City Escape Collection

It’s mid-October, and London is having one of those strange, warm days that still carries a trace of fog. The kind where the sun keeps trying to break through but takes its time.

This morning I went for a run on Hampstead Heath. I hadn’t been in years, and I wanted something different from my usual loop around Battersea Park; more trees, less city. I wasn’t looking to escape London, just to see another side of it without taking a train out.

The moment I started running, I remembered why people love the Heath. The ground was carpeted with leaves, layers of gold and brown. The trees still held their last flashes of green. The air smelled damp but clean. The light kept shifting, soft and hesitant, like the city waking up slowly.

I used the AllTrails app to keep from getting lost (I’m hopeless with directions) and followed a loop that wound through woods, open fields, and past Kenwood House. I didn’t stop, though I noticed it’s open for visits; maybe next time. Somewhere near the top, I think it was Parliament Hill, I caught a faint outline of the skyline through the mist. You could barely see the Shard, just a ghost of glass behind the haze. It was beautiful in that quiet, understated way London often is.

Throughout the run I kept thinking, Oh, London, you’ve done it again. After almost twenty years here, the city still surprises me. You think you know it: the same commutes, the same cafés, the same parks, and then it shows you something new, something ancient and green right inside the M25.

Afterwards I met a friend for brunch, and the spell of the morning faded into conversation and coffee, but the feeling stayed. Exercise always clears my head, but running through that much nature made me feel grounded in a different way. It’s satisfying to remember that beauty doesn’t always require leaving the city.

If you live in London, or you’re visiting for longer than a few days and want a break from museums and markets, make time for Hampstead Heath. It’s one of the few places where you can feel completely out of the city while still being in it. Bring your running shoes or just wander. Download AllTrails if, like me, you tend to get turned around. And if you reach the top, pause for a minute, even if the skyline hides behind the fog.

London rewards curiosity. You don’t have to go far; sometimes it’s enough to turn north on a Sunday morning and let the city remind you why you love it.