Parametric data
- Route name:
- Dartford.
- Start point:
- Dartford.
- End point:
- Greenwich.
- This route on OS maps:
- https://explore.osmaps.com/route/16804606/ ...
- Distance:
- 10.9 miles walked, 10.2 miles flown.[1]
-
Duration
: -
3.5 hours.[2] - Ascent:
- 179 metres.
- Stiles:
- 0 (zero).
- Landmark of note:
- The Royal Observatory is hard to miss.
- Feasible excursion:
- This route was established, more or less, two millenia ago. Alternatives are somewhat academic. There are several paths criss-crossing Greenwich Park. Take your pick.
- Waypoints:
- Crayford, Bexley, Danson, Welling, Shooters Hill, Vanbrugh Park.
Weather:-
16°C,[3] 🌤️
Mild, sunny, dry and a moderate breeze: most unlike Spring.
I likes it.
-
Avoiding roads: -
I'll bet that Len the Legionary wasn't bothered by walking
in the road.[4]
-
Footpath construction: -
You don't have to do dirt, even through Greenwich Park.
-
Footpath condition: -
So level you could pot a snooker ball down eight miles of it.
- Refreshments:
- Gammon baguette at the Red Lion.
-
Vistas: -
Good if you divert up to the observatory. There is
this
from the path.
Blackberries:-
This isn't the walk for foraging.[5]
Route map.
Route notes.
Future walks will tend not to favour the capital's tarmac to the extent they do today. I may, though, repeat this at some stage because it has the benefit of easy walking, easy transport and even easier navigation.[6] I'll be going in the opposite direction, though, because walking into the sunset seems incautious at my age. OTOH, passing Maiden Lane, I see another of these discouragements that feature so frequently on walks nearer home. The price of the train ticket to get me to Dartford is bad enough, but now I've got to shell out big time on all the coal I need. Death and taxes.[7]
Approaching Danson Park, is another attempt to convince you that this A2 is incorrect. Skeptics seem in the majority, and two legged transportation (at any rate) best continues straight on. In 2010 I was at the Park for a local history group talk on (once nearby) Blendon Hall. Gt2 grandparents[8] were living there at the time of their marriage. I still have little idea why.
As 2pm and Shooter's Hill near, I pause at the Red Lion for a bite. Around here the bunting is more in evidence than elsewhere on the route, and the menu is heavy with 'Coronation' specials. One pint only not of Coronation Ale, and I'm gone. The crossroads, just along from there, I recognise from my walk a couple of weeks previously starting at Mottingham. That's about it, really. Keep an eye on the satnav as you head down Greenwich High Road toward the station. You may need to look twice before recognising it as one.
Strictly not a pic from the walk, I take a quick snap from the train window of St Pauls in Deptford. It saw the marriage of my gt3 grandparents[9] in 1822 ... I'm certain you'd want to see.