A long distance walking trail around the edges of Greater London? That's not going to be very good, is it? I mean, it will all be houses and industrial estates. Burnt out cars and flytipped old kitchen units? And let's not forget the litter that will be absolutely everywhere. No, dear friend, better head out to the proper countryside, somewhere clean and shiny, and where you most definitely won't get mugged every five minutes.

Andrew Bowden had truck with such naysayers. That wasn't the real London There was beauty to be find in the boundaries of the capital, of that he was utterly convinced. And so he set off to find it by walking the London Outer Orbital Path, or LOOP as most people call it.

Along the way he found that London really was hiding some wonderful gems. The beauty of Scratch Wood, the joy of the Grand Union Canal, and even a field full of lavender. There was attractive parkland, fields full of crops, cracking rural pubs, and even deer wandering around a suburban housing estate. Plus a street called Bogey Lane.

No, those naysayers were wrong. For on his journey, he found London to be a cracking place.