Evening Walk - A walk in the dark: Waterlink Way (Lower Sydenham to Catford, Ladywell, Lewisham or Greenwich)

This worked quite well last year as a long-ish ‘Walk in the Dark’, so let’s do it again…

Length: up to 9.7 km (6.0 mi) [several dropout points en route]

Ascent/Descent: negligible 

Net Walking Time: up to ca. 2 ¼ hours

 

Take the 18.07 Hayes (Kent) train from Charing X (18.10 W’loo East, 18.16 London Bridge, 18.25 Ladywell), arrives Lower Sydenham at 18.31. 

From locations further south, take the 18.15 train from Hayes to Cannon Street (calls Clock House and New Beckenham), arrives Lower Sydenham also at 18.31

Finish is at one of: Ladywell Rail, either of the Catford Stations, Lewisham Rail/DLR, Cutty Sark DLR or Greenwich Rail/DLR. 

Return trains from these stations go to either London Bridge, then Cannon Street or Charing Cross, or to Blackfriars via Peckham Rye and Elephant. 

 

The route connects a number of attractive parks and green spaces in South East London, while following the Pool and Ravensbourne Rivers. It follows parts of the well-waymarked Waterlink Way, the London-part of the National Cycle Network Route connecting Eastbourne to the Thames. Large stretches of those rivers have in recent years been re-naturalised or at least sympathetically embedded in landscaped linear parks such as Ladywell Fields and Brookmill Park, and as such the route makes for a pleasant outing in a densely populated part of London, even though some formerly highly industrialised areas such as Deptford as well as some densely built-up areas such as Catford and Lewisham are passed through.

 

Walk Options: The walk route runs past a few railway and DLR stations (Catford/Catford Bridge, Ladywell, Lewisham, Elverson Road and Deptford Bridge), enabling an earlier finish or later start. 

 

Refreshments en route: the Catford Bridge Tavern and the Bottle Bar & Shop in Catford, The Ladywell Tavern in Ladywell, The Brookmill in St. John’s and The Birds Nest in Deptford. 

Plus plenty options in Greenwich.

 

For summary, walk directions, map, height profile, photos and gpx/kml files click here. T=short.36