Download London MP3 Walks
Explore the murky world of Southwark and Bankside, on the south bank
Podguides.co.uk is one company offering guided walks to London, to download to your MP3 player. Walks to Dublin, Edinburgh, Oxford & other cities are available, some free
I've been on many guided walks in London and other cities, but this was the first one when I arrived at the starting point with the guide in my pocket! There are now hundreds of walks for London and cities all over the world that you can download from the internet and copy onto your MP3 player. Downloading podcast (or travelcast) walks is a growing business, but how do they compare with guided walks with a real guide, or using a walk from a guidebook?
My podcast walk to Southwark and Bankside is one of several available from podguides.co.uk though they are adding new ones all the time. It cost me just £5.10 ($US10), and within minutes of paying I received an email giving me the website link, and the walk was downloaded and copied onto my MP3 player in a couple of minutes. The price seemed reasonable for a professional quality production, and compares well with the cost of joining a group guided tour.
The first advantage was that as I arrived at London Bridge tube station, the starting point, I began to get hungry. My guide John Ashton, a fully qualified Blue Badge Guide for London, would have to wait while I tucked into sausage and mash at the Hop Cellar, one of the many great pubs around Borough Market. You can't do that if you've booked a tour.
John Ashton's voice guided me perfectly for the hour-long walk, his directions perfect and his story-telling very clearly and professionally delivered. 'Theatres, Blood Sports, Brothels and Beer' was the sub-title of the walk, and there was certainly plenty of all of those – and more. My first stop was on London Bridge, where the story of the city and the River Thames came alive. I completely tuned out the traffic and the noise of the people passing by, lost in John Ashton's terrific tales.
Together we spent an hour visiting Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, the site of the original Clink prison, the Rose Theatre, the Golden Hinde, and the Anchor and George Taverns. I learned about everywhere from Southwark Cathedral to the Bankside Brothels – and why the two are closer than you might think!
If you've never tried a podcast, give it a go. From now on I'll make sure podcast guided walks are packed in my suitcase wherever I go – well, they don't weigh much!
See the podcast walks available from the podguides.co.uk by clicking here
Prices are given in sterling and converted to dollars at the time of writing. To check the current exchange rate click here
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