Walking can be faster than other methods of travel, with no sitting in traffic or waiting for a bus, and it’s free.
You don’t have to walk the same route that you would normally drive – you’ll probably find quieter side streets and paths more pleasant or you could walk through a local green space or park.
Just 10 minutes brisk walking a day can help keep you healthy.
Travel planning
For short journeys, walking is quick and reliable. If you want to know how long it will take to walk somewhere, use the walking journey planner or Walkit.
It might be quicker to walk than to take the bus or train
TfL have produced a map of station-to-station walking times to show journeys that could be quicker walked, such as between Hackney Central and London Fields stations.
If you’re looking for help to plan a regular journey in Hackney, contact us for a personalised travel plan with a series of travel options for a regular journey to work, school or the shops, and all the information you need to get started.
Our professional travel advisers can help you to get fit and save money – email movegreener@hackney.gov.uk.
Programme of organised walks
Walkingtogether is our programme of weekly and monthly walks around Hackney.
This guide outlines the steps that everyone must take when joining our Walkingtogether programme:
We’ll make every effort to accommodate attendees on a first come, first served basis. Once maximum class numbers are reached no more entries will be permitted. We’ll give you priority if you’re a Hackney resident or are registered to a Hackney based GP surgery. The Fit 4 Health slow pace walk and the walks of interest require advance booking.
Before your Walkingtogether walk
Before taking part in any of our walks, new participants or those whose details have changed should complete a registration form:
Refer to the drop down tabs for each walk for further information, including our walks of interest.
Clissold Park walk
Walks will stop on 2525 November 2025 and start again on 3 March 2026.
Tuesdays, moderate intensity, 1-2pm
Meets within the outside area (ground level) of the main entrance to Clissold House Cafe, Clissold Park, off Green Lanes/Church Street N16 9HJ. Hosted by Rita Saha.
Nearby buses: 73, 106, 141, 341, 393, 476
For more information contact us on 020 8356 4897 or email walking@hackney.gov.uk or speak to the walk leader at the session.
Fit 4 Health slow-paced walk (pauses on 6 November 2025)
Wednesdays, 11.30am to 12.15pm. Places must be booked before attending. No session will be held on 27 August.
Meets within the garden area of Clissold House Cafe, Clissold Park, off Green Lanes/Church Street N16 9HJ.
This walk is for people who have suffered a stroke/TIA or have mobility issues. To be eligible to attend you must be a Hackney resident or be registered to a Hackney based GP.
Mondays, 10am to 11.30am and Fridays, 2pm to 3pm (arrive 15 minutes early) – new members, arrive half an hour early to register.
Meeting point: Homerton University Hospital, Hackney Diabetes Centre, Homerton Row, E9 6SR. Leader(s): Diabetes Lay Educators. Intensity: varied.
To be eligible to attend this walk you must have diabetes or pre-diabetes and be a Hackney resident or registered to a GP based in the borough.
Nearby buses: 236, 242, 276, 394, 425, 488, W15
We check walkers’ blood glucose levels before and after the walk. For more information call the Diabetes Lay Educators on 020 8510 5920 / 7875.
Hackney Type 1 Diabetes Monthly Walk and Talk
Monday, 6pm to 7.30pm, approximately an hour of walking. This walk is held every third Monday of the month.
Meeting point: Homerton University Hospital, Hackney Diabetes Centre, Homerton Row, E9 6SR.
Route: We will take a leisurely walk (4.3km) around Millfields Park. We aim to stop for refreshments part-way through/afterwards.
Walk and Talk Groups offer an opportunity to be active and social in the great outdoors. These groups will be facilitated by the Hackney Diabetes Centre staff and patient volunteers.
To be eligible to attend this walk you must have type 1 diabetes. Priority will be given to Hackney residents and those registered to a GP based in the borough.
Nearby buses: 236, 242, 276, 394, 425, 488, W15
For further information including scheduled dates, email Samina at samina.hassan@nhs.net or 07876003103.
Haggerston Park, Walk and Talk
Every Wednesday, 11am to 12pm.
Meets near the banana tree opposite Seabright Children’s Centre, Haggerston Park, Queensbridge Road, E2 8NP.
Delivered in partnership with the Shoreditch Trust.
Nearby buses: 394, 55
For more information, contact Nazmun Khanam on 0207 033 8532 or 07518 909 9918. You can also email nazmun@shoreditch.org.uk
Before attending for the first time, call Nazmun on the above telephone number.
