Outdoors & Nature

Ideal for a sunny day. And for a cold rainy day: "There's no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing".

Tell us what we can do better, or what you’re trying to discover.

Regent's Canal: Little Venice to Limehouse

Towpath straight across the middle of London, and hardly a road to cross.

9 miles, 3 to 4 hoursWalks & routesFree

Photo by Mark Hogan from London, UK, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The canal cuts a line through north London that has almost nothing to do with the streets above it. From Little Venice it runs through the Maida Hill tunnel, along the back of the zoo and Regent's Park, down into Camden Lock, then out through Islington — where the towpath stops for the half-mile tunnel and you walk over the top — past the gasholders at King's Cross and on through Hackney and Victoria Park to the basin at Limehouse.

It is dead flat, largely traffic-free, and it changes character every mile: villas, then zoo, then market, then warehouse conversions, then reservoirs. Cyclists share the towpath and it narrows under bridges. Camden and King's Cross are the two obvious places to stop, and both are on the Underground if you want to end there.

Where
Little Venice to Limehouse Basin, along the towpath
Start
Little Venice — Warwick Avenue
End
Limehouse Basin — Limehouse DLR

Always open

Submit a correction for this listing.

Data is compiled from public sources including OpenStreetMap, under the ODbL. Hours change often, so check before making a journey.

Which area are you in?