From Leyton to London
London is an amazing city and as a young person you can go everywhere in London at no cost using your Oyster. Why not spend some of the summer holidays exploring? You don’t have to spend money.......
Here are suggestions of journeys you can make by bus from Leyton at no cost if you’re under 16 and have a valid Oyster. Take some water, something to eat and a good playlist on your headphones....
London is an amazing city and as a young person you can go everywhere in London at no cost using your Oyster. Why not spend some of the summer holidays exploring? You don’t have to spend money.......
Here are suggestions of journeys you can make by bus from Leyton at no cost if you’re under 16 and have a valid Oyster. Take some water, something to eat and a good playlist on your headphones....
Of course many of the places listed below can also be reached more quickly by underground so I have included the names of stations. But the bus is free!
Bus routes in red, stops in green. Place of interest in yellow. I’ve given some postcodes so you can find places on your smartphone GPS map.
If you scroll down far enough, after all the routes you'll see a list of special events going on this summer that are absolutely free!
ROUTE 55
ROUTE 55
Mare Street/Victoria Park Road
Walk down Victoria Park Road to Victoria Park where there’s free access every day of the Olympics - including the opening ceremony – to see events unfold on the big screen and try your hand at all kinds of sports from tennis to zipwire to wheelchair basketball.Bloomsbury Way
Walk south down Kingsway and just after passing Holborn Station turn left to reach Lincoln’s Inn Fields for two weird and wonderful museums, both free. On the left side of the park, halfway down the road, is the Soane Museum WC2A 3BP (closed Sun and Mon), a townhouse designed by an architect and crammed with strange and wonderful objects (Greek, Roman, Ancient Egyptian, medieval Gothic) like some explorer’s dream. Don’t miss the room full of paintings with its hidden secrets (ask an attendant to show you). On the other side of the square is the Hunterian Museum (closed Sun and Mon) –enter the Royal College of Surgeons and go upstairs to the First Floor. Not for the squeamish, it’s a museum of medicine and surgery filled with pickled body parts and surgical instruments. The area to the east and south of Lincoln’s Inn Fields includes the Inns of Court where many barristers (lawyers) are based in their ‘chambers’. (Holborn tube)
Museum Street
The Museum referred to here is the British Museum (Great Russell Street WC1B 3DG) which is filled with priceless artefacts from cultures all over the world – Egypt, Greece, Rome, Africa, Asia, the Near East, Mexico, North America, Europe. At the moment there’s a special exhibition on Shakespeare which you have to pay for but the rest is free.
A short walk from this stop is an amazing open air and indoor swimming pool halfway up an office block. It’s in the Oasis Sports Centre (32 Endell Street WC2H 9AG). It’s open everyday and it’s not free but child prices are £1.55 and it’s worth it for the experience! (Holborn tube). From here walk up Neal Street and you're soon in Covent Garden with its shops, stalls, crowds and street entertainers.
Tottenham Court Road
Tottenham Court Road itself is the centre for electrical and computer goods. It’s also where you can change to BUS ROUTE 14 going in the same direction as the 55 which will take you to Piccadilly Circus, Green Park and Hyde Park (great for walking, sunbathing, boating, rollerskating and watching the Olympics on a big screen), as well as Knightsbridge (for Harrods department store – look out for celebrities with more money than sense!) and Museumland in South Kensington. Here you will find the Natural History Museum (SW7 5BD) with its dinosaurs, earthquakes, explorations of the human body and the Darwin Centre where you can see zoologists at work. All free, plus a paying exhibition about Antarctic exploration. Then there’s the free Science Museum where you’ll find space modules, a flight simulator, interactive games in the Launch Pad, and much, much more including an IMAX cinema (paid). The third museum – the biggest of all – is the V&A (SW7 2RL) devoted to Fine Arts with amazing collections of jewellery, glassware, fashions, Islamic Art and many other riches. Again, all free. (South Kensington tube). Bus 14 eventually reaches Stamford Bridge and Chelsea FC.
Oxford Circus
This is of course a good stop for Oxford Street shopping but it’s also where you can catch BUS ROUTE 88 going down Regent Street which will take you to Trafalgar Square for the National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery (both free and packed with wonderful paintings by great artists) as well as another Olympic big screen (Charing Cross tube) .Route 88 then goes down Whitehall past Horse Guards Parade (Olympic beach volleyball) and 10 Downing Street (where the PM lives) to the Houses of Parliament (paid tours available through the summer) and Westminster Abbey where many queens and kings are buried. The 88 also passes behind the Tate Britain gallery of modern British art. (Pimlico tube)
ROUTE 48
Mare Street/Victoria Park Road
Victoria Park for the
Olympic big screen and the chance to try out various sports. See route 55
above.
Liverpool Street Station
On Sundays, the Petticoat Lane street market: every day, the Spitalfields
market with shops, cafes and stalls selling clothes, jewellery etc.
