Walk 6: Not actually a country walk

Date: Sunday 27th February
Distance: not sure (any ideas much appreciated - really ought to dig out the pedometer languishing in the kitchen drawer)
Route: Holland Park station to the Royal Festival Hall via various parks, palaces and cultural venues

OK, so the first thing to say is that - I know, I know - this walk doesn't really conform to the rules of the blog. It's not in the country, it's not following a walk from a guidebook and I don't actually know how far it is. But if you find yourself hankering after a lie-in on a Sunday and in need of a leisurely stroll that is reachable by tube, this one is a good (if made-up on the spot) option. It's also good if you have (energetic) friends visiting who fancy a bit of London sightseeing, with the odd pelican thrown in. And of course you end up at the Royal Festival Hall, so you can have a beer at the end too!

So, this is how it goes:
Take the Central line to Holland Park, turn right out of the station and walk up the hill into Notting Hill, then keep heading straight on and cross the road into Hyde Park/ Kensington Gardens. Walk parallel to the road for a short distance then head off diagonally right, vaguely towards Hyde Park Corner. There are quite a few different paths and it doesn't really matter which way you go, as long as Kensington Palace is behind you, the Royal Albert Hall and the spectacularly OTT Albert Memorial are to your right and (at the minute) you get to see some of Anish Kapoor's big metal statues (hence the "sculpture can pose a hazard at certain times of the day" sign).

Once you get near to the Serpentine Gallery you can of course stop and look at some art or you can just keep going alongside the Serpentine (or stop at the Lido Cafe). Obviously, if you are a big Princess Di fan you can go and fall over in her Memorial Fountain (weather permitting). Once you get to the end of the Serpentine head right-ish, to come out at Hyde Park Corner near the Wellington Arch. Cross over the road, go through the arch and through into the next lot of park to come out near Buck Pal. Marvel at the horrible architecture, the statue of Queen Victoria and cross the Mall to go into Green Park, then continue to go diagonally rightish, crossing a footbridge that gives you a very touristy view of the Queen's house and carrying on to walk past the aforementioned random pelicans (thanks to George III, apparently). This brings you out to the right of Horse Guards, near Churchill's War Rooms. If you go up the stairs near the entrance to the War Rooms there is a handy (very quiet) cut-through to Whitehall, which takes you past the Foreign & Commonwealth Office on the left and the Treasury on the right.

Once on Whitehall take a right to head towards Westminster Abbey etc, then left at the end to go past the Palace of Westminster, Big Ben and Boadicea. The options are to cross the bridge and run the gauntlet of mime artists around the London Eye en route to the Royal Festival Hall or to stay on the more sedate north bank and walk along the Embankment then across the Jubilee bridge, with a view along the Thames.

And then you are at the Festival Hall and you can drink, eat (suspiciously brown mushroom stew) or go and look at whatever random cultural things are happening at this fantastic institution. I'm not sure how they are going to better last year's science event (I know that sounds weird but download the stellarium from http://www.stellarium.org/ and see if you disagree!) but I am going to keep going back just in case they do. And I urge everyone else to, too!

Then finally, when you are refreshed and have dried off a bit from the rubbish rainy weather, you can cross the river again on the Jubilee Bridge looking down-river towards St Paul's for one of the best views in London. Not that I have a taken a photo of it, of course because a) that would be too touristy and b) it was still raining yesterday. But the sun will be shining when you walk it, I'm sure.