Running on Hampstead Heath: the hills nobody uses

Hampstead Heath is the wildest large green space in London and the only one where you can get genuinely lost. It is 320 hectares of woodland, meadow, ponds and hills, and it starts about three minutes' walk from an Overground station.

It is also the best hill training in central London, which is the part most people miss because they only ever run up Parliament Hill and back down again.

Getting there

Hampstead Heath station on the Mildmay line drops you on South End Road, at the southeast corner. Gospel Oak on the Suffragette line is a short walk from the same entrance. Both put you at the bottom of the hill, which is the right way round.

Hampstead tube is the other option and starts you at the top, on the west side, near the Vale of Health.

Parliament Hill, and why to keep going

Parliament Hill gives you the best skyline view in London, the whole city laid out below with the protected view line to St Paul's. It is a short, honest climb from the running track at the bottom and it is worth doing every time.

The mistake is stopping there. The Heath gets better the further north you go. Past the ponds, into the woods, up to Kenwood House at the top end, and the crowds thin out dramatically within about ten minutes of Parliament Hill.

The routes people do not run

• •The woodland on the east side towards Highgate, which is genuinely technical in places, with roots and short steep pitches
• •The chain of ponds, which links together into a rolling route with constant small climbs rather than one big one
• •Kenwood and the north end, quieter, more formal, and with the best trees on the Heath
• •Sandy Heath and West Heath on the far side, which most people never cross the road to reach

Seven to ten kilometres linking Parliament Hill, the ponds and Kenwood will give you more climbing than most London runners get in a week, on soft ground, with a view at the top.

The ground

Most of it is dirt path, which means it is excellent for most of the year and genuinely muddy from November to March. The Heath does not drain well. In winter, trail shoes are not optional if you want to enjoy it, and the tarmac paths exist for a reason on the worst days.

“The Heath in February is a mud run. Treat that as a feature and it is the best winter training in the city.”

Finishing

The Spaniards Inn at the north end, by Kenwood, is a 16th century pub with one of the more famous beer gardens in London. Keats is said to have written Ode to a Nightingale in it. The 210 bus stops outside and takes you back towards the station, which is a reasonable way to end a Saturday.

For how a weekly long run fits into training for something bigger, read: how to build an aerobic base