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This Week's Walks - Archive

Please see the Saturday Walker's Club This Week's Walks page.

This is an archive of walks done by the Saturday Walker's Club. You should only need to use this page if the SWC website is down.

Friday, 29 October 2021

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

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. 
 
Note: as per the info available on the www, all parks should be open 24 hours (and the paths are all tarmac and lit all the way, from memory). 
 
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. Plenty options in Greenwich.


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

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Those intending to walk to Greenwich may wish to take a peek at "Boaty Mcboatface" NNA the RRS Sir David Attenborough which will be moored at Greenwich until Saturday I understand see https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-59022676

Thomas G said...

11 met at Lower Sydenham, 1 joined at Catford, having missed the posted train. Someone complained that it wasn't really a "walk in the dark", as it was so well lit (and all-tarmac), and in fact it was. Apart maybe from where it mattered most, on the slippery arched bridge where the two rivers meet. And for a small stretch in Brookmill Park.

With 3 going to bail out in Ladywell, all of us went to the Tavern there before saying goodbyes. Unbeknownst to us, that was when 1 other walker, going in reverse from Deptford to meet us, passed the pub and kept going to Catford until getting in touch and realising he had missed us. He turned back and caught us back in Deptford where we had a second short stop at the Birds Nest to allow him to catch up.
On to Greenwich, where the - surprisingly large - Attenborough was moored with its searchlights on (aka Boaty MacBoatface). 7 then picked one of the only two spots that was still serving food for supper, 2 went for a drink.
n=13 w=dry