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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.

Sunday 2 December 2018

Sunday Walk: Dodgy Dinos - Crystal Palace to Forest Hill - with Xmas Market

13¼ km (8.2 miles).
3/10
You don’t get many London walks from me so make the most of this one. This journey through South London's green spaces starts near a small museum (free admission) where you can learn the history of the Crystal Palace. Then off you trot past the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs – modelled as the Victorians saw them (they were more likely all feathers and looked like can-can dancers but hey-ho). The walk continues through remnants of the ancient North Wood, past the Dulwich Picture Gallery (admission £9) and, near the end, passes the Horniman Museum with its unusual collections (open to 5.30 pm, free admission). Don’t, whatever you do, touch the walrus or sit on the iceberg. The Horniman is hosting a Xmas market today if you're still wondering what to get for Mr Tiger.
Trains Get to Crystal Palace Station for 11:00 a.m.
Southern’s 10:26 from Victoria  to Norwood Jct arrives Crystal Palace 10:54. The 10:38 from London Bridge to Crystal Palace arrives 11:00. You can also get the Overground - the 10:07 from Highbury & Islington gets there for 10:54 via East London.
Returning from Forest Hill, there's a train to London Bridge every 15 mins as well as frequent Overground trains.
Crystal Palace is in in TfL Zones 3/4, Forest Hill is in Zone 3.
Transport for London or National Rail’s journey planners will help you plot your own journey from wherever.
Lunch
On the Main Walk the suggested lunchtime pub is the Crown and Greyhound  (020-8299 4976) at 73 Dulwich Village, after 8 km.
An earlier option (and the only convenient pub on the Short Walk) is the Wood House  (020-8693 5666) at 39 Sydenham Hill Road.
Tea
There is a good café at the Horniman Museum, plus several places on London Road as you approach Forest Hill station: a delicatessen, The Teapot, at #56, open to 4pm Sun;  and a Wetherspoon's pub The Capitol at #11-21.
Directions here
If, heaven forfend, you should tire of our company, the walk can be curtailed at various points with directions to nearby stations. Cutting out the loop through Dulwich would shorten the walk to 7 km (4.3 miles).
T=swc.137

4 comments:

Sandy said...

thanks for posting an urban walk through familiar haunts mr t - just what the doctor ordered (not literally)

Anonymous said...

Many thanks to Mr Tiger for posting,
and leading this lovely walk.
A great day.

Mr M Tiger said...

N=13 - or was it 14? 8 left at the designated time from Crystal Palace, of whom 2 stopped to look round the museum. The other 6 shot off like the Devil himself was after them. The dinosaurs were impressive, not quite Jurassic Park but capable of producing nightmares. Especially after cheese. The slow two got slightly lost and found themselves at the wrong end of Cox's bridge. And who should appear at the other end but two late starters who explained the trains from Victoria had broken down/been delayed etc etc. Lunch was taken in Dulwich Park's cafe where, miraculously, at least another 3 had joined the group. You add it up, I've not got enough fingers. Eventually the Horniman was reached and there was indeed a Xmas fair but Mr Tiger himself, being used to wild open spaces found it a bit too busy and claustrophobic to actually buy anything. Instead he went and said "Hi" to his old friend the walrus and went home. W=mild-overcast-slightly-damp-start-turning-sunny-dry.

Sandy said...

well presumably I'm one of the 3 - as the Clapham Junction train wasn't running I went to East Croydon, my phone having informed me I could get a connection to Crystal Palace, but no, as I didn't want to risk running down the stairs I missed it by a few seconds. I then caught the first train to anywhere vaguely on the route, namely North Dulwich, from where I intercepted the front six near the Woodman. I didn't persuade anyone to try this pub, but note it looked virtually empty at 12. However the Dulwich Park café was quite satisfactory, accommodating to those without a full set of functioning limbs and even had draught beer. Helpfully it stopped raining when we were inside. The rest is as Mr T describes. Thanks again for a good day and I'm sorry to have missed the dinosaurs and museum.