Along the Regents Canal, London, England

What can be pleasanter on a spring day than a leisurely walk with a friend, bookended with coffee and lunch? A week or so I had exactly that pleasure, meeting up with blogging friend Margaret (of From Pyrenees to Pennines in Camden for a walk by the Regents Canal.

The Regents Canal links the Grand Union Canal in Paddington with the Thames in east London, via the Limehouse Basin. It is 8.6 miles (13.8 kilometres) long and like most canals has a towpath. These towpaths were originally used by horses to pull barges but today are popular places for walking, jogging and cycling (where wide enough).

We had a coffee by the canal, relishing the fact that it was warm enough to sit outside. Then we started to follow the canal in an easterly direction. On the way we passed lots of street art (or should that be canal art?), interesting buildings and some narrowboats. The latter are mostly permanently moored here, providing more affordable accommodation (I won’t say cheap) in this pricey part of town.

We left the towpath at Camley Street to visit two favourite spots of mine. The first, St Pancras Gardens, is the churchyard of St Pancras Old Church and is a peaceful spot despite lying right next to the mainline train route into St Pancras Station. The church itself is Victorian, but thought by some to stand on a site founded in 314 AD by Romans camped nearby. We popped our heads into the church but a rather large walking tour group had arrived just before us and were seated listening to their guide, so we didn’t linger. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).