Sunday Walk – The Thames Path from Westminster to Putney

SWC Walk 282b – Westminster to Putney

Length: About 11¼ km (7 miles). Toughness: 1/10

Meet up for an 11:00 start on the south bank of Westminster Bridge, as described in the second half (Westminster to Putney) of the L=swc.282 : “Turn left out of Westminster tube station. Cross the bridge. Go down the stairs at the far end (in the direction of the London Eye). Meet at the bottom of the stairs. You can see a Pret à Manger café nearby.”

If it's more convenient you could travel to Waterloo station and make your way to Westminster Bridge from there.

In response to some anguished pleas for less muddy walks, I thought I'd offer a straightforward riverside route from central London. It's described as entirely on hard surfaces, so comfortable footwear might be a better choice than walking boots.

There are stretches of the Thames Path on both the north and south banks for much if not all of the way, and the written directions offer suggestions for where you should cross to the other bank. You could of course simply follow the GPS route, but the small print warns that the two are ‘slightly out of sync’ and so you might find yourself on the opposite bank at times.

The directions mention that the recommended route in #10 (Vauxhall Bridge to Chelsea Bridge) will change when the pedestrian riverfront around the Battersea Power Station redevelopment is open to the public; does anyone know the status of this?

As always there's no leader for this walk. It's entirely up to you whether you detour into any of the tourist attractions along the way, break for refreshments or walk straight through to a pub or café at Putney Bridge. You can return from either the main line station (trains to Clapham Jct and Waterloo) or Putney Bridge (on the District Line, but note that its branches from Earl's Court to Richmond and Ealing Broadway are not running this weekend).

Sunday Walk - Rivers, a Bird Reserve and Rolling Landscapes in East Hertfordshire - St. Margarets Circular

Length: 25.7 km/16.0 mi or 19.7 km/12.2 mi

Ascent/Descent: 270 or 204m

Net Walking Time: ca. 5 ½ hours or 4 ¼ hours

Toughness: 5 out of 10 or 3 out of 10

 

Take the 09.40 Hertford East train from Liverpool Street (Hackney Downs 09.46, Tottenham Hale [Victoria Line] 09.50), then all stations via Broxbourne, arrives St. Margarets (Hertfortshire) 10.22. 

Return trains are on xx.17 and xx.47

 

This walk leads along ancient tracks and green lanes through some very quiet, rolling East Hertfordshire countryside defined by wheat fields and woods, in-between extensive stretches along the Ash, Rib and Lea rivers. Cold Christmas hamlet and a haunted, ruined church are passed just before lunch. Long parts of the afternoon route are spent in the scenic Ash valley, before passing through Amwell Nature Reserve, a bird watcher’s paradise. The final stretch leads along the Lea Navigation back to St. Margarets.

 

Lunch: 

[Long Walk] The Anchor is closed, as far as I can see. So it’s just The Feathers Inn (Greene King) in Wadesmill (10.9 km/6.8 mi). 

[Short Walk] The White Horse or The Chequers Inn (food to 14.45) in Wareside (12.9 km/8.0 mi).

Tea: The Jolly Fisherman, The Oak, The Red Lion, all minutes from the station.

For walk directions, map, height profile, photos and gpx/kml files click here. T=swc.165

Saturday walk Princes Risborough to Wendover - Along the Ridgeway through the Chiltern Hills, Chequers, Coombe Hill, then down to Wendover

Book 1, Walk 52 - Princes Risborough to Wendover 

Length:  16.9 km (10.5 miles) or 14.1 km (8.8 miles), with option to reduce both by 1 mile   

Toughness: 6 out of 10    Lots of steady ups and downs to keep you awake    

London Marylebone:  10-00 hrs   Chilterns service to Birmingham Moor Street

Arrive Princes Risborough: 10-32 hrs

Return 

Wendover to Marylebone: Chilterns services at 28 and 58 mins past the hour

Rail ticket:  if still available, the best value ticket today is a Super Off-Peak day return to Aylesbury (where both branches of Chilterns Railway converge). Otherwise, to cover both branches of the Chilterns Railway, you will need a day return to Aylesbury Any Route Permitted.

This popular outing in the Chiltern Hills starts with stretch along the Icknield Way before you climb up into woodland on the Ridgeway path to Whiteleaf Cross to enjoy a panoramic view. You then drop down on the Ridgeway to the hamlet of Lower Cadsden where those opting for a shorter walk today can try to have lunch at the Plough pub (the pub where the then PM David Cameron left his daughter behind). You should arrive a little before opening time, so there is no need to rush the opening leg of the walk. The Plough's other claim to fame is it is now owned by Chinese investors following Mr Cameron taking the Chinese President Xi Jinping there for a pint when staying at Chequers: the President apparently liked the beer.

