Stephen Bayley is almost as scathing about recreational walking as he is about the contents of the Dome and the Government's attempts to rebrand the country as "cool Britannia".

"Don't you think it's wonderfully ironic that the offices of the Ramblers Association are at Vauxhall Cross, one of the most despoiled and blighted corners of London?" he says. "I don't want to sound vindictive, but I deplore ramblers.

"I'm against all forms of collectivism, and the group mentality of the right-to-roam movement is not for me. It's a kind of suburbanisation of the countryside, and I want the country to be markedly different from the suburbs - I want it to be wild and difficult and dangerous."

But he's not against "functional" walking, with a purpose beyond the activity itself, and he usually goes on foot between various haunts in central London - from his office near Kennington Park, say, to the Bluebird Club in King's Road, a private bar and dining room designed by his erstwhile mentor Sir Terence Conran.

His route starts with zig-zags through some of the hidden enclaves - some delightful, some not - between south London's major roads: peaceful Victorian terraces at first, then an "ugly but haunting" gasworks and a huge, thriving squat near the Oval cricket ground.

"Then I'd go down Harleyford Road, which is a traffic-infested sewer, and turn off through Vauxhall Grove," he says. "It's is an unknown area full of quite charming houses, with some very strange trees and plants. It must be the least-known residential area in central London."

This brings him to "the horrors" of Vauxhall Cross, where six major routes collide. As a libertarian and design guru, he shuns the underpass and leaps over the railings to play chicken with the traffic. He casts a partly-admiring eye on the nearby MI6 building and the exotic glass towers going up alongside.

Then it's along the river, past the "lost opportunities" of Nine Elms with a fine view of Chelsea Bridge, until a waterside recycling plant and the crumbling bulk of Battersea Power Station forces him on to main roads again to reach Battersea Park.

"From it, you also get the best view of the most beautiful part of London - that stretch of Chelsea Embankment between Chelsea Bridge and Oakley Street. It's an absolutely perfect piece of urban environment.

"You get Wren's Royal Hospital, which is one of the loveliest buildings in London, then that fabulous stretch of art-and-crafts houses, surely the happiest moment in British architectural history, and a sight of Chelsea Physic Garden."

The finale is the crossing of the delicate, pastel-painted Albert Bridge, looking down at the boats on Cadogan Pier and sidestepping into old Chelsea, between King's Road and Cheyne Walk. Bayley regards this area as the highlight of the 40-minute walk.

"Being close to water is also marvellous, and sitting near to the Buddhist temple of peace in the park and looking across the river, well, there are few better things to do than that."

Power politics

The past 20 years have done much to disprove the accusation that London has wasted its riverside sites: we've had Canary Wharf and the redevelopment of Docklands, the refurbishment of the Oxo Tower and Bankside Power Station, Chelsea Harbour, the London Eye and the Dome.

The glaring exception to this progress is Battersea Power Station, which went out of service 17 years ago and now stands derelict. A series of owners have promised much but so far done nothing.

The present owners, Parkview International, controlled by George and Victor Hwang of Hong Kong, want to turn it into "an integrated entertain ment, leisure, sport, retail and restaurant destination", with offices, hotels and flats on the rest of the site.

The plans, which need approval from Wandsworth Borough Council, envisage one glass wall and a glass roof for the power station, while preserving the rest of the huge brick structure and the twin, cream-coloured chimneys. The surrounding buildings would be lower.

The Battersea Power Station Community Group is sceptical. Spokesman Brian Barnes is concerned that the scheme has no affordable housing and that the proposed contents sound as vague as the Dome. The group will shortly be discussing the issue with the new mayor of London, Ken Livingstone.