London Fields walk
Wednesdays, 12.15 to 1pm, moderate-intensity
No walk will take place on 3 and 10 September 2025.
Meets at Hackney Town Hall steps (end closest to Reading Lane), Mare Street, E8 1HH, hosted by Lynne Thorburn.
For more information contact us on 020 8356 4897 or email walking@hackney.gov.uk or speak to the walk leader at the session.
Millfields Park Circular walk
Thursday, low to moderate intensity, 11am to 12pm.
We will not hold this walk on 11 September 2025.
Meets at the park entrance on Millfields Road on the corner of Chatsworth Road opposite Millfields Cafe, E5 OLA. Hosted by Rosemarie Michael.
Nearby buses: 38, 55, 106, 242, 253, 254, 308
For more information contact us on 020 8356 4897 or email walking@hackney.gov.uk or speak to the walk leader at the session.
Shoreditch Park walk (walk starts on 3 July 2025)
Thursdays, 1pm to 2pm.
A slow and accessible walk. The session offers the opportunity to socialise and explore Shoreditch Park.
Meets in front of Britannia Leisure Centre, Pitfield Street, N1 5FT Hosted by Jo Evans.
Nearby buses: 76, 149, 242, 243, 394
Delivered in partnership with the Shoreditch Trust, For further information contact Jo Evans on 07584 597 885 or email joanne@shoreditchtrust.org.uk.
Springfield Park walk
Pauses on 12 November 2025 and returns on 4 March 2026.
Wednesdays, 2pm to 3pm.
Low to moderate intensity.
Meets outside of Springfield House (the large white building) Springfield Park, E5 9BE. Hosted by Rita Saha.
For further information, contact Darren English on 020 8356 4897 or email: walking@hackney.gov.uk or speak to the walk leader at the session.
United Ladies N16 Walking group
Every Wednesday, 10am to 11am.
Meets outside of Yorkshire Grove Community Hall 20 Gunster Rd, London N16 8HF.
Join Zulekha and Rabia on a sociable and friendly Muslim women’s walk, open to women of all backgrounds, which explores different parts of N16 such as Clissold Park and Butterfield Green.
Nearby buses: 73, 106, 141, 341, 393, 476
For more information contact us on 020 8356 4897 or email walking@hackney.gov.uk or speak to the walk leaders at the session.
Walks of Interest (moderate intensity)
Free guided walks (generally 1 to 2 hours long) delivered over easy to moderate terrain. The walks are delivered at various locations and cover a range of historical and topics of interest.
Once registered, we make every effort to accommodate attendees, but we base places on a first come first served basis for each event. Sessions must be booked in advance and we do not accept same-day bookings. Waiting lists will be created as if needed.
We welcome attendees to bring their own memories and stories to share on the walks.
To book onto a Walk of Interest, ensure you are registered to the programme and complete the walks of interest booking form, indicating your preference. For further information, contact Darren English via walking@hackney.gov.uk or 020 8356 4897.
Newington Green has a claim to being one of the most influential places in history. In the 1700s radical thinkers gathered here and influenced the world. Apart from the controversial Mary Wollstonecraft sculpture, the Unitarian Church, the Mildmay Working Men’s Club, some of the oldest domestic houses in the country and Henry VIII’s palace, we will cross the border into Canonbury to hear about a suffragette mother and daughter, as well as a commune.
Date: Saturday 5 July 2025
Time: 11am to 1pm
Meeting point: Canonbury Station, N1 2PG
Leader: Sue Doe
Intensity: moderate
A Tall Tale – Canary Wharf
Our walk outside of Hackney will explore the surprising amount of history that remains among the glass towers of the Wharf. The docks moved from the centre of London to the Isle of Dogs in the early 1800s. Why the Isle of Dogs? Why Canary Wharf? Why Canada Square?
A walk with a difference – you will all have your own memories of the local shops and we want to hear them. It’s the sort of history that doesn’t usually get written down. We’ll take a stroll along the Narroway and into Clapton. Your guide share some tales of Gibbons, Matthew Rose, Brooks Furniture, the suffragettes shop in Clarence Road, and the ABC (the Aerated Bread Company) Bakery. The rest is up to you.
Date: Saturday 4 October 2025
Time: 11am to 1pm
Meeting point: Hackney Central Station, E8 1EY
Leader: Sue Doe
Intensity: moderate
Train as a Walkingtogether walk leader
Walk leader training is aimed primarily at volunteers who want to lead community walks, and is run where there is an existing Wellbeing Walks Scheme in partnership with the Ramblers.