Those on the longer version of today's walk should have time (available daylight) to head to Great Kimble and back - to take lunch at the Swan, in Smokey Row. 

After lunch, The Plough lunchers bypass Great Kimble and head over Grangelands Nature Reserve to walk above Chequers, the PMs retreat. The Smokey Row route also joins just before Chequers. You cross the driveway of this estate to head up the Ridgeway through light woodland. Today I suggest you do not go as far as the village of Dunsmore - Dunsmore Woods are likely to be horribly muddy  - but instead stay on the Ridgeway path as it turn left to Coombe Hill and the Boer War Monument. You then drop down from this hill on the Ridgeway all the way to Wendover. Near the railway station is the Shoulder of Mutton pub, a regular SWC watering hole which also serves food all day. Further down the High Street on the left is Rumsey's Chocolaterie for those in need of a chocolate fix.  

T=1.52

Walk Directions are here: L=1.52

Saturday walk - Wivelsfield to Haywards Heath

Wivelsfield to Haywards Heath T=swc.225

Length: 18¾ km (11.6 miles). Short Walk  14¾ km (9.2 miles). 4 out of 10

You start with a rural stretch through the woods and meadows of Bedelands Farm Local Nature Reserve to the picturesque Valebridge Pond. An undulating section through woods and farmland crossed by numerous streams takes you up to the large churchyard of Holy Trinity Church and into the lunchtime village of Cuckfield 

Much of the afternoon section is on the High Weald Landscape Trail, a long-distance path through this undulating countryside.  A section through a wood managed as a nature reserve takes you up to the neighbouring village of Whitemans Green, where some of the first dinosaur fossils were discovered in its sandstone quarries.

After fine views across the Ouse Valley as you approach Borde Hill Garden, a set of formal gardens and parkland containing a nationally important collection of trees and shrubs, overlooked by an Elizabethan mansion; admission is £9 (2021).

Trains: Get the Thameslink 0935  Brighton train from London Bridge (East Croydon 0949 amongst many joining points) arriving 1025. Get a return to Wivelsfield. Note, that there are no Southern trains running from Victoria this weekend. 

Haywards Heath has a frequent service back to London.

Lunch Cuckfiled after 5.6 miles (8.75km) Picnic in the Church or The Talbot (01444-455898) bar/restaurant, which has a small patio area just off the High Street and "does good bar meals"

Tea:  Borde Hill Gardens, where Café Elvira open to 5pm. "This large tearoom has a nice back garden and serves a good range of cakes and desserts."

Saturday Walk - North Downs Way: Box Hill to Caterham (or short to Merstham) - map-led [New Walk]

Length: 25.7 km (16.0 mi)

Ascent/Descent: 717/637 m; Net Walking Time: ca. 6 ½ hours

Toughness: 8 out of 10 

 

Take the 09.24 Dorking (Main) train from Waterloo (stopping service via Vauxhall, Clapham J and Wimbledon), arriving Box Hill and Westhumble at 10.11. 

Return trains: xx.25 and xx.55 to London Bridge (48 minutes journey time if changing onto a fast train at East Croydon).  

 

Shorter Option: finish at Merstham (16.6 km/10.3 mi, 524m ascent, 4 ¼ hours net walking time, 5/10 rating, return trains on xx.03 and xx.33 with 27 mins journey time to London Bridge). 

 

"What ticket do I need?", I hear you ask. It's complicated but not that much. Please read the 'Travel' chapter on the walk's webpage. [Basically: a Dorking Stations return plus a single or a prayer. Or a Zone 1-6 Travelcard plus a single or a prayer.]

 

Another stretch of the North Downs Way, recently uploaded to the website by our not-too-slack webmaster. Map-led and with a slight variation to the NDW route at the start to avoid walking along the A24 (but is it a right-of-way? Yes it is, I'm told by a usually-reliable source.). Later on, with some very fine viewpoints and also some noise from the M25, which is never far away. With some luck, we can also spot the peregrine falcons at Brockham Quarry. 

Disappointingly (for completists), the route as per the gpx does not quite follow the NDW as far as where the next stage (Caterham – Knockholt, SWC Walk 111) comes in, but that has the advantage today that the last minutes of the walk, which may well be walked in the gloaming, are along well-lit residential roads rather than across dank and dark fields. 

 

Elenvenses/Lunch: a couple of NT cafés en route, plus The Feathers (16.4 km, food all day) in Merstham. 

Tea: The Harrow in Chaldon (5.5 km from the end), Crown & Pepper, William Garland (Greene King).

 

For map, height profile, photos and gpx/kml files click here. t=swc.393.a