Regents Canal

One of my best finds whilst I was in London happened by pure chance, and I could not have been more grateful for this happy mistake. It all started one morning while I was sitting at the breakfast table with my uncle.

As usual, breakfast was an awkward occasion. My aunt had already left for work and my uncle had eaten breakfast earlier with her so he was sitting there to be polite while I tried desperately to think of something to say whilst simultaneously trying to eat as fast as possible in a desperate attempt to end breakfast early.

As I have mentioned in Like Only Family Can, my uncle has an acquired brain injury and small talk is not high on his agenda. This makes being alone with him quite difficult and I had thus far been unable to get through to him.

That was until he suggested we go for a walk after breakfast. He would show me one of his favourite walks and at the end we would part ways so that I could be a tourist and he could do some errands. I said yes, pleased that I was finally going to have an opportunity to bond with him, not realising just how special this walk would be.

It was important to me for two reasons. The first is that while on this walk my uncle became a completely different person. He was excited and interactive and you could visibly see the difference. 

We didn’t say much to each other but I was grateful for the opportunity to spend time with him.

The second is that this walk took us along the Regents Canal. And this was my greatest find. The Regents Canal snakes through London and offers a completely new way to view the city. Gone are the cars and the roads and instead you have waterways with house boats and swans and strange Irish men who greet you throughout the day in various stages of inebriation.

The section of the canal I am particularly excited about is the section between Islington and Regents Park. Along this section there is a pair of swans that my uncle got particularly excited about, beautiful daffodils just peeking out for spring, and then a sneaky walk through the zoo at Regents Park where, if you’re lucky you may see the Wild Dogs. It takes you right through the Camden Locks and if you’re hungry it is an easy little jump into the Camden Market for a Jamaican jerk chicken wrap or a Chinese noodle bowl.

I used this pathway throughout my London stay and found that it always led me to exactly where I needed to be and seemed to be a shortcut to everywhere. Best of all was that it wasn’t over-crowded and everyone seemed to greet each other.

Yes, the Regents Canal was a great find; not only for the actual canal but for the chance it gave me to see the part of my uncle that I had been so missing.