Saturday Walk - East London Double Bill (II): Dagenham Parks, Rivers and Ponds

Length: 10.1 km (6.3 mi) [shorter walk possible, see below]

Ascent/Descent: negligible

Net Walking Time: ca. 2 ¼ hours 

 

Arrive at Dagenham East station for a 14.00 start. Dagenham East is in Zone 5, on the District Line to Upminster. Journey time from Aldgate East is 32 minutes, from Victoria 49 minutes. You can shave off a few minutes by taking mainline trains from Fenchurch Street (or from Limehouse or West Ham) to Barking for part of the journey (half-hourly today).

 

This is an exploration of several linked green areas in an otherwise densely populated East London suburb, leading through some Local Nature Reserves, two Country Parks, an ex-landfill site and ex-quarry, a river floodplain and along the recently restored beds of the Wantz Stream and the Beam and Rom Rivers.

This walk has a large variety of landscapes, from acid grassland, fenland and woodland to marshland and sandy shrubland via woods and a tranquil meandering valley. 

 

Beam Parklands provides functional flood prevention and public open space for the community, while the Beam Valley Country Park was formerly derelict land after having been partly worked for gravel, leaving a wide diversity of habitats, with wet and dry grassland, tall herbs and scrub, and one small area of willow woodland, a scarce habitat in London. 

The Chase Local Nature Reserve has large areas of marshland and contains 6 of only 600 mature female Black Poplar trees left in the UK as well as a fenced off Bird Sanctuary (The Slack).  

Eastbrookend Country Park, now an interesting, undulating landscape, was formerly a gravel quarry then a dumping ground for the rubble left over from the blitz. 

 

A shortcut at the northerly end of the walk reduces the length by 2.3 km.

 

For a summary, walk directions, map, height profile, photos and gpx/kml files click here. 

 

Refreshments at the end: The Pipe Major. T=short.33

Saturday Walk: Angel to Limehouse or Tower Bridge

7 miles / 11.5 km to Limehouse

This is an easy walk following the Regents Canal to Victoria Park and on through Mile End to Limehouse.  From here you can extend the walk by a couple of miles to Tower Bridge following the Thames Path.

Meeting Place:  Angel Underground Station 11:30 a.m.

Lunch/Refreshments - There a couple of cafes in Victoria Park, and plenty of eating and drinking places in the surrounding streets.  The Thames Path will take you past several historic waterside pubs.

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Classic Chilterns: Chesham Circular or Chesham to Amersham

Classic Chilterns: Chesham Circular or Chesham to Amersham (Book 2 Walk 4/Book 1 Walk Combo 5) t=2.4

Distance:  For the Chesham Circular via The Lee -- 10 miles/16.1 km

                   For Chesham to Amersham – approximately 16 miles/25.7 km

Difficulty:  3 out of 10 for Chesham circuit and 5 out of 10 for Amersham ending

Train:  Take the 9:45ish AM Chesham bound Metropolitan Line from Baker Street, arriving at Chesham at 10:49. Return tube trains are twice an hour from Chesham (28 and 58 past the hour) and Amersham (20 and 50 minutes past the hour).

Desperate times call for creative measures….With the massive rail strike options are limited – so on offer today are two Chilterns classics, either a Chesham circular or a longer experimental route from Chesham to Amersham. The Chesham circular route goes via the The Lee, a pretty village for lunch at the Cock and Rabbit with instructions here. Note I do not think that there is a GPS file for the circular route via The Lee – so text will be key!

The Amersham ending is a bit of an experiment – using the short cut for the Chesham to Great Miss walk, then picking up the Great Miss to Amersham walk with lunch either in Great Miss or later on in Little Miss. More information and instructions for both walk components are here and here.

Check the walk notes for post walk refreshies – though I note in Chesham the Drawing Room is now closed….

Enjoy the walk!

Saturday Walk - East London Double Bill (I): Open water, grassland, woodland, marshland, fenland, green spaces - The Ingrebourne Valley

Open water, grassland, woodland, marshland, fenland via a series of linked green spaces along the Ingrebourne River: Hornchurch to Upminster

Length: 11.7 km/7.3 mi; 

Height Gain: 90m

Net Walking Time: 2 ½ hours

 

Meet 10.15 hours prompt outside Hornchurch Station (District Line to Upminster, in Zone 6), travel time from Tower Hill 43 minutes, from West Ham (Jubilee Line, DLR and Mainline trains) 25 minutes, from Barking 14 minutes, from Upminster 3 minutes. 

Your fastest option will be to take the 09.35 Shoeburyness train from Fenchurch Street (West Ham 09.52, Barking 09.56), arrives Upminster 10.00 and travel back on the District Line to Hornchurch. [Fenchurch Street Mainline Station is a 2-minutes walk from Tower Hill tube and 10 from Bank)] 

Return trains from Upminster: xx.16, xx.46. 

Return District Line: every few minutes 

 

The part of the Ingrebourne Valley walked through on this walk comprises a varied and unique mixture of interlinked and partly overlapping local green spaces - Ingrebourne Valley Greenway, Berwick Glades, Berwick Woods, Hornchurch Country Park, Ingrebourne Hill and the Sutton, Hacton and Gaynes Parkways. These include habitats ranging from river, open water, grassland, secondary and ancient woodland, marshland, fenland (with the largest continuous area of freshwater reed beds in Greater London), and – not to forget – some arable farmland.

Partly former airfield, ex-quarries, farmland or landfill site, it is now a continuous green space and contains – pound for pound – one of the best viewpoints of London’s Skyline, from all of 11 metres above sea!

