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Start the New Year With a London walk

Friday, January 1st, 2010

Happy New Year. Why not blow away the cobwebs by taking one of many London walks that will show you the hidden places of this magical City?

A good starting point for this London Walking Tour is Temple Underground Station.

Turn right out of the station and then swing left along the Victoria Embankment. Having crossed over Temple Place pause to admire the ferocious silver dragon that stands on a plinth by the road. He is the guardian of the City of London and marks the boundary where the City of Westminster ends and the City of London begins.

Continue past him and go left through the first gate you encounter.

The arch ahead might look familiar if you’ve seen the new Sherlock Holmes movie as it features in the film.

Keep going up the incline of Middle Temple Lane and pause in the courtyard on the left. To your left is Middle Temple Dining hall which dates from the 1570’s.  A little further along go right through the arch and enter Pump Court. High up on he wall on the left is a sun dial that dates from the 1680’s and on which you will read the motto “shadows we are and like shadows depart.”

Keep ahead through the cloisters and on your left is one of London’s true treasures Temple Church which was built by the Knights Templar in 1185. It features in the film and the book of Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code.

Go clockwise round the church and when on its other side cross to the railings where, on the ground, you will find the tomb gravestone of author Oliver Goldsmith.

Backtrack and, at the end of this first walk, go right and out through the fate onto Fleet Street.

Take a stroll along Fleet Street looking our for the magnificent clock on St Dunstan’s In The West, which dates from 1683 and where two giants still chime the hour.

If you keep going all the way along Fleet Street and then over and up Ludgate Hill you will come to St Paul’s Cathedral.

On just a short walk you will have seen much, explored some lovely old parts of London and ended at one of her iconic sights and sites.

These are the sort of things that our London walks make possible. If you would like a print off free tour of London then why not enjoy our Harry Potter London Tour simply send an email request to

harry-potter-pdf@discovery-walks.com

and our automated dispatch will send it to you by return.

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Ghostly London walks

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

Our ghostly London walks are getting a lot darker now!

The clocks changed on Sunday and the nip of winter is well and truly in the London air. Walks through the haunted City are a great way to explore and expereince the streets, passageways and hidden courtyards of which there are so many in London.

So for this one of our haunted London walks head over to Temple Underground Station and prepare to discover a haunted, gas-lit, oasis.

From Temple Station go left, walk up the stairs and then turn right. Go over the crossing and turn right on the other side of the road.

Keep ahead and at the very end of this section go in through the gates and enter The Temple.

You have entered the Inns of Court, the quarter of London where the be-wigged barristers of the London legal profession have their chambers.

Veer left through the second gate and go up the steps. You are now walking through one of London’s gaslit neighbourhoods. On your right in the garden is the 16th century Middle Temple Hall.

Keep going up the steps and turn right at the top. This area is haunted by a 19th century lawyer named Henry Hawkins. He strolls purposefully through this area clutching a bundle of legal papers.

Keep a keen eye peeled for him and walk ahead to pass through the arch. Keep ahead then go left up the steps and pass left through the cloisters.

Away to your right is Temple Church built in 1185 by the Knights Templar. This featured in the book and the film of Dan Brown’s Davinci Code. 

Go clockwise round the church and when you arrive in the area behind Temple Church you are standing in the church’s burial ground.

The narrow door in the corner to your left is the back door of Ye Olde Cock Tavern.

In the 1980’s an Australian bar maid at this pub opned the door you are standing outside and found her self face to face with the disembodied head of a man. She later identified him as Oliver Goldsmith, who is buried over by the railings to your right as you stand outside the door.

This gas-lit one of our London walks ends here. But the Temple is well worth exploring at your leisure before retracing your footsteps back to Temple Station.

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