Not far away is Brick
Lane with its Bengali mosque that was previously a Jewish synagogue
and Huguenot church; its curry houses in Banglatown (but the cheap cafes are
better); its trendy clothes shops further
north; and, finally, the junk stalls close to Bethnal Green Road. From here you
can change to BUS
ROUTE 11 which goes to Trafalgar Square (live entertainments, Olympic
screen), Whitehall and 10 Downing Street, the Tate Britain gallery of modern
British art (SW1P 4RG) , Victoria Station and finally the rich upmarket shops
of the King’s
Road where you’ll also find the Saatchi Gallery of modern art (SW3
4RY) and the National Army Museum (SW3 4HT) (both free). (Sloane Square tube)
Wormwood Street
This stops very close to St Ethelburga’s (EC2N 4AG), a
former church destroyed by a terrorist bomb and now a beautiful centre for
understanding between faiths. You are also near ‘the Gherkin’, one of London’s
most iconic modern buildings.
Monument Station
You can climb the Monument (EC3R 6DB) which was built where the
Great Fire of London started, for some great views. However, you have to pay. A
short walk along Eastcheap takes you to
the Tower of
London with great views of the river and Tower Bridge. The Tower is
fascinating but expensive. From Monument Station you can catch BUS ROUTE 15
heading west which takes you to St Paul’s Cathedral which will cost you £6
entry but for that you get an amazingly breathtaking building including the
crypt and the dome galleries. Bus 15 then heads for Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly
Circus, Oxford Street and eventually the Arab sheesha cafes of
Edgware Road.
London Bridge
So much to see here! There’s The Shard – tallest building in
Europe - which you can’t miss, two ‘scary’ experiences on Tooley Street (The London
Dungeon and The London Bridge Experience) – both costing money and
tending to have long queues – and two river walks. If you walk east – first along
Tooley Street, then cutting towards the river through Hay’s Galleria, you get
to HMS
Belfast which is free for you but you have to be with an adult
paying £12.70! It’s a warship of World War Two and you can explore every bit of
it from the heavy guns to the Captain’s bridge, from the boiler rooms to the
sleeping and eating areas. Beyond the
ship, walking towards Tower Bridge you will see City Hall, where the Mayor is
based. The semi circle of steps look down to a stage area where there are often
free concerts and plays.
If you walk from London Bridge Station towards London Bridge
you can go down some steps to start the riverside walk westwards which takes in
The Golden
Hind (a replica of the 16th century ship that sailed
round the world), the Clink prison museum, Shakespeare’s Globe, the Millennium Bridge and Tate Modern
(SE1 9TG), the huge gallery of international modern art which is free and full
of surprises. Continue along the river walk and eventually you’ll get to
Waterloo, the South Bank and the London Eye. (Waterloo or Embankment tube)
From London Bridge you can take BUS ROUTE RV1 which will also get you
to the South Bank where you’ll find paying attractions such as the IMAX, the
British Film Institute, the London Eye, the Film Museum and the Aquarium - but you’ll also find many free things to do.
There are free performances of all kinds in front of the National Theatre, free events in
the Royal
Festival Hall, skateboarding underneath the Queen Elizabeth Hall and
the crazy fountain on the upper level near the entrance to the RFH. Add the Festival of the World Museum, robots climbing up buildings, a rainbow park, roof gardens and, inside the RFH, a maze made of books. Plus street
entertainers and people watching.... From here you can cross by footbridge
towards Trafalgar
Square. (Charing Cross tube)
ROUTE 56
Islington Green and Angel
Shops, cinemas, markets etc and also a chance to catch BUS ROUTES 30 or 73 which will take you to King’s Cross and St Pancras Stations (both recently opened with breathtaking new designs) and then the British Library where there is a great free exhibition about famous writers and their landscapes. A couple of stops later is the Wellcome Institute with its permanent display of strange medical and surgery articles from all over the world. It has very interesting free exhibitions bringing together medicine, science and the arts: the current one is called ‘Superhuman’ . Route 30 then passes Madame Tussaud’s and the southern end of Regent’s Park (good for walking and playing). Route 73 heads for Oxford Street, Hyde Park and Victoria Station.
Barbican Station
The Barbican is a ‘posh estate’ with an arts centre in the middle where you’ll find a gallery, library, theatre, concert hall and cinemas. It can be interesting and weird to walk around.
Museum of London
This brilliant free museum (Museum of London) traces the history of London from prehistoric times to the 21st century with lots to see and do including interactive exhibits, a reconstructed 19th century street, an 18th century pleasure garden, a reconstruction of the Great Fire and a chance to bring up pictures of your own borough. (Barbican tube)
St Paul’s
For details of St Paul’s Cathedral see Route 48.
Shops, cinemas, markets etc and also a chance to catch BUS ROUTES 30 or 73 which will take you to King’s Cross and St Pancras Stations (both recently opened with breathtaking new designs) and then the British Library where there is a great free exhibition about famous writers and their landscapes. A couple of stops later is the Wellcome Institute with its permanent display of strange medical and surgery articles from all over the world. It has very interesting free exhibitions bringing together medicine, science and the arts: the current one is called ‘Superhuman’ . Route 30 then passes Madame Tussaud’s and the southern end of Regent’s Park (good for walking and playing). Route 73 heads for Oxford Street, Hyde Park and Victoria Station.
