Days Out: Walk London, popular walks
On the eve of launching Walk London, the first in a new series of urban maps, Ordnance Survey has revealed the most popular place to start a walk in the capital is Richmond railway station.
Walk London is a hand-illustrated map that plots out extensive city walking routes for both banks of the River Thames and four Royal Parks to reveal the best open spaces London has to offer.
The accessible routes featured have been designed to give walkers unique glimpses of London’s landscapes, culture and history, and are accompanied by expert guides to uncover hidden gems in quieter corners.
The release of Walk London comes on the same day that OS announced the most popular walking spots in Greater London.
Thousands of users of the Ordnance Survey digital mapping app, OS Maps, have unselfishly recorded and shared the routes they’ve enjoyed in London this year, and OS has analysed the data captured.
OS Managing Director for Leisure, Nick Giles, said: “It is no surprise to us that Richmond station is where Londoners go to start a stroll in the city, especially when you consider Richmond Park, Kew Gardens and the Richmond and Twickenham Riverside walk can all be reached easily by foot.
“It is also why Richmond Park is one of the featured walks in our new Walk London map, along with Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, Greenwich Park and the Thames Path.
“Richmond’s got good transport links, is easy to walk around and a wonderful starting point for getting outside.”
The data showed that train and Tube stations dominated the top 10 starting points – with nine out of 10 chosen as the location to start a walk.
The top 10 places in London where people start a route are Richmond railway station, St Pancras/King’s Cross stations, Waterloo station, Coulsdon South station, London Bridge station, East Croydon station, Chingford station, the Thames Barrier (South Side), Hayes station (South London) and Tower Hill station.
Richmond also topped the list as the number one destination to finish a walk in London.
Other destinations to make the top 10 were The Cutty Sark at Greenwich and the London Stadium (home of West Ham United) in Stratford.
The data also revealed the London borough with the highest number of walking and cycling routes within its boundaries was Richmond-Upon-Thames, which ranked just ahead of the City of Westminster and Bromley for popularity.
Barking and Dagenham came bottom with the fewest routes captured, just below Havering and Harrow.
The most popular attraction for a route to pass through was Kingston Bridge.
In total 5,747 routes around London were recorded and shared by OS Map app users.
Walk London is available from the OS online shop at www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/shop/os-urban-london.html
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