but just as importantly, it also serves exquisite pies with a good range of fillings, rounded off with mash, veg and gravy. If you're passing through here at the right time of day, stop for lunch; failing that, stop for a pint. It's great, and Euston Street is quiet enough to feel away from it all, just for a while.

Warren Street to Goodge Street

Marie Stopes Clinic
Marie Stopes Clinic

The most direct route to Goodge Street is along Tottenham Court Road, but this is a seriously busy shopping street, and it's much more enjoyable to walk along the parallel Whitfield Street. Sporting a number of pleasant pubs and restaurants, it's also home to the Marie Stopes Clinic. Back on , Marie Stopes opened the UK's first family planning clinic in Holloway in north London, which offered a free service to married women and gathered scientific data about contraception. In 1925, the clinic moved to Whitfield Street, where it still operates today, having changed the way the world thinks about birth control.

Goodge Street to Tottenham Court Road

Colville Place
Colville Place

Just to the south of the Tube station is a lovely little mews on a small square, Colville Place, which is well worth a visit; I dare not even speculate how much one of these charming townhouses might cost, but it's fun to walk through. Charlotte Street is just along the end of the mews, and if I was to do this walk again I'd probably just walk down Charlotte Street to Oxford Street, but for a reason that I can't recall right now, I decided to design a route through a couple of pedestrian tunnels to Newham Street. This turned out to be a lot less interesting than Charlotte Street, though if you look right as you come into Newham Street, there's a good view of the BT Tower, and that's always a pleasure.

Tottenham Court Road to Leicester Square

The Three Greyhounds on Greek Street, Soho
The Three Greyhounds on Greek Street, Soho

Leaving Tottenham Court Road, the most obvious building is the towering Centrepoint, which dominates the junction with Oxford Street. In contrast, Soho Square is relatively quiet, with its central garden that's popular with lunching employees and tramps alike. Head down Greek Street, and you come to Soho, the traditional home of everything that is sleazy about London, though these days it's pretty tame, and instead of prostitution, it's the gay capital of London and a major tourist attraction.

Leicester Square to Charing Cross

The Garrick Theatre
The Garrick Theatre

The twin themes of Charing Cross Road, south of the Tube station, are books and theatre, with Wyndham's Theatre and the Garrick Theatre rubbing shoulders along the eastern side of the road. Further down, opposite the blocky statue of Edith Cavell – the British nurse in World War I who helped hundreds of Allied soldiers escape from German-occupied Belgium – is the National Gallery, and then the view opens up on Trafalgar Square, with Nelson's Column dominating the scene. I'll be visiting Trafalgar Square properly on my Piccadilly line tubewalk from Hammersmith to King's Cross St Pancras, so today I only brushed the northeast corner.

Charing Cross station
Charing Cross station

Charing Cross to Embankment

Embankment station
Embankment station

It's a tiny walk from Charing Cross to Embankment, down Villiers Street and past the entrance to Victoria Embankment Gardens, which I visited when walking the District line from Victoria to Bow Road. Villiers Street is lined with pubs, restaurants and shops, with yet more shops in the shopping centre in the main Charing Cross building on the right, though at busy times the crowd has to be seen to be believed. In the arches to the right as you walk down the hill you can find the famous Heaven nightclub, which has been entertaining the gay community in flamboyant style since 1979.

Embankment to Waterloo

On Hungerford Bridge
On Hungerford Bridge

Just outside the station exit are the steps up to Hungerford Bridge, though you do have a choice of which side of the bridge you walk along. If you want the traditional view of the City, as immortalised in the Kinks' song 'Waterloo Sunset', then you should take the first set of steps, but if you want a view of the Houses of Parliament and the London Eye, go under the bridge and take the steps on the other side. Whichever choice you make, you won't be disappointed, as this is one of the best river views of them all.

Waterloo to Kennington

Lambeth Palace
Lambeth Palace

It's a rather boring walk along York Road and Lambeth Palace Road from Waterloo to the eastern end of Lambeth Bridge, but it's worth the effort to see Lambeth Palace, the official London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The red brick gatehouse dates from 1440, though nearby St Mary-at-Lambeth Church is somewhat more modern, having been rebuilt around 1850.

Lambeth Walk
Lambeth Walk