It was near the top of the escalator that I realised how hungry I was. I had reached London Bridge Underground station on my way to do a walk around one of the capital’s most fascinating areas, Bankside and Southwark, with a Blue Badge Guide.

Fortunately, my guide, John Ashton, was tucked up in my pocket, on my MP3 player. He could wait while I had lunch. I made my way through Borough Market and found a bar called the Hop Cellars. I tucked into sausage and mash and a glass of white burgundy, which set me up perfectly. First big thumbs up to technology.

Podcasts are booming. People are catching on to the advantages of having a guide on their MP3 player, rather than in a book or in the flesh. I came across the website for Podguides (www.podguides.co. uk), which has four London walks available for downloading at £5.10 each. I thought at that price, for a walk conducted by a Blue Badge Guide, what is there to lose? There was no map, so the verbal directions needed to be good.

They were. The introduction told me which exit to take from London Bridge station and where to start the walk. Another advantage of the digital guide is that you can pause or replay him. He walked me up to London Bridge, where I gazed out at the wide river. Ashton told me tales of trading and of severed heads, of why “London Bridge is falling down”, and how it linked the City of London with the disreputable area on the South Bank of the River Thames which we were about to explore.

This first section may have lasted five minutes, it may have lasted 15, I don’t know. I was enthralled. It was like the best of radio, taking you to another world. The production was polished, the script a good mix of history, humour and gore.

Ashton led me to Southwark Cathedral, on to the Golden Hinde, the Bear Gardens, the original Clink, the taverns and the Rose theatre. The directions were immaculate.

Disadvantages? You can’t ask questions. And it’s much more suited to the single traveller. But with a podcast you can have the perfect reminder of your walk and what you have learnt – you can take your guide home with you.

Mike Gerrard has written a podcast walk around Amsterdam, which is available, together with a walk in Turin, free from American Express: www.americanexpress.com.

Walks, talks, guides and more ...

An archive of free London walks can be found at www.londonwalks.libsyn.com.

A list of atmospheric podcasts, from Camden Market to Tristan da Cunha, can be downloaded at www.lonelyplanet.com/podcasts.

Virgin Atlantic offers podcast introductions to many of the cities that it flies to – see http://virginatlantic.loudish.com.

A walk around maritime sights in Bristol can be downloaded from the city’s tourism website: www.visitbristol.co.uk.

If you don’t have an MP3 player, you can get several walks on CD at www.tourist-tracks.com. These cover London, Manchester, Bath, Brighton, Oxford and Cambridge. Walks cost £7, including postage, for a copy.

A postHurricane Katrina walking tour of the New Orleans French Quarter costs £6 from www.audiosteps.com. Other tours include Washington, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Sacramento, London, Bath and Bristol.

A French company, www.pocketvox.com, has several walks in cities in Europe, for only £3.35 each, though some suffer from a rather stilted translation into English.

More than 50 British guides and scores from around the world are available at £2 each from www.heartbeatguides.com. Most run from 8-12 minutes and are collages of music, interviews and conversation.