Capital Ring

by Colin Saunders

The Capital Ring is a 75-mile (120 km) walking route encircling inner London that links the astonishing number of islands of green space – parks, woodlands, abandoned railway lines, towpaths and nature reserves – which still survive in the very heart of the city. The Ring takes in many of London’s leading attractions – for example, the Thames Barrier, Eltham Palace and Richmond Park – as well as overlooked gems such as Oxleas Meadows, the Parkland Walk and Abbey Mills Pumping Station, and gives a close-up view of the ever-changing Olympic Park. This guide divides the route into 15 sections, each starting and finishing at a public transport point, and is packed with a vast amount of information.

Genres: London

168 pages, Paperback

Published June 9, 2016

About the author

Colin is the author of guides to some of the finest walking routes in London and South East England: the Capital Ring, the London Loop, the North Downs Way national trail, the Pymmes Brook Trail and the Vanguard Way. And together with Slovak mountain guide Renáta Nárožná, their guide to the High Tatras range of Poland and Slovakia is regarded as the definitive guide to these beautiful mountains.

Colin has also written some fascinating historical accounts about walking phenomena: Rambling Away From ‘The Smoke’ (ramblers’ excursions from London), The Strollerthon Story (a fabulous fundraising event for children’s charities), and The Waymark Story (a wonderful little operator of walking and cross-country skiing holidays).

Reviews

[Ed Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent guide along with information to give historical context to the areas you walk through. The Capital Ring seemed to be much better signed than its big brother, the LOOP - especially when its path followed along with other routes such as the Thames Path or Jubilee Greenway. However, there are still areas where signs are absent, or misleading (particular bugbear: not finding signs at complex junctions but instead about 100 yards down the trail, on a straight part of the track, pointing straight on) and it would have been a struggle to find the way without the guide.

The main thing I missed was distances to each of the possible exit points on the route which would have made it much easier to calculate what would be possible in a day's hike, when combining multiple walks.