INTRODUCTION
The self-guided tour takes you on a visual journey through some of London’s most famous sites. Starting at Charing Cross Station, in the heart of London, the route goes toward Trafalgar Square via one of London’s oldest churches (St Martin-in-the-Fields) and passes the National and Portrait Galleries. From there, it travels through Admiralty Arch and The Mall before turning left toward Horse Guards Parade.
The route continues onto Whitehall, with its historic government buildings, before turning down King Charles Street towards St James’s Park and the Churchill War Museum. The tour then heads off towards Westminster Abbey before finally culminating in Parliament Square, next to the Houses of Parliament,
LOCATION - Charing Cross to the Houses of Parliament
Start and Finish
Start at Charing Cross Station and finish at Westminster Station on Parliament Street.
The best time to do this photorun is at the weekends in the early morning when it is quiet and free from crowds and heavy traffic.
GETTING TO KNOW THE AREA - HIGH-SPEED VIDEOS
The Google map and the summary video are useful to have open when doing these Photoruns. They will help you remember what the route looks like and prevent you from getting lost.
Route at a Glance Video.
This short video gives a quick overview of the route and the sights and then shows you what the route would look like if you were running it at about 25 mph. It's a great way of getting familiar with the route before you do it for real.
Charing Cross to the Houses of Parliament (2:26)
GETTING TO KNOW THE AREA - GOOGLE MAP
This is a 'My Google Maps' depiction of the route with photographs of the sites. This is available on the desktop or mobile by clicking on the map. The mobile version allows you to get directions to points on the map and shows you your location. However, its behaviour does depend on the browser and application you use. (Google Chrome seems to be the best).
The Plotaroute map is an alternative guide where you can download the route to a device once you navigate past the adverts. Use the link below.
VIRTUAL TOUR OF THE AREA
Charing Cross to the Houses of Parliament
Click on the map below and go on a virtual tour of the sightseeing area.
Use the blue route to explore this location by looking around in 360, taking in the sights and sounds, listening to an audio recording about the location and going on a virtual tour.
PHOTO GALLERY OF THE AREA
This will gallery provides a descriptive and visual reference to many sights along this photoroute. Double-click to see its full size.
SIGHT TOUR GUIDES
This 6-minute video gives you a quick guided tour of some sights on this route.
HISTORY OF THE AREA
This 4:28 minute video provides you with a history of the area.
TThis 6:38 minute history video briefly introduces how the Central London sightseeing area expanded during the Tudors (1560) and the Victorians (1860)..
WHERE TO EAT, DRINK AND BE MERRY
This map shows you the Eat Drink and be Merry locations in the Central London sightseeing area and how they link to the other sightseeing photoruns.
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Click on the map to find out more about all these areas.
Related Information
London Photoruns - Book Trials
Below are two links to my experiments with 'London Location' Interactive and visual guidebooks. These two styles cover the entire route but with more information on the sites, additional material on London, and places to eat and drink.
The iBook has the whole route on seven interactive pages - a website in a book, whilst the Amazon version expands the information to over 300 pages.
They were produced in 2016. It would be interesting to get some feedback on these.