Barbican Station
The Barbican is a ‘posh estate’ with an arts centre in the middle where you’ll find a gallery, library, theatre, concert hall and cinemas. It can be interesting and weird to walk around.
Museum of London
This brilliant free museum (Museum of London) traces the history of London from prehistoric times to the 21st century with lots to see and do including interactive exhibits, a reconstructed 19th century street, an 18th century pleasure garden, a reconstruction of the Great Fire and a chance to bring up pictures of your own borough. (Barbican tube)
St Paul’s
For details of St Paul’s Cathedral see Route 48.
ROUTE 58
Green Street for Asian shops, cafes, clothes
stores and more.
Upton Park for West Ham FC.
Upton Park for West Ham FC.
ROUTE 69
Canning Town
Change here to BUS ROUTE 241 or 147 and get off at Royal Victoria for the Emirates Cable Car Airline across to the O2 centre. With your Oyster the cable car ride will cost you £1.60 – with the brilliant views high over London it’s an amazing ride. BUS ROUTE 474 from Canning Town will take you to the London City Airport (watch planes take off and land) and the North Woolwich free ferry across the river; and to the Thames Flood Barriers.
Change here to BUS ROUTE 241 or 147 and get off at Royal Victoria for the Emirates Cable Car Airline across to the O2 centre. With your Oyster the cable car ride will cost you £1.60 – with the brilliant views high over London it’s an amazing ride. BUS ROUTE 474 from Canning Town will take you to the London City Airport (watch planes take off and land) and the North Woolwich free ferry across the river; and to the Thames Flood Barriers.
ROUTE 97
Take this bus north to Chingford Station, the final stop, then walk
for five minutes to find yourself on the edge of Epping Forest – great for nature
walks, flying remote controlled planes and looking for wildlife. Just make sure you don’t get lost......
ROUTE
158
St James Street
This stop is at the bottom of Walthamstow Market. Turn left down Coppermill Lane and after about 5 minutes there is a reservoir lake with a bird island on your right and sewage works on your left. Keep walking till you get to a very low bridge with a tunnel. On the other side is a nature reserve and then a boating marina on the river Lea. Cross the river by one of the bridges and you’re in Springfield Park.
This stop is at the bottom of Walthamstow Market. Turn left down Coppermill Lane and after about 5 minutes there is a reservoir lake with a bird island on your right and sewage works on your left. Keep walking till you get to a very low bridge with a tunnel. On the other side is a nature reserve and then a boating marina on the river Lea. Cross the river by one of the bridges and you’re in Springfield Park.
OVERGROUND
FROM LEYTON MIDLAND, LEYTONSTONE HIGH ROAD or WALTHAMSTOW QUEENS ROAD
You don’t get this free but you’ll never pay more than £1.40
a day because that’s the maximum total fare, however many journeys. It’s
brilliant for getting across to West London quickly. Take the train to Gospel
Oak from where there is easy access to Parliament Hill (with views across
London) and Hampstead Heath. Change at Gospel Oak to the Richmond line which
takes you to West Hampstead, Kew Gardens and finally Richmond on the river
Thames. Well worth the trip to see a very different London in the far west.
DLR
RIVER JOURNEYS
Again, not free, but a £1.40 daily maximum on
DLR/overground/tube. From Stratford take the DLR towards Lewisham and get off
at Greenwich Maritime for the Cutty Sark sailing ship, Royal Observatory, National Maritime Museum and Planetarium.
From here you can take a river boat to enter Central London in style (£3).
Beware – Greenwich Park is an Olympic venue so the area may be very busy!
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FREE EVENTS THIS SUMMER (2012)
Olympic Men's Road Race (July 28) and Women's Road Race (July 29) - both start and finish at The Mall near Trafalgar Square.
Olympic Marathons pass Trafalgar Square, St Paul's Cathedral and the Tower of London (women Aug 5 and men Aug 12)
Various competing nations will have free entertainments during the Olympics including AFRICA at Kensington Gardens (Hyde Park Corner or High St Kensington or Lancaster Gate tubes), DENMARK on a Viking Ship in St Katharine's Dock (Tower Hill tube) and Brazil in Somerset House (Temple tube).
CARNAVAL DEL PUEBLO Latin American festival at London Pleasure Gardens on Aug 18 (Pontoon Dock DLR).
NOTTING HILL CARNIVAL Aug 26 and 27 covering streets all over West London with the sounds of the Caribbean and more. (Notting Hill Gate and Royal Oak tubes)
REGENT STREET FESTIVAL, Sept 2 - all traffic banned from the street for fairground rides, street entertainers, musicians, food etc. (Oxford Circus or Piccadilly Circus tubes)
THAMES FESTIVAL Sept 8-9 - spectacular lantern processions and fireworks along the Thames. London Bridge or Waterloo tubes).
