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London Greenground Map – 2nd edition

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Greenground Maps – the first and second edition

The first paper edition of the London Greenground Map came out a year ago and included 380 parks & open spaces and 12 inspiring green lines for walking and cycling between parks. First map also included viewpoints, ferry piers and suggestions for outdoor activities such as kayaking, outdoor swimming and bird watching. This small pocket map got lot of media interest and people loved the concept – 1000 maps sold out by the beginning of this year.

The second edition of the London Greenground Map aims to keep the spirit of the first map, but expands the concept wider, now including twice as many parks in London to give more scope to explore. I’ve also included six more green & blue lines and an art line. The upgraded map is twice the size of the original map and printed on the recycled paper with sustainable inks, yet comes with the same price tag as the original.

Second edition includes several new interesting lines. Additionally to the official TFL and Ramblers’ LOOP line that appeared as an outer border on the first map, the new edition of the Greenground Map now also includes the highly requested Capital line, connecting the parks and open spaces of this popular walking path. And the LOOP is no longer the outer border – the map now breaks through the London Orbital, creating links with the countryside beyond.

Closeup of the map

In south the map now includes the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and a section of North Downs Way from Box Hill to Sevenoaks. The Thames Downs line connects the Thames to the North Downs Way. The detailed directions can be viewed here. On the east the the two lines are connected by the Darent Valley line that runs from Dartford to Sevenoaks.

The Royal Line now extends up to Windsor taking in the famous Windsor Great Park and The Long Walk as well as few historic green spaces along the way such as Runnymede. Additionally to Darent the new river lines now also include Ravensbourne in South-East and Roding in North-East, both connecting Thames with LOOP line.

The Line – London’s first dedicated public art walk is now on the map as Art line, passing several parks and green spaces on the way. Starting from Queen Elizabeth Park it goes through the Three Mills Green and Cody Dock before crossing the Thames to Greenwich Peninsula. More detailed map with the artworks can be seen here.

Brompton Dock icons now point where to hire a Brompton bike for cycling between green spaces inside London or even for outdoor adventures further out in the countryside. The more detailed map with exact locations is here.

Second edition also includes city farms and this TimeOut article highlights some. I’ve also added icons for selected campsites around London for getting out to nature. Couple of outdoor bouldering sites make another interesting day out.

With twice as many green spaces, seven new lines and more outdoor activities to discover I hope the second map will be an inspiration for both existing and new London Greenground explorers 🤞

Tube style walking network

The second paper edition of the Greenground Map is now available in my store for £10 (postage included).

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Bristol Greenground Map – connecting parks and open spaces in and around Bristol

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Bristol map is the third map of the Greenground Map series and connects the parks and open spaces to inspire walks (and bike rides) inside and further out in the city. With 10 inspiring green lines and around 250 green spaces to explore, the map does not only include the inner Bristol, but expands to other areas such as coastal town Portishead as well as links to surrounding countryside; also including the Bristol and Bath railway Path – a walking and cycling path to neighbouring city Bath.

Bristol’s most famous and recognisable landmark is River Avon, which also becomes the first line on the map. River Avon Trail is also the most easiest line to navigate, running from Avonmouth to Bath. I’ve included two more river lines – Frome and Hazel Trym that offer nice walks along the riverbank, if not all the way then at least on some sections on the line. The Woody Line in the West of Bristol covers the leafiest area – Leigh Woods and Ashton Court as well as some of the nature preserves further away.

As Bristol is very creative city and the street art has become a very important scene over the past years I also included a Street Art line which includes some more nature inspired works. The Upfest festival location on North Street is one of the main areas to see murals such as One Love Coral Reef by Louis Masai or Cheeky Seagull near the Greville Smyth Park. Park murals also include Ollie Gillard’s nature murals in the Redcatch Park, a new St George Park mural and Eurasian Lynx by ATM near King’s Square.

Working on this map was an opportunity to take a walk down to memory lane, as I walked and cycled all over and up & down Bristol during my MA. I remember long walks to Bower Ashton from Bedminster on weekends and crossing the misty Avon on the bike on my way to work in the mornings. Although I know few of the routes covered on this map, there are many more I haven’t walked on and making this map has been truly mind expanding. I hope you enjoy using this map as much as I did making it!

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London Greenground map with distances

2 min read

The newest of London Greenground maps has more fluid lines, especially for Thames line that now follows the river more naturally, includes 100 more parks with 400 parks and open spaces total and as a new feature shows the walking distances between parks. I have also began to locate the green ways that are long linear parks usually by the waterway or railway tracks and sketched in some new suggestions for creative walking loops. 🚶‍♀️♾️

This diametrical map does not show the exact routes, but rather acts as a starting point in planning more precise journeys. The distance line lengths between parks and open spaces vary as the walking routes are not always straightforward and at times can be quite winding. This is why a mile on a map is represented with considerable difference. However I hope the map gives a larger scope for someone planning a green route in Greater London.

In most cases the distances are calculated from park centre to park centre and sometimes, especially with large parks, the walking distance between differs. For example Kensington and Hyde Park are next to each other and could be crossed over in minutes, but walking from centre to centre is a mile long route and takes considerably more time. As no one would be walking only to the edge of the park I thought centre distances would make more sense.

The loops and lines that make up the map are suggestions rather than fixed routes and the main intention of the map is to show London as one connected green network and encourage active movement between parks and along the waterways. Currently not all the London roads are quiet or safe because of traffic, but hopefully this will change soon when more people are becoming interested in active travel. 🚶‍♀️🚴‍♂️

For closer exploration see the PDF
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