Length: 13 km (8 miles) Option to extend should you wish - see Directions
Toughness: 1 out of 10 All on pavement or hard surfaces Suggest you wear trainers, not walking boots
Meeting Point
In front of the former County Hall, just below the steps down from Westminster Bridge, on the South Bank of The Thames, opposite what used to be a Pret cafe, now an un-named cafe on your right, some 100 metres south of the London Eye - at 11am.
Alternative joining points: at Waterloo or London Bridge - see Directions
Return
Greenwich to Central London: Docklands Light Railway, overground, Jubilee Line (having taken the Greenwich foot tunnel) but suggestion: Thames clipper riverboat service - Uber boats - from Greenwich, for a relaxing journey back to County Hall (with stops before and after).
I've had the anticipated bumper mailbag response to my request for winter walk ideas, but unlike "Mornington Crescent", my one response is not from Mrs Trellis in Wales but from one of our regulars. To give me time to consider this avalanche of ideas, I'm taking time out to post a respite from the mud, for just one week: the idea is to complement Sean's walk on Sunday, from Westminster to Putney. Should you do both Thames Path walks, along pavement and hard standing all the way, you should be more than up for a country walk the following week, with a return to a softer footbed and a soupçon of mud for good measure. Don't tell me Sean and I don't spoil you............
Enough of the twaddle: today's walk is actually very enjoyable, and educational at times. It starts on the South Bank in tourist territory, as you pass the London Eye, the National Theatre, Tate Modern, the "Wobbly" Bridge, The Globe Theatre, Southwark Cathedral, London Bridge, Hays Galleria, HMS Belfast, "Ken's Wigwam" then Tower Bridge.
The nature of the walk now changes as you leave the madding crowds behind you. It becomes almost Dickensian as you pass through a number of wharfs as you enter Bermondsey and Rotherhithe. I suggest we soon stop at either the Angel pub or the Mayflower pub for lunch: there are plenty of spots on the river for picnickers.
Onwards then as The Thames Path continues in front of yuppy blocks of flats, hugging the riverfront. Note the contrast between these expensive late 1980s flats and the 1930s London County Council flats opposite them on the other side of the road, with physical and psychological barriers (some real, some perceived) separating them.
The walk continues through a hotel complex then alongside Surrey Docks Farm, with a tea room and public WCs. Next up is Greenland Dock and Deptford Wharf. You come to Pepys Estate where you turn inland for a while before returning to the riverfront by a boatyard just before the statue of Peter the Great. You next pass the entrance to the Greenwich Foot Tunnel, then the Cutty Sark, and you are in Greenwich. It's now up to you how you wish to continue on the walk or return home - you have a nice choice.
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Walk Directions: just keep the River Thames on your left all day, and follow the waymarks for the Thames Path, but for those who like to follow written Directions, they are here: L=swc.245
2 comments:
I ducked out at The Dog and Bell, in Deptford.
N=8 of us today, for this mud-free inner London walk, and very enjoyable too, and a nice change from our usual country walks.
We set out along the Embankment in w=overcast-conditions-which-turned-beautifully-sunny-in-the-afternoon, and not too cold, either: good winter walking conditions.
After a little over an hour 's walking we stopped for lunch at the Mayflower pub, where four of us had lunch and the rest had refreshments on the pub's front balcony, overlooking the river. In recognition of Burns night, haggis was on the menu, and very good it was, too.
After lunch, our two younger walkers felt obliged to leave us and return to work - being retired has its merits. But good of them to come along for the morning: we enjoyed their company.
We stopped at the City farm to observe the residents - the goats were frisky, the sheep sleepy, but not much else was going on. Onwards then through the inland bit in Deptford - where Gavin, per his comment, stopped for a tincture. On reaching Greenwich two continued on the walk to North Greenwich, where presumably they took the Jubilee line back to Central London. That left the remaining three of us to take refreshments in the Gipsy Moth pub, before we took the Uber Thames Clipper catamaran back to Central London - a treat.
Back home, it made a pleasant change to take off the day's footwear and not be faced with a mud cleaning job.
Next week - back to country walking proper.
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