Can you walk your way to fitness in Hackney? You bet, it’s a great start, particularly if you’re just beginning a fitness programme with us.
With our clients who are completely new to personal training you can be sure we’ll be prescribing walk fitness in Hackney’s open spaces as part of their weekly physical activity plan, which we give all new starters to see them through the initial 4 weeks.
Benefits Of A Hackney stroll
Regular brisk walking can help you:
- Maintain a healthy weight
- Prevent or manage various conditions, including heart disease, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes
- Strengthen your bones and muscles
- Improve your mood
- Improve your balance and coordination
- The faster, farther and more frequently you walk, the greater the benefits.
Our favourite Hackney Walking routes
With more than 58 parks and open spaces in Hackney to choose from, there’s a beautiful park or canal walk right on your doorstep, so you can walk your way to fitness in Hackney. Here’s 3 of our favourites:
Clissold Park to Springfield park
Distance: 3 miles
Starting off in Clissold Park, which was built in 1790, there’s lots of history to take in as you wander through the nearby Abney Park Cemetery grounds, hailed one of the ‘magnificent seven’ garden cemeteries built in the second half of the 19th century. From here it’s on to Stoke Newington Common and eventually to Springfield Park, with views over the flood plains of the River Lea.
Hackney Marshes Walk
Distance: 4.8 miles
Wick Woodland marks the start of this gentle walk, perfect for fitness in Hackney, which leads you via a series of tall, black poplars, to the Lea Navigation Canal. You follow the towpath, passing an adventure playground and a plot of woodland known as Jubilee Wood. After crossing the red Friends Bridge, you’ll find yourself in the midst of Hackney Main Marsh and its famous football pitches. The final leg takes you around a tree-lined path on East Marsh and pass Spitalfields Fruit and Vegetable Market.
VICTORIA PARK WALK
Distance: 2.5 miles
A gentle stroll across Well Street Common takes you into Victoria Park – London’s first truly ‘public’ park – created in response to a petition to Queen Victoria in 1840. The Hertford Union Canal, which you’ll hit next, was opened 10 years earlier to connect London’s docks with the Midlands. A sunny stroll down its towpath today takes you to the Lee Navigation Canal, dating back even further to 1768. A final stretch through Wick Woodland (pictured below) brings you back onto Homerton Road and into the present day.
Hackney Walking Map
Looking for a detailed map with good walks in Hackney? Click here for Hackney council’s latest pdf of the best routes.
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