Route Section Jubilee Greenway Walk

Section 1 (Buckingham Palace to Little Venice)

Description:

Section One begins in a stately fashion, leaving Buckingham Palace for a walk or ride through Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens incorporating the gracious aspects of Apsley House, the Wellington Arch, the Serpentine Gallery and the Royal Albert Hall. You will pass grand old hotels, well-polished embassies and imposing mansions: a sampling of Society London, where elegant Georgian architecture and magical cobbled mews are always de rigueur. Then the high-speed city slows to the sleepy pace of the canal; modern buildings tower above traditional, painted barges and floating cafés sit alongside elegant restaurants.

At the start, the route links into the Jubilee Walkway, which was extended up the Mall with gold pavement markers in June 2003 as a memorial to The Queen’s Golden Jubilee in 2002, when millions of people crowded into the Mall to cheer The Queen on the balcony of Buckingham Palace. Section one takes you past some fine historical sites, passing from Buckingham Palace through Hyde Park and along the Bayswater Road.

Bayswater is a largely residential area of west London within the City of Westminster, to the north of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. The scene gradually changes to accommodate the many travellers who arrive there or stay in the area before travelling. It has a large concentration of hotels and is considered a cosmopolitan area, so there are many ethnic restaurants. Bayswater contains some fine late Georgian stucco terraces and garden squares, though most of the houses have now been divided into flats. The walker is guided along the busy highway of the Bayswater Road, past private houses, restaurants, hotels and shops, to arrive opposite Paddington Station.

The land used to belong to the Abbey of Westminster. At the time of William the Conqueror, its largest tenant was Bainiardus (or Baynard), who gave his name to Baynard’s Castle, a building which used to stand in the City of London, near the present Blackfriars Station. Baynard’s land was well watered, so was known as ‘Baynard’s Watering’, which eventually became Bayswater.

Then from Paddington, the route leads to the Pool of Little Venice, the basin of the Regent’s Canal, and therefore through several changes of atmosphere, and into an especially appealing route for walkers and cyclists. It is an area that has changed and developed a great deal in the past few years, and which continues to change.

Distance:

3.5 miles ( 5.5 km)

Start:

Buckingham Palace (TQ 291797) - Glass slab unveiled by Her Majesty the Queen

Finish:

Little Venice (TQ261818)

Recommended direction:

East to West

Terrain and surface:

Level walking on pavements and paths.

Signage:

The Jubilee Greenway has been waymarked with distinctive recycled glass pavement slabs at regular intervals - the crown points in the direction of travel

Refreshments and toilets:

Refreshments available along the route. Toilets in Hyde Park, Little Venice and Rembrandt Gardens in Warwick Avenue.

Public transport and breakpoints:

Start of section: St James’s Park, Green Park, Hyde Park Corner
Along the route: Queensway and Paddington
End of section: Warwick Avenue

There are buses all along the way.

For more information on public transport please see Transport for London's Journey Planner.

Links with other walks:

Jubilee Walkway
The Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Walk
Grand Union Canal Walk

Map required:

People planning to cycle the route might also like to order a free cycling map from TfL to take out – as in places the walking route and cycling route are different.