THIS is a deceptively short walk which has all kinds of temptations built into it.

Almost immediately, once you have passed between the living statues, you are immersed in the markets of Covent Garden and Jubilee. If you walk in the country you may also like to know that this area has one of the best complexes of shops for outdoor gear in London.

If you can drag yourself away from the lights, merry-go-rounds and the street entertainers, you will eventually find yourself entering the courtyard of Somerset House. Here the annual ice-rink supplies plenty of entertainment for the spectator and even more for those who hire a pair of skates and have a go.

A more cerebral break could be taken at the Courtauld Institute just before you reach the Strand.

If the day is reasonable, after looking in at the Royal Courts of Justice you could picnic in the Lincoln's Inn Gardens, an astonishing sanctuary so close to the throbbing activity of the area.

1. Start

Turn right out of the station. Continue through the string of arches which form the central market area and on through Jubilee Market Hall.

You emerge in Tavistock St to go left and later right at the extraordinary Papa Geno Restaurant. (Notice that, on the opposite side of the street, above the Charles Dickens Coffee House, are the offices where All the Year Round, Charles Dickens's magazine was produced.)

Pass the Lyceum on the right and continue forward across the Strand into Lancaster Place. Pass alongside of Somerset House, home of the Inland Revenue and turn left over a glass bridge to walk along its front with the Thames to your right.

About halfway along, go through double glass doors, across a tea room and out into a courtyard which houses an ice-rink for the winter season. Leave through the far arch with the Courtauld Institute Art Gallery to the left.

2. 0.6 mile/ 1 km

Turn right to walk down the Strand, passing the island' church of St Mary Le Strand then Kings College on the right, and the green-roofed Australia House on the left.

Cross to the island in Arundel St. and then use dextrous footwork to reach the second church isolated by the traffic.

St Clements Danes is associated with the RAF and has statues of Field Marshals Dowding and Harris near its entrance.

Continue along to the rear of the church where there is a rather good statue of Samuel Johnson, the compiler of the original English dictionary. (The lavatories here are worth visiting for their illustrated tiles.)

3. 0.9 mile/ 1.4 km

Cross over to the Royal Courts of Justice and go into the entrance vestibule to see the airport-style security which is in operation there. When you come out of the entrance, look across to the Twinings Shop with its carefully decorated portico featuring two Chinamen. Continue left along the Strand.

(You pass another monument in the middle of the road. This one features Queen Victoria and the Prince of Wales and commemorates the previous site of Temple Bar).

Turn left up Bell Yard just before Fuller's Ale & Pie House. Pass the dummy bell outside Bell House to go left and immediately right in New Square. (The square is surrounded by the chambers of the lawyers who you will see rushing around in wigs on weekdays.

Beside the doors you will notice the lists of members of the Chambers.) The entrance to Lincoln's Inn Gardens is ahead (you can visit these between 12 and 2.30 during the week). Go left at the war memorial to leave New Square.

4. 1.3 miles/ 2.1 km

Go diagonally right to enter Lincoln's Inn Fields by a drinking fountain, going right.

Take the first surface path left, going between massive plane trees towards the bandstand and then going right, then left (passing a memorial to Margaret Macdonald) to emerge by another drinking fountain. (Lincoln's Inn Fields is the largest square in London, laid out in the 17C by Inigo Jones and believed to the model for Central Park.)

Go diagonally across to follow Gates St to reach a narrow alley crowded with cafes and small food outlets which delivers you into Holborn. Go left and left again to enter Holborn Underground Station.

Factfile

Starting and Finishing Points: Start the walk at Covent Garden and finish at Holborn (both are on the Piccadilly Line)

Distance: 1.8 miles/2.8 km

Time: 1.5 hours

Terrain: pavements and surfaced paths

Suitability for Dogs: too busy

Refreshments: there are scores of refreshment opportunities along the route

Public Toilets: in Covent Garden; at Somerset House; along the Strand; and in Lincoln's Fields

Map and Grid Reference: you might find an A-Z useful, especially if you decide to deviate from the route.

More Information: You can book tickets for the Somerset House Ice Rink by phcalling 0870 166 0423.

More details of exhibitions at the Courtauld Institute can be obtained from 020 7848 2526