Log Off
Head Out
Escapes on your doorstep
from anywhere in London by public transport
Log Off – Head Out
Access the outdoors, in London and beyond, from your doorstep
This trail? That trail? Any trail?
It’s easy to show a path from one point to another; the art, craft and very rare joy is to find and refine the best trail between those two points.
LoHo: A completely free-to-access website which cuts out the guesswork and gets you straight to a dozen or so of the very best walks in and around London.
LoHo is the result of having spent over 30 years walking thousands of miles in and around London to find a precious handful of great walking routes. These paths have been tested in all weathers by me and several trusty canine companions. The enthusiastic dogs quickly learned to navigate them with their damp noses. You can do it with downloadable and printable guides: each route includes a step-by-step guide guide, map where needed, and recommendations for the essential hand-picked pub or picnic lunchspot.
LoHo: No subscriptions, no signing up to anything at all. It’s my hobby.
And did I mention that it’s free to use?
Take a look…
Each route has:
- Online & in-print: *
- An easy step by step navigation guide
- History and highlights notes
- Map (for the out of London routes)
So, here’s what to do:
- Pick a route
- Print off the step-by-step navigation guide
- And, for the out of London routes, print the map
- Log off, Head out…
* Both are provided, but I strongly suggest you take the printed version on your walk, and leave your phone in your pocket. Part of what LoHo is all about is getting away from your phone, devices and outside demands. So, Logo Off Head Out. Sometimes in order to connect, we need to disconnect…
LoHo Walks
“Everywhere is within walking distance if you create the time…”
The walks are loosely grouped into London and rural, with a versatile selection of the latter based around the Darenth Valley, and other wonderful rural walks in the North Kent Valley, Chiltern Hills and North Downs. All walks contain a recommended lunch stop: pub, tea shop or picnic spot...
London
Newington Green to Smithfield
Rebels and radicals and a truly Dickensian scandal (3 miles).
Three London Parks
City views and a Heath ramble (3 to 5 miles – various options).
Thames South Bank
London Bridge to Greenwich
Thames history and a murder mystery (5.6 miles).
Thames North Bank
Greenwich to London Bridge
A clipper, steamer and riverside drinking dens (5.5 miles).
Hampton Court to Richmond
The Thames Path
A Palace (or two), grand houses, Civil War intrigue and a pub on the river (7.8 miles).
Kent
Surrey
Villages of the Darenth Valley
A gentle flat route from Eynsford to Shoreham (4.5 miles) with potential visit to Roman villa at Eynsford, Luddesdown Castle and World Garden, with onward option to Otford’s intriguing medieval high street (6.7 miles).
Darenth Valley Circular Day Out
Hillside views, option of pub or vineyard lunch in Shoreham, and a river return. Eynsford to Shoreham return (8 miles).
Sole Street Circular
Kent countryside, vineyards and views (9 miles).
Guildford St Martha's Church Circular
A North Downs ramble in the footsteps of pilgrims, beginning at the riverside, climbing to a hilltop church, and views across to the South Downs (7.7 miles).
Buckinghamshire
Princes Risborough to Wendover
An ancient trackway, breezy heights, and soaring kites above the Chiltern Hills and Chequers (7 miles).
Amersham to Little Missenden Circular
Magnificent architecture and medieval murals, generous open landscapes of hills, farmland and river valley (9.5 miles).
Sussex
Portslade to Brighton
A true Londoners' day out. Sea breezes, wide open skies and people-watching at the Great British seaside, all in an engaging and mind-clearing couple of hours (4 miles).
Suffolk
Manningtree Circular
A glimpse of Suffolk and a calming riverside roam through Constable Country to Flatford Mill (6.8 miles).
In the Spotlight
Amersham to Little Missenden Circular
One of the key principles behind LoHo is to create the most hassle-free bridge from imagination to reality...
Imagining ambling through greenery and fresh air, the prospect of a picnic or pub lunch ahead, with bird song jazzing about in the background, as opposed to actually being there, can be quite a stretch. So, one of the principles behind LoHo is to create the most hassle-free bridge from one to the other. Hence, all LoHo routes are achievable by bus, tube or train. No parking, traffic queues, congestion charges... just imagine. No need for cars - not even a tiny cute one that goes parp, parp and runs on recycled yoghurt pots. Not even that... Just wave your ticket, Oyster Card or Freedom Pass and you’re there...
The Amersham to Little Missenden circular brings this home more vividly than others. The travel instructions are relatively simple: take the Metropolitan line to Amersham to walk in a pleasant circle through open Chilterns landscape.
This is essentially a route in three acts: Amersham, a former thriving 18th century coaching village once connecting London to Midlands and the North; Little Missenden a smaller hamlet snoozing in the valley bottom, happily a gateway to nowhere in particular; then a return ramble along the valley bottom following the River Chess.
And if you’re lucky, and find the church at Little Missenden open, you’ll get to gaze at medieval murals providing a glimpse into some persistent seams ofhistory, religion and politics once deeply embedded in our culture but not, as yet, entirely absent.
Seasonal Ramblings
“And this just in!”
… Says the newscaster dramatically shuffling pieces of paper while we wait with that slight sense of dread which precedes much of today’s news.
After what seemed to be a long grey damp, miserable tail end of winter, we seem to have been flung headlong into spring. Leaves unfurl, tiny shoots push their curious noses up towards sunlight, and suddenly we all feel better.
Until we don’t… As we look at our screens and slide inexorably down into the darkest doom holes that are our newsfeeds can create, we gently traumatise our aching selves while gaping helplessly, yet obsessively, at world events. Philippa Perry, retired psychotherapist and writer, describes how, like recent trauma survivors, we share our ‘news’ , our ‘talking points’ and unwittingly press down upon each other’s already bruised spirits. You’ve heard it elsewhere and you’ll hear it throughout the website and I’ve no shame in repeating it: Getting outside into the bright green and yes, even into the mud, is essential. It’s not optional nor a modern ‘nice-to-have’ – it’s vital. Without it, we become darkly introspective, habitually pessimistic, and physically rundown.
I’m not going to cite the research – you’ve read it before and, more to the point, deep down we all know this stuff already. It also helps, if you’re a little bit shallow like me, that going into nature’s greenery is becoming slightly more ‘cool’. That will pass of course..
So,. when you have a moment… take a breath… look at your calendar and plan to Log Off and Head Out. The seasons are nature’s rolling newscast. Spring is here, now.
“And this just in!!!! … swifts, a cuckoo calling , hawthorn blossom…”