At Your Convenience: A Lavatorial Walking Tour

London, United Kingdom

(17)

Walking Tour

40 mins

1.5mi

About the Tour

Plunge yourself into the surprisingly dynamic world of the British Public Toilet. This tour takes you past some of London's most iconic views with a new twist.

Performed by Rachel Erickson (The Loo Lady), Music by Paul Freeman, Guest voices: Ajay Spolia, Lucinda Hawksley, Sam Cady

Photo courtesy of Ilya Fisher

Tour Producer

The Loo Lady Cole-Wilkin

I am the creator of London Loo Tours, which are designed by and for adventurous spirits who want to see the world differently, who love history and off-the-beaten-track adventures and who care
about important social issues. Plunge with us into the humble toilet and discover whole new worlds of history, politics, psychology and, of course, humour.

The tours started in 2013 when, living in London as an American Drama student, I asked the question "where can I go for free." One thing lead to another, a joke became a full time project, and Loo Tours was born. I have taken my research as far afield as Indonesia for the 2013 World Toilet Summit, and am interested both in the local and global aspects of toilets and the people who use them.

More information at lootours.com and theloolady.com

How VoiceMap Works

Focus on your surroundings, not the screen

VoiceMap’s audio tour app uses GPS to play audio automatically, at the right time and place. Just install it, then download your tour and go to the starting point to begin your walk, drive, cycle, train trip or even boat ride.

Follow a route with turn-by-turn-directions

Tours follow a route from a fixed starting point. This is how we provide turn-by-turn directions. It also helps publishers tell a story greater than the sum of its parts. But you can use Resume to pick up a tour from the closest location whenever you like.

Listen as many times as you like

You can listen to your tours as often as you like using both the VoiceMap app and the VoiceMap website. Your access to tours doesn’t expire.

Take virtual tours anywhere

Just select Virtual mode in the VoiceMap app to listen to tours at home – or anywhere else. You’ll see the option after you download the tour. You can also listen to the whole tour here on the website.

Buy for less on voicemap.me and sync

Once you’ve purchased a tour, it’s added to your VoiceMap library. If you sign into the app using the same method you used on the website, you’ll have access to your full library of tours in both places.

Use VoiceMap offline

The VoiceMap app works entirely offline if there’s no data connection, so you don’t have to pay roaming fees. Just download the tour over WiFi before you get started.

Map

Major Landmarks

Royal Festival Hall
London Eye
St Martin-in-the-Fields

Directions to Starting Point

This tour starts on the river terrace of the Royal Festival Hall: Position yourself in the center of the terrace between the two staircases.

Show Directions

Buying for somebody else?

If you’d like to give VoiceMap tours as a gift, you have two options: choose the tours yourself, or buy a voucher redeemable against any of VoiceMap’s tours in 167 cities worldwide.

Buy a gift voucher

VoiceMap tours for large groups

If you’d like to provide groups of guests with access to a VoiceMap tour, you can buy a specific number of copies for a particular event or obtain a license for more regular use.

Find out more

Tips

Places to stop along the way

Royal Festival Hall, St Martin in the Fields, Covent Garden, Cellar Door Cocktail Bar

Best time of day

This tour works best in the early afternoon.

Park opening times differ throughout the year. They generally close at dusk (around 5pm in Winter and as late as 9pm in Summer.) If the gardens are closed you can cut through Embankment station.

The Jubiloo is open daily from 10am-10pm in the summer and 10am to 8pm in winter.

Cellar Door Cocktail Bar is open from 4pm on weekdays and 6pm on weekends.

Precautions

Cross with the lights where possible. If you need more time you can always pause the recording and restart on the other side.

Comments

I recently participated in the guided Waterloo tour with the loo lady - either that or this audio tour will give you a whole new appreciation of what we are all experts in: using the toilet :-)

Posted by Annina M , about 5 years ago

Really good. I enjoyed that massively.

Posted by Toby H , about 6 years ago

This was the 18th VoiceMap walk I've been on, but I often felt like I was experiencing the medium for the first time. The Loo Lady seemed almost like an omniscient narrator, who knew everything I needed to find my way - and much of what I wondered about my surroundings - as my journey through central London unfolded. She wove only the most important or gasp-worthy bits of history into her quirky stories, and the beautiful soundtrack kept me immersed in her world throughout the walk. By the time it was over, and she had safely guided me back towards our starting point, I felt like I was saying goodbye to an old friend.

Posted by Claire , over 6 years ago

Thanks for joining me!

Posted by The Loo Lady , over 6 years ago

Posted by Anonymous Explorer , over 6 years ago