London LOOP: Erith to Petts Wood Part 2

I'm undertaking a project to walk the entirety of the London LOOP, from Erith to Purfleet clockwise round the outer edge of London. Here's section 1, part 2.

TfL's Section 2 of the LOOP has me heading down a narrow lane, passing under the railway line and emerging alongside some fields. The path bends to the right, coming up alongside Bexley Cricket Club & Burnt Ash Hockey Club, before climbing for a short distance to leave me looking out across a wide expanse of grassland. The LOOP runs straight through the middle, down a rough descent then along a freshly ploughed field, before leading into a cul-de-sac. I'm only on Riverside Road for about 50 metres before I'm directed down a narrow fenced path, which empties me out onto a bridge over, you guessed it, our old friend the River Cray. I wend my way beside the river, with the path at times becoming uncomfortably close to being in the river itself. Soon I pass Five Arches Bridge, where a group of youths clamour for me to take their picture, having been just starting to cross the bridge when I photographed it. Thankfully they're not going the same way as me, and I carry on in peace towards what will be my last crossing of the River Cray, over Penny Farthing Bridge. I come to a small open space amongst the trees and leave the Cray behind for good this time; its accompanied me on the nicest sections of this walk so far.

My route takes me onto Rectory Road, past a youth & community centre who were definitely trying to tell me something, and on to a crossroads. Straight over, then second right to the end of a cul-de-sac, where I then turned left down a narrow path that led me into Foots Cray Recreation Ground. By this point it was half past 5 and starting to get dark, and I was beginning to wonder just how dark it was going to be when I got to Petts Wood. I pressed on, up a rising path past allotments and fields, passing also (although I didn't realise at the time) the former home of Cray Wanderers FC. Soon I reached the bottom of Sidcup Place Park, which climbed steeply towards a line of trees and behind them, Sidcup Place itself. I pass through the trees and round a playground, then curse my stupidity when I turn around and glimpse a fine view, now obscured by the trees. Whilst not completely exhausted, I'm in no mood to go back down that hill, and so I turn my back and head on.

Sidcup Place was built in the 1750s and extended throughout the 19th and early 20th century. Today it houses a restaurant, but has been used as a school and as council offices in the past. I pass by the side of the building, drawing a strangely interested look from a family by a window, and walk over the grass to the main road, the A222. Passing Queen Mary's Hospital on the left, I'm coming up to a bit of road I'm very familiar with; Frognal Corner, the junction of the A20 with the A222. I pass under the junction via stairs, ramps and subways, and emerge on the London-bound exit slip road of the A20, where I'm directed through a metal gate into the northeastern fringe of Scadbury Nature Reserve. The path starts to slope downwards as I'm taken southwards through the woods, with the light fading. I pass a lone dog walker as the route curves to the right, heading towards Scadbury Manor House, and soon I'm standing by the moat that surrounds the house. Owned by the Walsinghams in the Middle Ages, the original structure was demolished in the 1800s, and partially reconstructed in the 1930s using the ground plan as a guide. All that remains today are some brick pillars and chimneys, and a staircase.

The light by this point is fading badly, and I hurry onwards, my thoughts now more about just getting to the endpoint before darkness falls completely. The path starts to slope uphill again, and it's not long before I meet a tarmacked road, which leads me out to St Paul's Cray Road. Eventually a gap in the traffic lets me scamper across, and I pass into Petts Wood. The doleful hooting of an owl serenades me as I walk briskly through the gloomy trees, heading steadily downhill again. By the time I reach the railway line at the bottom of the hill darkness has fully descended, and I'm now finding it difficult to see where I'm going. I'm startled by another dog walker, who's going the opposite way (into the woods in the dark?) before coming to a footbridge over the railway line (the Chatham Main Line). I quickly come to another footbridge over a railway line, this one crossing the Up Chatham Loop between the Chatham Main Line and the South Eastern Main Line. A narrow footpath brings me out into the cul-de-sac of Little Thrift, where the very last part of this walk is unwalkable, as Network Rail have removed the footbridge carrying the LOOP over more railway lines. The last mile or so then is a trudge through suburbia, before reaching Petts Wood railway station, 6 hours and 47 minutes after I left Erith.

I slump on a bench on platform 3 at Petts Wood, happy to rest my weary legs. In truth, my misjudgement of the time it would take me to complete this walk meant the last 2-3 miles were not as enjoyable as the rest of the walk, but nevertheless, it was a fine start to this project. When I got home and plotted my route in Google Earth, I found one reason for the misjudgement; the planned mileage had been 15 miles, but I'd ended up walking 17.2! No wonder then that I'd finished almost an hour later than anticipated. Still, the walk had been very enjoyable, and had left me excited for what lay ahead.

More photos from this walk here:

 

London LOOP: Erith to Petts Wood Part 1

I'm undertaking a project to walk the entirety of the London LOOP, from Erith to Purfleet clockwise round the outer edge of London. Here's section 1.

Huzzah! It's 12:18 on the 18th March, and I'm finally standing outside Erith station, ready to start the first section of the London LOOP (London Outer Orbital Path, making it somewhat of a tautology like ATM machine or PIN number). The LOOP doesn't actually start at Erith station, so there's a brief walk through a new build housing estate, heavy with the smell of fresh tarmac, before I reach Erith Riverside Gardens and the start proper of the London Outer Orbital Path. The gardens themselves are unspectacular, standard brick flowerbeds and a ship's mast now used as a flagpole, but as the origin of one of London's longest walking routes it's pretty significant. You would think, being called the Riverside Gardens that there would be a river nearby, and you would think right; midway along the riverfront there is a step to some stairs going down to the Thames Path, which gives a nice panorama of the river at this point. I snapped a few photos, then set off properly on the London LOOP.

