A friend and I headed into London for the day, planning to walk along the canal for a while. We seem to gravitate towards canals. The train dropped us at St Pancras, and the original idea was to walk to Camden and pick up the canal from there.

But a quick look at the map as we walked showed us Camley Street Natural Park, which turned out to be canalside too. So our first happy diversion happened within half a mile of starting out.

Not far from the nature reserve was Gasholder Park, which I absolutely loved. I didn’t know anything about it beforehand, but it really delighted me. Right up my street, that mix of playfulness and industrial heritage.

We followed the canal through a peaceful stretch of central London, with some grand buildings along the way.

Our goal for the day was Little Venice, and we enjoyed a slow wander through Rembrandt Gardens once we’d arrived.

We finished up heading towards Paddington, walking beneath the Westway bridge and enjoying this piece by Liz West.

It was a beautiful sunny spring day, with real warmth to it. The canal felt like a quiet thread running through all the bustle, and I had a cracking time exploring. On the way back to Brighton we were already looking up other London canal walks. So the theme continues.