Timing is everything.So here are some dates to keep in mind. Which is by way of saying, some of our walks are "annuals". They come up when they come up because they're tied to certain special events or festivals. The Charles Dickens Christmas Festival - snow guaranteed! is the perfect example. You can only run that one on the days the festival is taking place - which is always the first weekend in December.

March 30, 2008

British Summer Time begins. So remember to put those clocks forward when you turn in on Saturday night, March 29th. Strictly speaking the change takes place at 1 am. Spring forward, fall backward is of course the shorthand formula for the beginning and end of British Summer Time. It helps also to remember: the last Sunday in March and the last Sunday in October - British Summer Time is in force between those two Sundays. So looking way ahead, the clocks will go back on Sunday, October 26, 2008. And is there a historical tidbit to go with this. Mais oui. There always is, isn't there. It's this: Britain was the first nation to adopt a daylight saving scheme. That was in 1908. As TASS once put it, "some people believe the pragmatically minded British did it to make an economy on candles."

October 26, 2008

British Summer Time ends. So remember to put those clocks back when you turn in on Saturday night, October 25th. Strictly speaking the change takes place at 1 am. Spring forward, fall backward is of course the shorthand formula for the beginning and end of British Summer Time. It helps also to remember: the last Sunday in March and the last Sunday in October - British Summer Time is in force between those two Sundays.

The First Weekend in December

This year, 2007, it was Saturday, December 1st and Sunday, December 2nd. Yup, it's one of the highlights of the London Walks calendar: the weekend of the Charles Dickens Christmas Festival Explorer Day. Blurb reads as follows:

CHARLES DICKENS CHRISTMAS FESTIVAL

What could be jollier? It's 1827 and the streets are thronged with hundreds of costumed characters. Everywhere you look there are top hats and frock coats and bonnets and hooped skirts. Yes, it's Christmastime in Charles Dickens's hometown. Welcome to the best Dickens Christmas Festival in the world. And there's guaranteed snow!

Next year - in the Winter 2007-08 London Walks programme - the Charles Dickens Christmas Festival Explorer Day will take place in early December. It'll probably be the first weekend in December. But that's TBC - so watch this space. And we'll go on both weekend days - i.e., Saturday and Sunday. Meet Alison and Simon (he'll be wearing a topper and a Victorian frock coat!) by the ticket office of TBA Railway Station at TBA am.

Tariff £11

December 25

London Walks famously operates 365 days a year! But on Christmas Day itself we do throttle right back - to just two walks. In the morning, at 11 am, we run one called Christmas Morning 1660 - Samuel Pepys's London. And in the afternoon, at 2pm, we run The Charles Dickens Christmas Day London Walk. The meeting point for both walks is the same - by the big Christmas tree in Trafalgar Square. Special walks on a special day. They're special for lots of reasons, not the least of which is it's the only day of the year we've got the streets to ourselves. There's a lot of bonhomie and jolliness and hail-fellow-well-met-ness about. Both walks are very popular - we always put at least two guides on for the morning one and five! for the afternoon one. And at walk's end...well, there are a few cafes and restaurants that are open - and welcoming. So everything slots together rather nicely! Finally, you might want to watch this spot because we're thinking about putting on a Christmas Day evening walk next year - 2007. If it does happen it'll be a first for us. And of course it will mean there there is never a single morning, afternoon or evening - not one throughout the whole year! - when there's not at least one London Walk making its appointed rounds!

 December 18, 2007 - January 7, 2008

The dates of the next Parliamentary recess