Length: 4.6 km (2.9 mi)
Net Walking Time: 1 ½ hrs
Meet: Morden Station at 18.30 hours.
Morden station is the southern terminus of the Northern Line, and in Zone 4. Travel time from Bank is 32 minutes. Colliers Wood is 2 stops closer to Central London on the same line.
This walk will have to circumvent the core of the
NT's Morden
Hall Park with its rose garden etc. as that area will be shut for the
day, and instead focus on the still accessible waterways, reed beds, and
parkland and then follow the River Wandle in a
northerly direction. After passing Deen
City Farm, it passes Merton
Abbey Mills, a collection of heritage industrial buildings which are
now cafés, bars and restaurants. Morden Hall Park has an
interesting history. In Henry VIII's time, this area was part of Merton Abbey.
In the 18th century, the area became an estate with a deer park, a
cress farm, and had watermills. The last owner of the estate held large film
star fairs in the 30's. The estate is now owned by the National Trust and the
Hall is empty. Merton Abbey Mills is a former William Morris 'arts and
crafts'-factory.
Eat/Drink: The Merton Apprentice at Merton Abbey Mills; The Charles Holden, or The Royal Standard by Colliers Wood tube station.
For walk directions, map, and gpx/kml files click here. T=short.13
5 comments:
In Abbey Mills, The Merton Apprentice is more of a outside seating summer pub. The William Morris (gastro, half price happy hour 6-7pm) would be warmer. By the tube station, the (gastro) Charles Holden is the nicer of the 2. Another choice is The Kiss Me Hardy (Hungry Horse chain, think big plates with chips) does have £5 bottles of wine on Wednesdays - the rosé is the least bad of the 3.
Which pub are you in?
Where was I? In the William Morris from minute 20 of the Semi-Final to the end of the first half, then in the Charles Holden for the second half.
I had arrived a few minutes late for the posted start time due to trouble getting out of my postcode by bus. I duely walked the loop through the park, which was very eerie, with the bright lights of London collaborating with the grey skies and the reflections off the snow and ice to make a headtorch superfluous.
[Aside: Still astonished by that British 'strategy' of dealing with freshly fallen snow on pavements and footpaths in urban parks: just leave it to itself so that the power of trampling feet and the continuous freeze/thaw action turn it into a solid layer of ice. Why not clear it away on day 1? I thought A&E departments were busy enough without adding OAPs with broken bones to the rush after falling on icy paths?]
On over the boardwalks and through the reedbeds (very nice in the tame light) and across the tram line. There was a diversion in place for a bridge replacement, which meant a few hundred metres of semi-muddy path. As above, I then had time for some bar food and a glass of fermented grape juice at the William Morris before moving on to the Charles Holden for more unhealthy calories.
Great walk for winter evenings, I'd say. One to repeat.
n=1 w=cold
I did some of the walk backwards and looked in on the pubs, but must have missed you. I rather enjoyed walking around in the dark but with the clear but eerie light reflected from the snow and clouds.
N=2
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