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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.

Tuesday 8 October 2019

Evening Walk: A Richmond Park Ramble

A Richmond Park Round t=swc.188

Distance: approximately 4.5 miles/7.5 km

Difficulty:  2 out of 10

Meet:  18:00 at the exit to Richmond Station

Return:  Various trains and tubes back to London until late......

Given the limited daylight, I thought it best to start the walk with an exploration of historic Richmond Park, hopefully, spotting some deer (it is rutting season)...and finish along the River Thames back to Richmond for refreshies at one of the many riverside hostelries…..This means doing an abbreviated version of SWC 188 in reverse as follows:

Leaving Richmond Station head towards and up Richmond Hill and enter the park via Richmond Gate; carry along enjoying the view at the Mound; shortly past Pembroke Lodge turn left to follow the Capital Ring up to Pen Ponds....at the ponds turn right (leaving the GPX route) to follow the footpath with the ponds on your left, eventually downhill to Ham Bottom where you turn right and pick back up the GPX route to exit the park and continue back to Richmond along the River Thames (it should be on your left)…..

I will add...if we do see any deer, please keep a safe distance....

More information about the suggested route can be found here.  Please bring a print out of the map or download of the GPX for guidance....


3 comments:

DAC said...

Unfortunately cant make the walk..but suggest take short walk #7 start - which avoids the often narrow pavement along the high street to the river.

"Coming out of Richmond station, turn left for 50 metres to cross over the main road (The Quadrant) via a zebra crossing. Turn right for 12 metres to then turn left along an alleyway. In 40 metres at a T-junction with Parkshot turn left. After 70 metres you reach the corner of Little Green, which you cross in a diagonal direction along a tarmac path, your direction west. After 100 metres cross over a road, to continue in the same direction diagonally across Richmond Green. Half way across the Green where the path forks, take the right hand fork towards the far corner of the Green. At the far corner of the Green, turn half right to go down Old Palace Lane. After 300 metres at a T-junction with the Thames Path, turn left along the bank of the Thames, following the Thames Path. "

Anonymous said...

Hoping to attend which hostelry?
jfk

Stargazer said...

Cracking good fun...a mini-safari on the doorstep of Central London! Six familiar faces gathered more or less at the appointed time and wanting to maximize the daylight in the park set off directly towards Richmond Hill where we were soon caught by a 7th....We enjoyed the iconic view down to the river in the setting sun before eventually entering the park and heading towards Pembroke Lodge where we were greeted by our first group of deer of the evening....we turned left more deeply into the park following the Capital Ring and soon encountered a large number of deer of all sizes, including a few stags with rather handsome looking racks...there was quite a chorus of bellowing and related noises (which, in the near darkness, was somewhat eerie) as we approached Pen Ponds where we were treated to a 3/4 moon sparkling in the water...We then turned right to head ultimately back towards the river....Although nearly dark, the moon did provide quite a bit of light and the paths were generally clear, except a short distance along one that was a bit narrow and muddy going down the escarpment....We eventually joined the river and continued back into Richmond where one suggested the White Cross on the riverbank for post walk food and drink...In the pub, we met one more regular who had started late and had done a modified version of the route up to Pembroke Lodge and back....I think everyone had a meal (and all seemed satisfied); then decided we were enjoying ourselves so much, we all had another drink and caught various forms of transport just before 10pm...So, to conclude, n=8 in total under w=clear-skies-with-some-moonlight...
ps: would suggest doing about 2 weeks earlier to have more light to admire the magnificent beasts of Richmond Park....