This section is from Eltham Station to Lower Sydenham a longer route, where we once again cross parts of the Capital Ring, because there are some parts where there is no other way through or round, but we found some new and different routes too! Here is what we found!
Starting off at Eltham Station we immediately took a detour down Well Hall Road instead of up! Because well, you guessed it, we needed coffee and a good coffee it was and worth the detour(See the review here).
With coffee in hand and heading up the entire hill, passing the Pleasurance Gardens (we still don’t know why it’s called that) and then past the Wicca Moon Crystal Shop, which was shut, being it was a Tuesday, we headed off the Main Road and down towards King John’s Walk, around the back of Eltham Palace and instead to where the horses are stabled and graze.
A long footpath sided by fields is a nice bit of a walk, there is a view of London to the right, but it’s the same view, so we didn’t bother – we know what it looks like! – and eventually having detoured (again) this time to pick Rosehips, we crossed Middle Park Avenue and a very confusing sign for the Capital Ring – thankfully we aren’t on the CR and we have a clear map to follow – downloadable via the CMHoL Page above!
Passing Joan Crescent (didn’t she have a bad back and hang around with Jean with the big nose?! (It’s an ongoing joke)) and over the railway bridge to find yourself at Sidcup Rd, across this and along a little footpath, to emerge on residential roads – all of which is following the CR, but there really is no other way. We did try to follow the Quaggy River, but so much of it is on Private Land, so it was the Ring Walk or nothing.
So along the road, past the riding school and WC Field’s house and down the footpath at the end of Eltham College and of course the most pointless sign ever (you’ll know it when you see it!)
Finally you find the Quaggy and follow it, past the end of the CR Section, that was one of the reasons we decided to make our own route, Section 3 of the CR, ends here, in the middle of nowhere, a mile from the nearest station, with no bus route or anything, why? So instead, we continued alongside the tiny river and into Chinbrook Meadows, a good place to stop for a coffee break or just a sit down! Before continuing on and through the railway tunnels and along another path.
Cross a small road and go down the alley – simply because it’s there – and then along more residential roads and then follow another footpath. It’s all quite pleasant or is that pleasurant?
The footpath runs alongside the Sundridge Park Golf Course, where the Quaggy splits into two streams and you leave it to meander. Instead take the road around the Allotments (yay Allotments!) and under a Railway Bridge and up to the high street.
More residential roads and then another alleyway to another park, Shakespeare Park, that becomes Downham Par k after a while, with some strange width restrictions at the gates!
Out the far end and onto a main road, cross a junction and head towards Beckenham Place Park – this is one of those places we really need to go back to for a day’s visit, this park is great, but we have only walked across it and by the time we did it this day, the coffee shop was already shut, which is a shame as it is a great one (see here). You can curtail the walk just before the park and head to Beckenham Hill Station and just add this to the next section, if you feel the tired feet already.
Otherwise having crossed the park and exited onto Beckenham Hill Road, cross over and into wonderfully named Braeside and then Overbrae to get to Worsley Bridge Road, then it’s just a few hundred metres walk along the main road, over the Pool River and up to Lower Sydenham Station and the end of the longest section of the CMHoL.
So if you want to try it for yourself, then go to the page dedicated to the walk and download the PDF and go try this and all the rest of the sections and if you do, please remember to post photos on Social Media with the hashtag #cmhol and if you want to see our journey for yourself, go watch London Creative Out & About on Youtube.
Climbing Moss 