Walking 15km from Sloane Square to Canada Water

My preference for walking is to go from A to B where A and B are easy to get to by public transport, B is some distance away, and the bit in the middle includes as much new territory as possible. 

My walking companion prefers parks and familiarity. This walk was an attempt to do both.

We started at Sloane Square because we can get there by tube for free from 9am and ended at Canada Water because that took us across south London which is not our usual territory and also through Burgess Park which is more familiar.

The direct route was not that long so I took us south first and after I made him walk down a previously unwalked road in Chelsea we crossed the river into Battersea Park, probably my favourite London Park.

From there it was largely a question of me trying to persuade my colleague to walk down unwalked roads without making it obvious that we were avoiding the obvious route.

I really enjoyed seeing new parts of London such as the grand houses in Stockwell Park not that far from an enormous new development of identikit flats.

One highpoint was coming across a large mural at a school which had a touch of Niki de Saint Phalle about it and even better was finding the artist there just finishing it off so I was able to pass on my admiration for it. 

Unfortunately I did not pause to take a photo of that mural but I did remember to do so later on and this mural is in St James's Road, Bermondsey which we passed towards the end of our jaunt.

My preference for walking is to go from A to B precisely because of walks like this one.