Suggested running routes - London/Paris
My family will be on the Castles and Kings trip - staying at the Royal Horseguards in London and the Westin Paris - Vendome in Paris. I am wondering if anyone has any suggested running routes from either of those hotels? I am looking for a 4 or 5 mile route. Thanks!
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I'm not a runner, heck I'm not too good of a walker either (knee issues- so I swim 2 miles a day, 6 days a week) but the first response I got (see link below) when I Googled "Running paths in London" yielded an article from the Telegraph- "Six in the city: London's best running routes." The article included zoomable maps. The routes ranged in length from 3.4 mi. to 17.8 mi. Most had a mix of streets and parks. The Golden Jubilee bridges are right by the Horseguards so you can also run routes on the south side of the Thames. The second link gave bajillion more, generally shorter, routes, also with maps. I'm sure you will find the same for Paris.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/active/11542966/best-running-routes-london.html
http://www.mapmyrun.com/gb/london-eng/
As the article suggest, another route is to leave the hotel, turn right, and then another right toward the Embankment Tube Station. Take the footbridge (I've heard it called about five different names) over to the south side (toward the London Eye)...NOW, THIS CAN BE VERY CROWDED UNTIL YOU GET TO WESTMINSTER BRIDGE... You can cut this out by turning right before you cross the bridge and take the Victoria Embankment toward Westminster Bridge. You can cross the Thames at Westminster, but it can be very crowded, or go right to Whitehall/MillBank (the corner where Westminster Palace is), and run in front of Westminster on Millbank to the Lambeth or Vauxhall (it is further down) Bridge. If you go to Vauxhall, you'll run past Tate Britain before turning left and crossing the Bridge. Once you have crossed the bridge, go east toward the London Eye (you'll see it in the distance) on the Albert Embankment. Once you go past the London Eye, you'll see the foot bridge again, cross it and you are back to the Embankment Tube Station. Not sure of the mileage. It will be a bit shorter than the other one. I know the distance between the Vauxhall Bridge and foot bridge is about two miles. I figure the run from the Embankment Tube station to the Vauxhall Bridge is about the same....4 miles total, plus crossing over the bridge...close to five miles.
Hope these help. If you see any other directions you want to go, just drop a note in here and if I come back, I'll let you know what I think. I don't get in here a lot. Sorry, I can't help you with Paris. Maybe British can help when she isn't so busy taking care of her hard working husband. She has a lot to do answering all of the posts in this room. (Dripping with sarcasm).
I am going to England in August, primarily to take part in an International Singing festival with our singing group. Unfortunately my husband cannot come, you'll love this, he's working because we have spent several months going back and forth to England after a family bereavement, there's a lot to sort out. Shame, because his singing is way better than mine and we will miss his participation. Any way, back to your help--- we are all going to London for four days after the Festival and I would like to check out the new wing of the Tate Modern, just wondered if you had been there yet and your impressions?
I'm used to walking four or five miles about five days a week but I applaud all your walking, at my speed, which is pretty brisk, it would take me about 3 1/2 to 4 hours to do 12 miles without a break, I don't want to do that much walking, don't really think I could do it. Are there plenty of Uber rides around in Central London for when I get tired? I know I will be doing some things on my own having been recently to many of the newer sites like the Eye and the Globe, whereas my fellow travelers have those on top of their lists. I used Uber very successfully when we were running around in cold and rain in the winter with lots of time constraints in the North of England.
My best to you
Another good choice, if you are out for a second day, is to walk out of the hotel, turn right, go to the corner, turn right again (you'll see the footbridge and Embankment Tube Station in front of you, but don't go to them. Run along the Queen Victoria Embankment to Westminster Bridge (it will get crowded here for a short while), cross the street (not the bridge) and turn right to Whitehall Street. Then, turn left and run in front of Westminster Palace and after the palace turn into a small park (Elizabeth Park, I think) and run, again, along the Victoria Embankment. Now you have a choice....you can cross the Thames at either the Lambeth Bridge or go further to the Vauxhall Bridge (you'll pass Tate Britain). Cross the Thames on either of these depending on how much you want to run (time and distance). Once you cross the bridge, turn left and run along the Prince Albert Embankment back to the footbridge (there will be significant congestion at the London Eye) and run across the footbridge where you will be back at the Royal Horseguards Hotel. 3-4 miles depending on which bridge you cross.
