Once a summer, I elect to walk back from our offices at The Wick, (the other London title we publish), which is on Fish Island, just across the River Lea Navigation from the Olympic Park and Stratford.

The journey takes a good couple of hours or so - even with pace-setting techno cranked up on the headphones to keep the metronomic footsteps stomping - but is always incredibly rewarding.

Why? Because it’s possible to get back to Camden entirely by canal towpath, bar the short emergence to cross Upper St forced by the 878m-long Islington Tunnel.

In today’s culture, we’re up to our eyeballs in self-help inspiration, productivity hacks and quantified optimisation of health. So I really don’t want to evangalise about this like another vapid wellness wannabe, elbowing my tuppence-worth into such crowded media space.

It’s just that, as well as clearly being good for the heart, the environment, the step-count metrics and the rest of that self-congratulatory blah, it really is properly inspiring. So…

If London life is ever feeling like a grind; the shit bits outweighing the good; a feeling things are ‘not what they used to be’ etc; I’d like to proffer that walking through four boroughs alongside defunct early 19th Century transportation infrastructure should prove quite the tonic.

A feast for the senses, such a route (and there are, of course, many more), reveals oft-overlooked truths about our city that can’t help but restore lost faith in how great this place is, its people are, and yes, this time in history is, despite the converging permacrises.

The solidity of the urban waterways, carved out of the clay by long-deceased men; the scored grooves in bridge ironwork where generations of narrowboat ropes once rubbed; the repurposed warehouses, where storage for timber, coal and raw metals has been replaced by new industry - of restaurants, architects studios and tech startups.

Each imparts a degree of permanence that us mortal individuals can never match, while also demonstrating the unsettling, ever-shifting nature of the city all around. It is comforting and melancholy all at once. That friction is the special bit.

You get to marvel at the endurance of great ambition from earlier industrial revolutions, but shorn of its original teeming animation: the horses, blacksmiths and navvies. Calm has descended as the freight and associated hubbub has hit the roads, rails and air, making way for bohemian boat-dwellers sipping generously-poured sundowners, while all the cliches of modern London pass through.

Beardy guys walk small dogs, Lululemon-clad jogger-gaggles approach in a blizzard of perfume, gay boys on hot dates make furtive glances over small talk preludes on well-appointed benches.

The city is alive and well down here, the canal an instant oasis from its excesses, and yet so much is going on. Headphones now off, the soundtrack is a muted cacophony of shouts, faraway crashes, splashes, laughs and gentle urban thrum.

The canal route home is cut straight towards the lowering August sun, gleaming off the water to give everything a shimmery little filter. Such a walk is an all too rare activity in that it’s 100% free, yet stuffed full of boundless value.

Bethnal Green’s gasholders loom into view (main pic above), the shells of posh flats going up inside their cylindrical embrace have sprung up since I last came through this way. Des-reses may have saved the structures from demolition, but their impact on the skyline drama is sadly diminished.

History and its memories appear juxtaposed against relentless change. But in fact, history like this is the relentless change. Feeling fully part of a living, morphing cityscape is the point. Being reminded of that is where the daily niggles and worries evaporate in the awe at London’s humanity, industry and story.

Hackney’s studio-filled wharfs melt into Islington’s waterfront pubs and otherworldly tunnel entrance. It’s magical.

But I’m sure some will fail to agree - or even perceive of - my optimistic take on these scenes of urban decay and displacement, and yes, things certainly can be rough and tough on the towpath, too. Yet as the more familiar, scrubbed-up King’s Cross homeward stretch arrives, the uplifting power of the waterways is truly, loudly, being celebrated, so I know I’ve not drifted too far up my own narrative, more than two hours in to this strenuous endeavour.

Films are being showing on the steps, there’s live music on a stage just beyond, and the fountains that invite screaming exploration (all those are also 100% free to experience, it should be noted). Set in these reimagined railway goods yards, it’s the epitome of all the thoughts that have filled my mind, inspired by the people and places that line the water from Tower Hamlets to here, and indeed onwards right through to Paddington.

