London Postcode Walks - The Beginning....

On Saturday 1st May 2010, I completed the very first of my adventurous (and possibly ambitious!) trek though the capital’s streets, which I have named as the London Postcode Walks. It all came about through my seemingly ingenious idea of having an alternative take of having something worthwhile to write about, and finally get my attempts of being a travel writer firmly off the ground.

First of all, I think it’s best to link to the Wikipedia entry on London Postcodes to give you an idea of some of the areas I’ll be walking through: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_postal_district

Now, the way I’ll be taking on the London Postcode Walks is as follows: Start at the postcodes in North London, working my way around each of the London Postcode areas in a clockwise order (N, E, SE, SW, W and NW) and finish by taking a grand finale postcode walk through the Central London area containing the EC and WC postcodes. Whilst undertaking the postcode walks, take some nice little photographs along the way then write up about each walk afterwards.

Sounds pretty easy, don’t you think? Well of course, there’s a difference between preparing for the walks and actually undertaking them, as I have found out for myself....

The first walks I did on Saturday were Angel Islington (N1) to East Finchley (N2) and East Finchley (N2) to Finchley Central (N3). Two walks of different length, and a clear indicator of what to expect in future walks to come. Angel Islington and East Finchley are quite some distance apart from each other, and along the way I encountered some challenges such as walking uphill, taking wrong turns (even though I had photocopied maps and highlighted a planned route on them to avoid this happening!) and working out what was going wrong with my camera when all I had to do is turn a switch! Through all of that, only stopping to double check maps and waiting for the red men at traffic lights to turn green, this walk lasted just over two hours. Arriving at East Finchley, I sensibly paused briefly for a short break to quickly refuel, and then proceeded to walk from East Finchley to Finchley Central. This was a far more quiet and relaxed affair, less traffic and more alleyways. And the postcode areas were located next to each other too! However, I felt the muscles in my legs starting to discomfort towards the end as a result of all this walking, however I kept on going and finally reached my ultimate destination of Finchley Central station. This walk lasted exactly forty minutes, and at the end I was only too happy to hit the pub for a drink and well earned rest.

And here I gained a clear understanding of what to expect in my future London Postcode Walks. Longer walks such as Angel Islington to East Finchley may have to be allocated a whole day to itself, but shorter walks such as East Finchley to Finchley Central could possibly be joined up together (provided they’re in order, of course) and here I could definitely do three or four postcode walks in a day. It’s interesting to hear what people will put themselves through in order to find something to write about, but this is my own little project and I’m happy to keep on doing it – especially as I felt very satisfied and fulfilled once yesterday’s walks had been completed.

I’ll continue to write notes like these as a measure of my progress. Although I’ll try not to give too much away, as my goal is for all that I have written about these walks to be collated into a book once they have all been completed. Yet already I am looking forward to the next postcode walks which I hope to undertake next weekend....