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Comment by flurdy | Hacker News Reader

"The one exception was a brief stint walking around the South Bank, which was full of bland office spaces with little ground-floor retail or neighborhoods"

As indicated in her update elsewhere in her notes, the best waterfront bank in London is the South Bank, and the best way to see the South Bank is to walk along the actual waterfront bank, i.e. along the river.

The northern side of the river is a mess of blocked off stretches and vehicle roads. Whilst the South Bank is a lovely continuous pedestrian stretch with plenty of food places and small parks along it.

I frequently walk from Waterloo station along the bank to either Millennium Bridge, or onwards all the way to the Borough Market by London Bridge. Lovely stretch of the river.

There are some other nice parts of the South Bank, and I can see on her map she walked through the Cut, but I agree apart from the actual waterfront bank the rest is mostly dire.

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Hammersmith has a lovely path along the Thames, with pubs and restaurants. It is truly great, especially in summer. Definitely not the most touristy area but it's a gem for locals like me.

From Putney all the way to Richmond is my favourite part of the Thames Path, within London.[1][2] Try to avoid a Spring tide!

[1] https://www.thames-path.org.uk/thames_putney_richmond.html

[2] http://www.gps-routes.co.uk/routes/home.nsf/RoutesLinksWalks...

Surbiton to Richmond gets my vote. It's peaceful and beautiful and one time I did it Gloriana just happened to be going past. https://spark.adobe.com/page/LYVR3/

Edit: actually, Hampton Court to Richmond would get my vote. I have walked or run the path between Kingston and Hampton Court bridges more times than I care to count, and feel very lucky to live around there.

I lived in Twickenham for many years. Eel Pie Island to Richmond Bridge is also one I've done more times than I can remember, usually involving stops at multiple pubs along the way.

I'd run between Putney and Twickenham for my marathon training solely because the incredible beauty would make the pain and loneliness so much more bearable.

Also great as a cycling path - Putney to Hampton Court Palace and back!

Kingston to Hampton Court on the far side of the river along the park or indeed, thru the park is most choice, the Surbiton /Kingston side of the river has lots of obstructions alas, though Kingston to Surbiton on that side since the revamp is really rather good.

I can highly recommend the Mute Swan at Hampton Court (near the bridge), a most excellent selection of ales and food (not cheap but so quality).

But in the area I can not recommend enough Richmond park, more so Isabella plantation around april/may when the flowers come out - totally amazing and will be an experience you will cherish, even if you not into flowers, it is mind blowing.

Many good walks in the area, many get overlooked and gets down to playing with google maps and going, that looks interesting. I found a lovely walk along the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hogsmill_River

that runs from Chessington, towards Tolworth and then along to Ewell to the duck ponds - https://goo.gl/maps/khoiQJoaPyS2 Plenty of plums to be had along that route, as well as the odd apple and pear tree, did find one hazelnut tree but the abundance of grey squirrels soon graze that alas.

Also of note would be the plethora of damson bushes near Tolworth Georges fields, which I made some damson liqueur with this year that proved most potent and enjoyable.

My only real gripe about the London area (least the part I live and frequent) is the lack of Hazel and Walnut tree's, lots of Beach trees and whilst their nuts are nice, they are just not the same.

Though if you are into Blackberry's, the area is dominated with them and can happily graze from mid Summer all the way thru to the end of Autumn.

I also live in the area. As soon as the weather get nicer, it is a great way to spend the weekends.

I used to live near Baron's Court, around the back of Charing Cross Hospital. My favourite walks were either down to Putney - that stretch after Fulham's ground near Bishop's Park is glorious during the Spring and Autumn in a tunnel of leaves - or go the other way towards the Fuller's brewery and take in some of the pubs en route.

I now live over in Twickenham which has even finer walks along the river or across Richmond Hill, but I always thought it amazing that those vistas over to the Wetlands were available in the heart of Zone 2.

While walking along the Thames, you can also partake in mudlarking (i.e. scavenging in the river mud for objects.)

Ancient things are always turning up. Here's the twitter account of the London Mudlark community: https://twitter.com/LondonMudlark

Rules and regs: https://www.pla.co.uk/Environment/Thames-foreshore-access-in...

That’s an easy route to take for tourists, it’s what three miles from London Bridge to the Eye, and along the way there’s Southwark Cathedral, the Golden Hind, Borough Market, Tate Modern, the Globe, the National Theatre, Heyward Gallery, Festival Hall, and the British Film Institute.

I think planners have put a lot of emphasis on getting public rights of way running along the rest of the Thames, but maybe at the cost of real public spaces for sitting and enjoying yourself.

Even decades ago, I recall from memory a gorgeous nighttime view of parliament, lit up in gold-ish tones, with an emerald green lighting the bridge underside in the intermediate foreground. I'm pretty sure I have a couple of slides of it, somewhere...

When I see pictures and video now, I wonder how much the view behind me would have changed.

Walking London was a cornucopia of experiences, from being treated by an erstwhile stranger to a great dinner on the backside of Chinatown, to being scammed out of 20 pounds -- and getting off lucky it was only that much.

(After a cold winter in Germany, it was a bit like being let out of the pen -- and into an abnormally gorgeous week of April good weather. Although, in reality, my German friends expressed a closeness, and -- I can actually use the word -- Gemuetlichkeit, that a frenetic London could not entirely substitute.)

P.S. This was back when, IIRC, the well-known book had rising to "London on £15 a Day". Or maybe it was £10 -- that sounds right. Anyway, £20 was substantially more than an inexpensive dinner -- or even shared lodging with an English breakfast. Ah, well -- lesson learned, and without physical injury.

The Thames Path is another beautiful way to see the Thames, albeit to the west of London rather than in London itself.

https://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/thames-path

Edit: Apparently TfL thinks the Thames Path continues in London: https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/walking/thames-path

The Thames Path runs from the Thames Barrier (London's flood protection barrier, a few miles downstream from the centre but still within the city proper) to Thames Head, the (traditional) source of the river in the Cotswolds. Through much of London it's actually two paths, one on either bank.

Might just leave this here for others to read a bit more about South Bank and the risk it faces: http://www.llsb.com/theproject/

I walked the Thames path (in stages) from the barriers to Windsor. Super strongly recommended.

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