Regent’s Canal walk: Camden to King’s Cross

Camden Lock to King’s Cross is about 2.5km, 1.6 miles, on the Inland Waterways Association’s route, and it is the busier, more urban half of the Regent’s Canal in Camden. Give it 40 minutes walking, or a morning with the stops. It is free unless you go into the museum at the end, and it is flat, with steep stairs at some of the access points. Walk it east from the market, and finish with a drink on Granary Square.

Start: Hampstead Road Locks

From the bridge on Camden High Street, go down to the towpath on the south side and head east, away from the market crowds. Hampstead Road Locks, beside you, are the only surviving pair of locks on the canal. Within a few minutes you pass Hawley Lock and then Kentish Town Lock, and Walker’s Quay, where the Jenny Wren trip boat has run since 1968.

Camden Road Bridge and the River Fleet

At Camden Road Bridge, stop and look at the ironwork on the corner. The grooves were worn by tow-ropes, when horses pulled the boats and the ropes dragged round the bend. Between here and Camden Street Bridge, the River Fleet passes under the canal in a culvert, on its way south to the Thames. You will not see it, but now you know.

Further on, the new houses on the north bank are Elm Village, built on the site of the old Agar Town slums once the Midland Railway’s goods yards closed. If you fancy a pint before the King’s Cross prices, The Constitution sits above the towpath at 42 St Pancras Way, NW1, with a rooftop.

The gasholders and St Pancras Lock

Then the skyline changes. Four Victorian gasholder frames have been re-erected above St Pancras Lock: three hold apartments, and the fourth is Gasholder Green, a public open space. The lock house is a George Gilbert Scott design, and its old waterpoint is used by St Pancras Cruising Club as a clubhouse.

Camley Street Natural Park

On the far bank below the lock is Camley Street Natural Park, a nature reserve squeezed in between King’s Cross and St Pancras. It is run by the London Wildlife Trust and is open daily: 10:00 to 16:00 from October to March, 10:00 to 17:00 from April to September, per the Trust’s page. There is a visitor centre, a café, toilets and a pond dipping platform, and steep steps up to a canal viewpoint. Only assistance dogs are allowed.

Granary Square and Coal Drops Yard

Leave the towpath by the ramp on the right to reach Granary Square, built on the old Great Northern Railway goods yard and the filled-in Granary basin. The square has over 1,000 fountains, each individually controlled and lit, according to King’s Cross, and the wide south-facing steps down to the water are carpeted green in summer. It is the best place on the whole canal to sit with a coffee and watch the boats queue for the lock.

Next door, the Eastern and Western Coal Drops have been refurbished to a Thomas Heatherwick design, with the Fish and Coal Offices, into a run of shops and cafés. Look out too for Word on the Water, the bookshop on a barge, open midday to 19:00 every day except Christmas Day.

Finish: Battlebridge Basin and the London Canal Museum

Back on the towpath, carry on under Maiden Lane Bridge. Look east: that black mouth is the Islington Tunnel, about 960 yards long, with no towpath. Just before it, turn into Battlebridge Basin, completed in 1825. Halfway along is the London Canal Museum at 12 to 13 New Wharf Road, N1.

Inside you can stand in a narrowboat cabin, read about the horses that pulled the boats, and peer down into a huge Victorian ice well. The tug Bantam IV is moored on the wharf outside. It opens 10:00 to 16:30, Tuesday to Sunday and bank holiday Mondays, all year with a short break at Christmas, and there is a small admission charge: details on canalmuseum.org.uk. King’s Cross station is a short walk south.

Know before you go

• Distance: about 2.5km, 1.6 miles, from the Camden locks to Battlebridge Basin.
• Access: mostly flat towpath, but several access points have stairs and no ramp. Camden Lock and the Granary Square ramp are the easy ones.
• Sharing: this stretch is busy with commuters on bikes at rush hour. Walk single file under bridges.
• Next walk: west from the Lock to Little Venice, past the zoo, is two miles and greener.