The Thames Path is rather relevant at this point, as it shadows the London LOOP for some distance. This meant the first section of this walk was sort of familiar, as I'd walked the Thames Path a couple of years ago. Exiting the Riverside Gardens I passed the first of many information boards about the LOOP, this one detailing some of the history of Erith (for instance King Henry VIII's warship Great Harry was fitted out in Erith). Heading up Erith High Street I passed the old police station (still with a weathered-looking sign asserting it was no longer a police station), then the Cross Keys pub, turning left down a path just before the Erith Playhouse. This path led me back out to the Thames, where a pier stretched out into the murky water. Opened in 1845, it's a legacy from the days when Erith attempted to become a fashionable Victorian seaside resort; unfortunately the railway arrived in 1849, considerably cutting journey times to London, and the opening of the Crossness Sewage Works upriver in 1865 hastened the demise of the town as a leisure destination. The pier was sold to a coal merchants in the late 19th century, and was rebuilt in concrete in the 1950s before being abandoned, then rescued by Morrison's supermarket in the late 1990s. Nowadays it's a popular spot for fishing, or to sit and watch the river go by.

After nipping into the aforementioned Morrison's, the LOOP took me back out to the river for a short stretch, before making a lengthy detour along Manor Road, lined with various industrial units. I suspected this would be the least scenic part of the route, and was relieved when I saw the signpost directing me left down a path back towards the river. The path curved to the right, then led me out onto the top of a raised bank, looking out across Crayford Marshes, with the river to my right and the QE2 Bridge in the distance ahead. The path wound across the grassland, curving gently with the riverbank. Unfortunately the natural beauty is blighted by an industrial estate, of which the path follows the northern edge. As you round Crayford Ness a large, rather brutal concrete structure reveals itself; this is the cumbersomely named Dartford Creek Tidal Flood Barrier, which stops the River Darent from inundating a large swathe of southeast London/northwest Kent. Talking of the Darent, this is where I take my leave of the Thames (I won't see it again until Kingston), and follow the Darent for a bit. The landscape doesn't change much, except I'm now heading roughly south. The Darent is not a particularly pretty river, but it's not long before I reach the junction with the river Cray, which will now feature quite heavily over the next few miles.

The Cray at this point is mostly invisible under an abundance of reeds, but this stretch only lasts about 1/2 a mile before I'm diverted off onto a path that runs through the southern tip of another industrial estate. A swarm of seagulls swoop over a landfill site, and a pair of angry dogs warn me off trespassing (not that I was about to). Under a railway bridge, and suddenly I'm on a busy main road, the A206 to be precise. I cross the road, head past a roundabout and cross again, then carry on down a short distance to the entrance to the next part of what I discover is now the Cray Riverway. From this point the Cray is much more pleasant, wending its way between the backs of houses and yet another industrial estate, but screened from the latter by trees and bushes. A few pylons stalked the opposite bank as the river and I wound our way towards Crayford (the origin of the name should be fairly obvious). The riverside path ends up on Crayford Way, opposite the Cray Gardens, just to the north of the town centre. Having taken advantage of a handy convenience, I walked through the gardens, which contained several artworks commemorating people and past industries of Crayford, such as David Evans (the silk manufacturer) and the old Vickers plane factory. The Cray runs through these gardens, but I won't see it again for just over half a mile.

The LOOP takes me up London Road (how many London Roads are there in London?) past some residential blocks and an entrance to the estate where the aforementioned David Evans silk factory used to stand (closed in 2001), then left into Bourne Road, where a former theatre turned cinema turned car showroom still has some ornate lamp columns flanking its forecourt. Immediately afterwards I'm directed into a large park, where several amateur football games were taking place. It's here I rejoin the Cray as it divides this park in two. The path takes me past a bridge that I very soon have to return to, as the bridge I'm supposed to go over is blocked off by utility works, as is the entire path down to the southern edge of the park. (My preoccupation with this meant I missed one of the landmarks of the walk, Hall Place). I end up scrambling down and up the sides of a ditch, and find myself alongside a railway line (it's the Sidcup line). A short walk on, past a couple who clearly thought this part of the park would be unsullied by other human presence, and up a flight of stairs, which dumps me out straight onto the busy A2; quite the contrast to the last mile or so.

Luckily I'm only on the road for a few moments, before I take a gently sloping path down to... yet more utility works. These however appear to have actually blocked my way forward, as I'm supposed to turn sharp left after the initial downward path. After yomping through some undergrowth in an attempt to find a way through, I'm left cursing the utility company; that is until I spot the path I want when I return to the original way. Feeling suitably foolish, I pass under the A2 alongside the railway line again, and mount a stile to get into Church Field Wood, which slopes uphill towards Bexley. Out of the woods and onto a path which brings me out opposite St Mary the Virgin Church, which has stood in Bexley for over 800 years. I cross the Cray again as the path takes me into Bexley town centre, which is where section 1 of the official TfL LOOP ends. I however am carrying on...

Part 2 here

A moan about an advert...

It's time for my first moany blog, or mlog if you like that sort of thing (I don't, that sounds stupid). I see this advert on the train into work quite often:




There are several things that irritate me about this picture:

1. Why is the man on the left so shocked?
2. Where is the woman at the table aiming?
3. Why are they still playing when the people playing yellow have clearly won?
4. Why is the man on the right shouting?
5. Why isn't the woman at the table even pointing her cue at the cue ball?

I know it's a staged photo but really, put some effort into it please!

P.S. I'm still writing about my not-very-recent-any-more train journey and my first London LOOP walk, they will get done soon I promise!