Walk Options: 

Several shortcuts are possible, as the southerly parts of the outbound and return routes are running close to each other, these are obvious on the route map. 

Bus Stops for services to District Line stations are located close to the route after 8.0 km and 9.2 km. 

Follow the outbound route back to Hornchurch station instead of going to Upminster: cut 1.8 km. 

An Extension through Berwick Woods to the reed-fringed Berwick Pond adds 1.4 km. 

An Alternative Ending at Rainham station links up with the start of SWC 172 - Rainham to Purfleet (via RSPB Rainham Marshes); Hornchurch to Rainham is a 7.2 km/4.5 mi walk.

 

Refreshments: 

Ingrebourne Valley Visitor Centre in Hornchurch Country Park. The visitor centre is located 3.9 km from the end of the walk.

Several Restaurants, Pubs and a Tap Room in Upminster, see the pdf or webpage for details. 

 

For a detailed route map, gpx/kml file, photos and pdf directions click here. T=short.34

Evening Walk - The Wandle Trail (Colliers Wood to Putney or Hammersmith)

Length: 8.8 km (5.5 mi) [longer to H’smith]

Net Walking Time: 2 hrs

Meet: Colliers Wood Station at 18.30 hours. Colliers Wood is on the Northern line in Zone 3, and a 26-minute journey from Bank. 

Finish: either at Putney Bridge station (District Line) or at Putney Mainline (trains to Waterloo). You can also walk on to Hammersmith (Piccadilly, District and Hammersmith & City lines). 

Drop-Outs: Haydens Road station, Earlsfield station, Wandsworth station. 

 

This walk follows the last 6 km of the River Wandle Trail in south west London to the River Thames, then follows a pretty stretch of the Thames Path through Wandsworth Park to Putney. The walk finishes at a large riverside pub, with options to continue along the Thames Path or explore 2 more riverside parks. The Wandle Trail section is a mix of paths alongside a narrow river, small urban parks and open spaces (some nice, some unkempt) passing back gardens and some industrial areas. The Trail is waymarked, but mainly for cyclists (blue signs with a water wheel for cyclists, green signs with a water wheel for walkers).

Eat/Drink: By Putney Bridge - a Wetherspoon’s and a Young’s.

For walk directions, map, photos, and gpx/kml files click here. T=short.25

Wednesday Walk Witley to Haslemere - along sunken bridleways in the morning to the historic village of Chiddingfold, then through woodland in the afternoon to Haslemere

Book 1 Walk 44 - Witley to Haslemere

Length: 14.5 km (9 miles)

Toughness: 3 plus out of 10

London Waterloo:  09-45 hrs   SouthWestern service to Portsmouth & Southsea   CJ 09-52; Woking 10-13 hrs

Arrive Witley: 10-42 hrs

Return

Haslemere to Waterloo: Four SouthWestern trains an hour at approx 00, 15, 25 and 37 mins past the hour

Rail ticket: buy a day return to Haslermere

Rail strikes are planned by RMT for 18 and 20 August, with an underground strike on 19 August, so I suggest you do not linger too long over tea but try to catch an early(ish) train back to Waterloo.

Despite two of the walk's main features having closed in recent years, namely the Lockwood Donkey Sanctuary in the morning, and Sydenhurst - the Ukrainian war veterans home - in the afternoon, today's walk in western Surrey still has lots to offer. In winter the morning's sunken bridleways can be a mud fest but today, assuming the drought continues, these paths are likely to be rock hard. The pleasant morning leg of the walk concludes with a descent from a ridge path to a churchyard which leads into the historic and picturesque village of Chiddingfold, where we stop for lunch at the ancient Crown Inn. Booking ahead is advisable (01428-682255) your e.t.a is 12-30 pm.

After lunch the walk continues first along a quiet lane, passing the former Ukrainian home on your left, then it is over fields and through shaded woodland all the way to Haslemere. The two cafes in town, opposite one another, Darnleys and Hemingways, await your post-walk custom (although see rail strike comment).

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Walk Directions are here: L=1.44

Sunday Walk – Amberley to Pulborough (or Circular)

Extra Walk 14b – Amberley to Pulborough (or #11 Circular)

#14b, finishing at Pulborough: 16 km (9.9 miles). Toughness 3/10.
#11, returning to Amberley: 18.3 km (11.4 miles). Toughness 5/10.

The first 750m of these walks is the same as last Saturday's Amberley Circular, but the rest is completely different.

09:35 Portsmouth Harbour train from Victoria (Clapham Jct 09:42, East Croydon 09:53), arriving Amberley at 10:58. There will be frequent on-train announcements exhorting you to be in the front five coaches.

Return trains to Victoria are hourly at xx:58 from Amberley, xx:04 from Pulborough.

These two walks were developed at about the same time and have the same morning route: starting through water meadows beside the River Arun and continuing via Amberley village, Rackham and the grounds of Parham Park to the Crown Inn at Cootham for lunch. Afterwards you can choose between:

• a fairly gentle route past the gliders at Parham Airfield to RSPB Pulborough Brooks Nature Reserve at Wiggonholt (which has a tearoom in its Visitor Centre, open to 4pm), then alongside the River Arun to return from Pulborough station;
• a slightly longer and more strenuous route onto and along the crest of the South Downs, eventually descending to Houghton Bridge and returning from Amberley station. Refreshments are available at either the Riverside South Downs tearoom or the Bridge Inn, but note that both close at 5pm.

You'll need to bring the walk directions from either the L=swc.14.b (click on Option b) or the Amberley Circular walk, depending on your choice of afternoon route.