Will be in North London (near Islington) for ten days and am interested to hear from STers about good places to run, preferably away from buses, traffic, etc. Any suggestions welcome. Thanks.
In north London…hmmm, I live in the SW area (Battersea), so I am not familiar with the best up north. I would say Regents park might be decent, Hempstead Heath great (but may be a bit of a trek) and beyond that there are surely good routes that are good but may require a decent knowledge of the area.
I would suggest getting over to Hyde/St James/Green/Kensington parks for a great place to run. I would also suggest getting over to Tower of London and running along the Thames until you get to Westminster then cross over and run back. That is a great loop that is also a great way to see some of the best sights in the world.
If you are able, then I would find your way to Richmond Park (easily accessible on the tube system), where you can run a 16km loop around the park with hundreds of deer.
Hope that gives you some ideas
I would recommend running along Regents Canal (http://www.mike-stevens.co.uk/metrocuts/regents/regmap.htm) You have zero traffic and no roads to cross. If you go North you head into Camden and Little Venice. I’ve never run along there so I can’t vouch for what it is like. If you go South you can run all the way to the Thames. If you take a right when you get to the Thames you will reach Tower Bridge in about 3 KM’s.
Regards
David
The canal system also goes East towards Victoria Park, which is a pretty good place to run. I live about a mile from Islington–where are you staying (PM me if you like).
You are in luck. I used to live in London and am very bored at work!
Islington is not that defined but the fork in the road marked with the yellow spot is pretty much the center:
From there you should get on the canal and your options are:
Go East along the canal - get a better map so you can track this but you can run continually on the canal to Limehouse Basin way out in the docklands to the East (all swanky apartments now not dodgy at all). From there you can run back along the Thames. You can run along the bank the whole way apart from a couple of spots early on where you have to cut in but just try and stay close to the water and you’ll be golden. That route can bring you back under Tower Bridge, past the Tower of London and if you keep going past the Houses of Parliament everything.
OR
Go West and follow the canal to Regent Park (perfectly pleasent and with great views pof the city from Primrose Hill).
OR
Go West then leave the canal and take either of the routes shown to the stunning Hampstead Heath. Both runs are murderously uphill but it is worth it. The Heath is enormous and in places very wild with woods, meadows hidden ruins etc. etc. It’s bisected by a number of roads so explore!!
Fabulous! Thanks for the tips. I plan early morning runs to try to beat some of the smoggy traffic.
Since you live in the area, do you have suggestions for a leisure centre, where I might swim some laps or do a spinning class? I found these on the net:
http://www.islington.gov.uk/Environment/Parks/170.asp
R
I swim at Highbury Leisure Centre all the time. It’s open til 10:00 pm which is good for me. My favorite though (when the weather isn’t like today) is the lido at London Fields: outdoor 50m heated, and almost always EMPTY at this time of year. Often I get my own lane, but it depends on being able to swim during the day since it closes at 5-6 pm.
Ironmongers is ok too, but I haven’t been there in a long time. Cally Pool has some masters workouts if you’re into that sort of thing…