To help us to encourage, engage and increase physical activity levels amongst our residents, we are seeking volunteers and partners who are friendly, approachable, enthusiastic and reliable.
Training is free of charge; however we do ask that you give a minimum of 2 voluntary hours on completion of the course. This can be as a walk leader or assistant leader of your own community walk or as part of the Council’s existing Walkingtogether scheme. We ask that these hours are delivered in Hackney or in connection with a Hackney scheme.
The walk leader training covers: walk planning and safety, managing and leading a walk, benefits of walking/physical activity and demonstration of a walk.
Training is a mix of online and face to face learning. You will be required to shadow a community walk as well as lead a walk as part of the course.
Exercise made easy – how walking can improve your health
A regular 10 minute brisk walk can make you feel better in many ways – it can boost your energy, clear your head and lift your mood, and can help people with lower back pain or at risk of high blood pressure. It can also improve your long-term health as it can reduce your risk of serious illnesses like heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
Brisk walking is simply walking faster than usual, at a pace that gets your heart pumping. Start with a 10 minute brisk walk a day and then see if you can gradually build up to more. Find out more about how brisk walking can keep you healthy and get support to get started.
You can read about three Hackney residents to find out more about the benefits of walking and the ways that walking can help with your health and wellbeing. They all participate in the Walkingtogether programme.
Walkingtogether is delivered in partnership with the Ramblers. In partnership with Sport England and the National Lottery a promotional video ‘Joy’ has been released. Joy perfectly encapsulates the benefits of walking and why we should all incorporate as much movement into our day as possible.
Sean Gubbins delivers a range of walks of interest across Hackney, as well as working in partnership with the Council to extend this offer.
Sean has used his knowledge and creativity to offer self-led history focused walks. The routes are snippets of Walk Hackney’s walks, devised and led by Sean since 2002.
To relieve pressure on the parks at this time, these routes are largely through local streets. Please remember to:
wear comfortable shoes and take a bottle of water with you
take care crossing roads – use controlled crossings where possible
We plan to rotate the upload of the self-led walks every 2 weeks, in which there will be a minimum of 15 individual walks to enjoy and explore.
Hackney Wild Walks is our new walking guide for children, with 3 fun walks around the borough. Walk from Haggerston to Hoxton to see a giant snake and a mysterious stone circle; discover hidden playgrounds and the perfect spot for flying a kite on the Hackney Marshes route, and encounter wizards and open water in Woodberry Down.
The Wild Walks guide was produced as part of the Get Hackney Healthy campaign, supported by the Council and its partners, designed by, and inspired by the book Rocky Rambler’s Wild Walks, courtesy of Colin Shelbourn.
Capital Ring
The Capital Ring is a surprisingly green route that encircles London.
The total distance is 125km (78miles) threading together parks and open spaces, mostly following pleasant residential roads in between.
The route passes through Hackney’s Clissold Park and Springfield Park.
The Active 10 app tracks your walking and shows you when to increase your pace to benefit your health. The app is designed to quickly and simply help you do more brisk walking in bursts of 10 minutes, known as Active 10s. It tracks all your walking and rewards your progress.
Explore quiet and interesting local walking routes with Footways
Walking as part of your daily routine is the easiest way to stay healthy and active, so we’ve teamed up with Footways to design some routes which connect Kings Park with a range of other destinations. The routes are full of history, beauty and intrigue, so there will be plenty of things to see and nature to enjoy along the way.
Why not walk to the shops at Westfield or Central and get the bus back? Very often a walk doesn’t take much longer than a ride on the bus and you haven’t spent time waiting at the bus stop! These routes avoid the busy streets and follow quiet routes through Hackney.
The routes are available on the Go Jauntly app:
search “Go Jauntly”, or visit the Android or iPhone app store to download the Go Jauntly app
you can create an account within the app or skip that stage completely and just choose the walk you want to try
Once you’ve downloaded the app, you can go straight to our first two routes using these links:
If you give permission for the app to track your location you’ll be able to see all walks in London or further afield. We’ll be adding more local routes soon so keep checking the app.
Visit Footways to discover more quiet and interesting walking routes across London.
Page updated on: 13 June 2025
Physical Activity
Address
Leisure, Parks and Green Spaces
Environment & Climate Change Division, Climate, Homes & Economy Directorate
Hackney Council, Springfield House, Springfield Park, Springfield, Hackney