I know I said I wouldn’t drop into wellbeing babble, but this hot-foot commute really does feel like a practice of gratitude for London, and one which delivers plenty of emotional uplift in return, if you like that sort of thing.

So I just couldn’t resist wanging about it this week, basically. If you agree, or don’t know what the hell I’m on about, I’d love to hear your views over on the Community pages…

We may be approaching the apex of the summer festival season with annual bashes like All Points East, Notting Hill Carnival, Camden’s own block party and the rest coming up soon, yet September is shaping up to be just as tasty if you’re a fan of more cerebral big events.

First up, the aforementioned HowTheLightGetsIn brings great guest speakers, well-curated live music and stand-up to Kenwood on the weekend of 19th-20th. Look out for our special Camdenist ticket discount code next week (and see above for the prize draw, too).

Then, AVA London brings together cultural leaders in electronic music for three days of debate and nights of dancing, centred around The British Library from 24th-26th. Featuring Moby, Oklou, The Avalanches and loads more TBA, they’ll come together to discuss challenges from the climate impact of touring to the changing face of queer nightlife.

And our friends over the road at Town Hall by Bottaccio have just announced their inaugural Vision Festival, taking over their own venue (pictured above) and various other spots throughout King’s Cross over the weekend of Fri 25th- Sun 27th. Director of Programming, Michael John Harris, is no stranger to big events in the area, having run the Guardian’s Live programme and also the editorial direction of the ambitious CogX festival previously. For over a decade, he’s been wanting to bring back a modern twist on the original St Pancras Arts Festival, which started in the 1950s, and filled the streets with music, opera and poetry for many years.

“For three days this September, we will bring one of the world’s richest concentrations of culture, science and ideas into a single neighbourhood-wide programme,” he says, of the plans. “The festival invites you to move from laboratories to libraries, studios to stages, galleries to performances, all within a ten-minute walk.” Vision Festival is keen to get locals involved, and has launched an open call for participation that you should take a look at.

Highlights of year one include the OffScript's careers and community summit, aimed at 16 to 25-year-olds and their parents, to offer practical skills and realistic optimism in pathways to employment, and a special evening with The School of Life.

FRINGE: This week’s Camden Fringe highlight is Caravan Tea Party which sees Sophie nosedive into the merry land of make-believe from a Nicaraguan coffee shop, as she’s confronted with more facts than fiction, old wounds are revisited as she questions what it means to be Romany. Catch it at Camden High Street’s Etcetera Theatre Tues 25th & Wed 26th Aug.

Remember, the Camden Fringe Agent is available all month to help you to search and find more shows you might love…

EVENT: 🚣🏼‍♀️ With all my talk of celebrating our canals, this Sun 23rd Aug sees a particularly special celebration of one of Regent’s Canal’s most venerated community organisations as The Pirate Castle’s 60th anniversary open day. You’ll find free paddlesport sessions and canal boat rides plus loads of party goings on for all ages - ahoy there!

FOOD: 🥖 Big excitement for Kentish Town food lovers (right?!) as prolific restaurateur and food innovator, Omar Shah, of local faves Bintang, Guanabana, Hoodwood, Mamasons and Belly is preparing to open yet another fusion hotspot. Bunso will be a bakery by day and a lively pizzeria by night, with a soundtrack to match. It opens next month in the former hairdressing academy on Hawley Rd, which is a large site, and formerly the group’s ice cream factory.

MUSIC: 🎶Catch the final days of King’s Cross Summer Sounds at Coal Drops Yard, which wraps up on Sun 23ed Aug with a programme of truly epic choirs belting out everything from West End musicals to rock and soul specialist choirs, too.

MUSIC: 🎤Slip into KOKO this Sun 23rd Aug for an altogether more laid back dancefloor experience, as KOKO Jazz Club sees Aretha Franklin sung by Vanessa Haynes, with table service, a la carte menu and the hits of the Queen of Soul sung by a vocalise best known for her work with Incognito, but has also performed and recorded with the likes of Van Morrison, Chaka Khan, Billy Ocean, Lulu, Anastacia and Dave Stewart.