One thing for sure....if I know runners well....you don't want to spend time in a hotel on a treadmill when you can run through a major city and at least see some of the sights as you go by. I know you will see some of them when Tauck takes you around the city. That is why I particularly suggest these two routes.....you'll see three of the iconic parks and run past Buckingham Palace, Westminster Palace, etc.
Oh yea, if you go the first route, you will come to a BIG wall right before Buckingham Palace. There will be a fork in the road (Yogi Berra would say "Take it.") and you want to stay to the right and the path will take you up to The Mall. Then go to the right of Buckingham and cross the street into Green Park. There are a couple of signs there that direct you to Hyde Park. I would take the diagonal trail so that you end up at the corner where the Wellington Arch is located (NW corner of Green Park). Just after you go across the street into Hyde Park (go left) there is a trail that goes through a beautiful garden. It is worth taking. It will bring you to a main road where you can turn right up to Oxford Street. I wouldn't go out to Oxford street. I would take the parallel walking path inside the park and up to the SE corner of the park (the Speaker's Corner). Now you can make the choice of turning right and going back toward Green Park, or following Oxford Street to Piccadilly Circus. There are lots of stores on Oxford Street, including Selfridge's (PBS series of Mr. Selfridge). If you are a shopping addict, this could be a challenge. (My wife was a shopping addict, and she used to say, "I could stop shopping anytime I want, but I am not a quitter!!!!"). I must walk about your speed, British. I take about 3.5-4 hours for a 12 mile walk (15 minute miles). As a runner, I assume Mamola runs somewhere around the 12 minute mile, give or take, and should be able to run 5 miles in an hour. Obviously, this all depends on how much free time you have and how you want to spend it. I have always hated running. That didn't sit well with the Marine Corps, so I suffered through it. After decades of baseball (catcher) and years of football as a young man, my knees were replaced 10 years ago and I make sure I keep them moving. I hope this helps. Since I do this every day, it is imprinted in my mind.
Sorry, I have probably confused you to no end. But if you Google a London map, or buy one you can actually write on, and follow the directions, you should be ok. If not, ask questions and I'll try to help you. Remember, I don't come in often so there are no guarantees. British thinks I come in to bash her, but she makes it so easy that when I am here I just can't pass it up. Hahahaha. She doesn't have much of a sense of humor (humour) either. Sorry British, but I don't go to the Tate Modern. "Modern" Art looks like something my grandkids can do. Follow your own suggestion for most people and Google Tate Modern. I am sure they have it on their website. Wow, that sounded like British advice....hahaha.
Have fun.
There is a secret and a gotcha to posting pictures here (like with many websites.)
First, you can't post photos directly from your computer's harddrive, they must already be hosted on the web somewhere- Facebook, one of the free or paid photo hosting sites, or be an image on any website. Once the photo is hosted, just copy and past the photo's location (its URL) between the IMG brackets you inserted in your post by clicking the photo button (button with mountains and sun). To post a website photo like the one of a Cinque Terre town below I just lifted from the Tauck home page, (depending on your browser) right click on the photo, select "copy image location," and paste the URL (the location) between the IMG brackets in your post. I usually have two tabs open in my browser- I have the forum on one tab where I read and type and use the second tab to surf the web or my photo hosting site to look for and select pics and images.
Now for the gotcha- unfortunately, Tauck forum software does not resize photos like many do. If you post a pic that is wider that 640 px (typically 640 X 480) it will cause the text in all posts in that thread to overrun the screen. That makes it a pain for everyone to read the thread- they often think part of the text was deleted, it's not, it's just off the screen to the right. To see the text that is forced off the screen, they must go to the scroll bar at the bottom of the page and scroll to the right then go back up to read it. That can be a pain for you and everyone else. I regularly upload photos to Facebook or other photo hosting site in their original large (5184 px X 3456 px), high resolution size. If I want to post a pic here I must upload a copy that is smaller (and lower res).
FYI, the size of the Tauck photo above is 157px × 137px.