Kinhig three

Verified Slow Way

Verified by 100.00% of reviewers

Tried to review this yesterday, but it must have failed to save. Walked from Kings Cross to Walthamstow. A good varied urban route entirely on hard surfaces. There are a couple of short flights of steps, but both can easily be avoided by short detours. A small part of the route through Barnard Park is also currently blocked, but it was easy to find an alternative.

The steps are (i) where we exit the Regents Canal onto Caledonian Road. There is a slightly longer ramped route to the west of the steps, (ii) at the north end of Compton Terrace, where a short flight of steps takes us down to the pavement of the main road. This one can be avoided by using the east pavement of Upper Street instead of the short section through the strip of trees.

There is some development work going on in the north half of Barnard Park. This means taking a new path that goes slightly further east, then going slightly right at the north end to join the middle one of the three cul-de-sacs on Richmond Avenue rather than the eastern one. This minor change does not seem sufficient to justify a new version.

This is a well thought out and interesting yet direct Slow Way. It avoids much of the busyness in the area, taking you through pleasant and quiet roads, parks and towpaths. A solid part of the Slow Ways network. Although I walked rather than wheeled, it seemed that this should also be wheelable. Both nodes have plenty of amenities and there are many more on the route should they be needed.

Our team of local runners from Goodgym Islington (a fitness and volunteering charity) ran this Slow Way on a dark Monday evening in January, with headtorches in tow. The route is pleasant, and offers a great impression of the Islington borough, passing lovely terrace houses, gardens, canal towpaths and businesses while still being direct and efficient.

A few things to note about a night-time variation of this Slow Way.

The route is accessible for all for the most part, with step free access offered alongside stair wells. Some of the streets around Richmond Avenue may become narrow for large walking groups.

There are a few areas that are not well lit. The canal towpaths towards York Way is a particularly dark section. However, this could be avoided by connecting to Copenhagen Way earlier instead of walking on the canal towpath. Barnard Park is also very dark on the approach to Richmond Avenue, as some of the floodlights seem to not be functioning at this time. That said, walking down Hemingford Road and avoiding the park can also be an option.

We were successfully able to follow the GPX file from various sources (Suunto and OS Maps), and we can confirm that both navigation methods are accurate and clear.

A well chosen route that takes you through some of the most affluent parts of Islington and a short pleasant stretch along the Regents Canal and into redeveloped Kings Cross. Plenty of interest along the entire route. No navigation problems as I think this version of the route has ironed out the minor problems with the GPX routing of #KinHig One and #KinHig Two.

I walked from Highbury to Kings Cross as part of a longer route from Dalston following #HigDal Two. This has the advantage of missing out the busy stretch by Highbury Corner, sticking instead to the wide and relatively quiet residential streets. Islington is a borough of contrasts, and this route take you through some of the grandest parts with large Georgian townhouses accompanying you for half of the route. An interesting glimpse of one part of London life. As you descend towards Kings Cross you join the Regents Canal for a short pleasant stretch – the towpath is reasonably wide here so quite a relaxing walk. The final stretch takes you though the redeveloped (and redeveloping) Kings Cross area that is unrecognisable from the Kings Cross of 20 years ago.

I walked this route from Kings Cross to Highbury and Islington. Overall, it's an excellent route that nicely weaves its way through quiet neighbourhood streets. The towpath is lovely, as are the number of quiet squares and gardens to pass through along the way. A very nice way to get between these two points and one I'm happy to recommend as part of the network.

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