I’ll admit that I did not do this run this week- but it was a favourite when I lived in London last year, so I thought I’d share it anyway.

Running along the riverbank, while popular for many Londoners, was too intimidating for me. I stuck to the canals to the north of the centre when I wanted water, although the running there-and-back most of the time irritated me. So as usual I went in search of a park. Of course, running in Hyde Park is an option, but I actually preferred the smaller, more confusing and more diverse Holland Park.

In Holland Park you can find the safety of trees, open sports areas, manicured traditional French gardens, playgrounds and precisely planned Japanese gardens. To this day I’m not sure I actually have a map in my head of how all these different bits connect. Instead of heading out with a plan, I would generally arrive through the northern gate and then wind my way around the paths in circles or diagonally, or whatever caught my fancy. Once I even took the route ‘chase the nearest squirrel’, which resulted in a lot of zig-zagging, and plenty of entertainment. Even if you are not looking for a run, I highly recommend this little oasis, which is free to visit, has many different plants, and garden styles, and feels more tucked away and hidden than the other well-known parks.

The route pictured I found at this lovely blog, as this was BG (Before-Garmin), and I have no personal map of my runs.

Posted as part of the Virtual Running UK Blog Hop.