Kiwi Roaming

Another Regents canal tow path we were very keen to walk is the segment from Camden Market to Little Venice. But first up we wandered around Camden Market and ate lunch before embarking on the walk.

#8 Camden Market

One of the most touristed places in London Camden Town and Camden Market are a visit once kind of location. Situated with Primrose Hill to the west and Regents Park to the south Camden Town is pretty inner city London. Its high street is full of tat shops, funky clothing stores and second hand books and vinyl. Primrose Hill and Regents Park are both great to visit as well.

The canal runs through the town and on the edges of the canal sits Camden Market. I can’t describe just how packed with tourists this place is, there were German and Spanish school groups there when we visited, the little alleyways were so packed it was hard to pass through. You can buy everything imaginable here, the permanent stalls are chocker with bargains.

Pro tip. The cheap food is down by the Camden Lock, lots of permanent stalls offering lunch deals, we got there late in the lunch period and wanted to sit down to get some respite from the sun so chose a pub with a lunch burger deal.

#7 Little Venice Towpath walk

Our initial plan had been to walk from Little Venice to Camden but walking the other way was lovely and meant we got to explore the lovely area around Paddington.

First up, as we headed out of the maze that is Camden Market there was a canal boat with four guys heading through the Lock. A wee crowd assembled to watch them operate the lock (which was pretty amusing to be fair) it’s a pretty slow process flooding the lock so the water level rises to the level of the canal on the other side (above pics on the right side).

The walk is on the north side and was a shared path with bikes making it pretty congested when passing. there were loads of GoBoats which are pleasure boats you can hire as well as other craft on the canal that afternoon. Also lots of grand grand homes and lovely gardens along the way, we entered Regents park and walked alongside the zoo where we could see the monkeys overhead (and a dead pig in the canal at one stage).

The towpath takes you through a mooring segment which must have been about 1km long, there was power to the boats here and they all seemed to have wee gardens on the shore alongside them, with a shed and seats. Some were quite sophisticated so clearly long term living.

This is a lovely part of London. Before we reached Little Venice we stopped at a pub called the Crockers Folly a grand grand building which is now a Lebanese Restaurant with a wee pub bar on the side. Pitstop over the last 20 minutes through St Johns Wood got busier and there was no towpath for a wee while, the canal went through a very long tunnel then had a closed permanent mooring segment.

Little Venice is a canal junction spot, I think the Grand Union Canal and Regents Canal. If you do this walk in this direction stick by the canal (and ignore google) and head down to Paddington Station where there are bars and restaurants including floating one and it’s very very cute.

Great walk.