Backup Only

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.

Sunday 1 May 2016

Sunday Walk 2 – Richmond Park and the Thames Path

Extra Walk 261 – Norbiton to Putney
Length: Up to 20 km (12.4 miles), with lots of drop-out points. Toughness: 2 or 3/10

10:18 Strawberry Hill train from Waterloo (Vauxhall 10:22, Clapham Jct 10:27, etc), arriving Norbiton at 10:43 (see below for an afternoon walk option).

Norbiton is in TfL Zone 5 and all the possible return stations in Zones 2 or 3, so use your Oyster card.

This walk had its début on a rather damp Saturday in February when most people dropped out early, so I'm hoping for better weather this time. The first part of the walk is through Richmond Park and if the Kurume Azaleas in the Isabella Plantation are in full flower it'll be worth taking the extended route here. Hopefully you'll be able to squeeze into the popular Sun Inn for lunch in Barnes, but there are alternatives nearby (and a picturesque village green if you bring sandwiches).

For the afternoon leg you can basically choose to go as far as you like along the Thames Path, with a short diversion inland to visit the grounds of Chiswick House (free entry, but about £7 if you want to visit the house and aren't a member of English Heritage or the Arts Fund).

You'll need to print the walk directions (with maps) from the Extra Walk 261 page, which lists the possible drop-out points from Barnes Bridge onwards. As a fair proportion of the walk is on firm surfaces, choose comfortable footwear.


Afternoon Walk: If you're doing some other long walks this weekend and just want a half-day outing, an alternative to dropping out early would be to take the 12:44 Windsor & Eton train from Waterloo to Barnes, arriving at 13:03. Click the 'pm. Afternoon Walk' option to start the directions at §D and (if you like) look for the main group in the Sun Inn or around Barnes Green.
T=swc.261

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi there, could someone let me know please where (the full) walk ends and the approximate duration (assuming an hour for lunch). Many thanks x

Anonymous said...

Sorry! I've just realised it ends in Putney, but, if possible, I would still like to know please roughly, the duration, assuming an hour for lunch. Thank you so much.

Walker said...

Since it is a Norbiton to Putney walk, the full walk ends in Putney: for more details see the walk directions (see link in walk post) which you need to print off anyway if you are going to join the walk. For timings, a good rule of thumb is 2.5 miles per hour, possibly a bit more on this kind of parkland walk: so 4 to 5 hours walking time, maybe?

Walker said...

Most of our walks seem to finish at about 5pm, if that helps

Anonymous said...

managed to join the walk at Barnes. Very lovely visit to Chiswick House in the sunshine by a route unknown to myself.jfk

Sean said...

n=13 walkers turned up at Norbiton on a lovely w=sunny day, perfect for walking. The majority raced ahead, others lingered in the Isabella Plantation where the azaleas will be even better in a week or two. No problems getting lunch in the Sun Inn, with its large back garden and speedy kitchen. After a relaxed afternoon the two back markers arrived in Putney around 5.30pm, by which time I guess the leaders had long since made it to one of the many possible destinations. Lots to see and this walk might work better split into two short walks.