Customer Rating: 
Summary: ring around the capital
Comment: there are several big walking trails in london. One, the london loop, runs for one hundred and fifty miles approx right round the outskirts. It's shorter cousin the capital ring is half the length, and runs a bit closer to the centre of the city. both of them are divided into fifteen stages of varying length.
This is a guide to the capital ring, divided into a chapter for each stage. each chapter contains maps to show you the route, and text which guides you through it and tells you a lot about what you will see on the way. whilst the maps dont have street names on them they are large enough so that you will easily be able to work out where you are going, and the information text is very interesting as it goes into detail about the history of the places you pass through and what you will see on route. Did you know where bob hope was born? you will after you've done stage two.
the walk starts in woolwich, and goes right round in a clockwise direction. and it's very well signposted on the way also. the stages do vary in length from as little as three and a half miles to more than eight, so some of them may not last you a day. but then again on one stage I found the superb building eltham palace, which I hadn't known about beforehand, and spent a great time there as a result, so there are good diversions.
like the london loop, this is an excellent way to see parts of london that you never knew existed, and the book is an excellent way to do it. as a guide, it's very good, and as a way of helping you discover more, it's superb
Customer Rating:
Summary: Green and pleasant London open to all!
Comment: This is an excellent publication especially for Londoners. Easy to follow instructions with clear link ups to public transport. Well signposted route so, along with this book, it is difficult to get lost! The sections are comfortable lengths for new walkers but the more experienced can easily do two or more at a time. This is a great way to see London's back yard that isn't seen from the road and appreciate how green the "greenest city in Europe" actually is.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Awkward guide to an interesting walk
Comment: I finished walking the Capital Ring today, desperately wishing that I'd had a better laid-out guide. My chief criticisms are
1. the text is a stream-of-consciousness narrative of walking directions and history. These need to be separated for clarity
2. The ordnance survey maps are too small to read street names, so if you miss a turn because a sign is missing/vandalised then it's harder to find your way back to the path.
This sort of route would be better served with clearer maps, with callout boxes to handle the historical detail and some little photos of landmarks. If doing it again, I would make sure I always had another map guide and/or GPS with me. Someone I met along the route said they printed off maps each night because the ones in the book were so useless.
|
