What’s the best way to get to know London? And I mean really get to know it. Take a guided boat or open top bus tour? Hop on a Lime bike and follow your instincts? Work your way through Time Out’s pub and restaurant lists (or other such guides)? All valid. But what about walking all the way around the Big Smoke on a vast, 150-mile orbital trail?
Yes, it’s a bit more of a commitment, but let me explain. London is one of human civilisation’s greatest achievements. It is far, far more massive than most Londoners ever spare a thought for, full of neighbourhoods, landmarks and curiosities that many will never discover. Even for someone like me, who’s lived here all his life, whose goddamn job it is to know the ins and outs of this magnificent city. And so I decided to embark on the London Loop.
The London Outer Orbital Path (Loop, for short) is a signposted trail around the capital. First proposed way back in 1990, it opened its first section in 1996 and became fully walkable in 2001. Its 150 miles are not intended to be done in one mighty, calf-pumping, blister-ridden swoop: the Loop is split into 24 stages, ranging in length from four to 10 miles.
It all starts in Erith, a Thameside town midway between Woolwich and the Dartford Crossing, and it wraps up in Purfleet (on the north side of said crossing). The Loop winds its way clockwise in and out of the city’s boundaries, crossing the Thames at Kingston and linking up some of the city’s greatest green spaces (Bushy, Nonsuch and Trent Parks, to name a few). All stage start and finish points are accessible by public transport.
But the Loop is more than just a hit parade of London’s most remote suburban communities and their luscious parks, prim postwar semis and lonely golf courses. I mean, there are a lot of those, but there’s also much more. Even if you’re neither an avid walker nor a London completist, here’s why it’s so worth doing.
You get to work some delightful pubs into the route
It is, quite plainly, an amazing, treasure-filled quest that will transform your view of London. A few of the wonders I’ve seen on the Loop: Erith’s river-and-marshland-scrap-metal-yard combo, a genuinely fascinating sociological thing. The gently extravagant, actually ancient St Mary’s Church in Old Bexley. An oak at Holwood House where William Wilberforce discussed abolishing slavery with the then-PM William Pitt the Younger (and which has since become an enduring symbol of abolition). The grave of Levi Boswell, ‘king of the gypsies’ on leg two at Bromley’s St Giles the Abbot churchyard. The spooky woods of Baker Boy Lane in South Croydon, which inspired a 1700s ghost story. Coulsdon’s sweeping, elongated Farthing Downs, with their awe-inspiring cinematic overview of the city from (near) the Loop’s southernmost point. Ewell’s Bourne Hall, a bonkers modernist museum, library and concert hall that is like a spaceship landed in one of the capital’s most well-heeled neighbourhoods.
I’d suggest doing the stages one by one, only putting two together if they’re particularly short. That not only opens up the Loop to less-serious walkers but lets you properly luxuriate in its most enigmatic, diverse attractions. Plus, you get to work some delightful pubs into the route (shout out to The Railway in Cheam, my best detour yet).
Beyond woods, forests, canals, rivers, downs, hills, valleys, ‘sites of scientific interest’ and glamourous estates, the Loop is about stories. Those stories are historical and social, local and national – but eventually, for me, they’ll be personal, too. It passes through a park I spent much of my childhood in, and goes through the graveyard where my grandparents are buried.
It would be remiss to tout the Loop and not shout out the Ramblers. Not only do the charity’s volunteers keep the trail in good nick, but their guidance is a quiet marvel of its own. The detailed route section guides are mostly factual and unshowy, but I love them most when they can’t hide their enthusiasm for it all, whether that’s the detail in each write-up’s ‘points of interest’ section or the gentle excitement of the opening sentence of the fifth leg – Hamsey Green to Coulsdon South – (simply: ‘This is a very attractive section’).
All that, and I’m not even done yet. Eight stages down, 16 to go. Fancy joining me? Find the route guidance on the Inner London Ramblers website here (and they’ve put it on Go Jauntly, too). If that doesn’t tempt you, get this: when you’re done, you even get a certificate.
???? The best hidden gardens and green spaces in London.
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