Bluebells in the Evening - Lesnes Abbey Wood with or without Bostall Wood

Length: 9.6 km (6.0 mi) or 5.2 km (3.2 mi) without Bostall Woods 

Ascent/Descent: 214m or 127m 

Net Walking Time: ca. 2 ¾ hours or 1 ½ hours 

 

Meet upstairs outside Abbey Wood Station (Zone 4) at 18.30 For that, take...

Either Elizabeth Line (Paddington 17.56, (...), L'pool Street 18.06, (...), Canary Wharf 18.13… 

Or the 17.52 train from Cannon Street (London Bridge 17.57, Deptford 18.03, Greenwich for DLR 18.05, Woolwich Arsenal for DLR 18.20). Both trains arrive at 18.26. 

Return trains: frequent (Mainline and Elizabeth).

 

This is an undulating route on the boundary of the Boroughs of Bexley (Lesnes Abbey Woods) and Greenwich (Bostall Woods) in South East London, based upon the atmospheric ruins of Lesnes Abbey, surrounded by a beautiful park with some ornamental gardens and towered over by ancient and secondary woodland, with a high extent of sessile oaks, some large wildflower meadows with bluebells and native wild daffodils in spring and several scenic ponds. A heathland with an Iron Age tumulus and some acid grassland are passed through as well. A longer version leads across a busy road junction on Bostall Hill into Bostall Wood, with its dense sloping woods and deep ravines.

 

Walk Option:

Bus stops on the A206 near the off-route pubs and on Bostall Hill enable early returns to Abbey Wood, Woolwich or Slade Green stations (see the route map for the exact locations of the bus stops).

 

Refreshments en route: two pubs, 600m off route, after 2.3 km of the route.  

Refreshments at the end of the walk: The Abbey Arms or the Taj Mahal.

 

For walk directions, maps, height profiles, photos and gpx/kml files click here. T=short.43