Starting in Charlton

No, that's not Olga. That's a random dog I met when I walked another link of the Green Chain yesterday. It was tied up across the street from a shop, waiting for its owner and looking a bit anxious.

The weather was bright and sunny when I set out in the morning and took the tube and then a bus down to Charlton, near Greenwich. The route I planned to walk is a bit awkward -- it's shaped like a Y, forking about halfway through. I'd have to choose the A route or the B route, and being a completist, I wanted to do both. So I knew I'd have to figure that out.

I began in Charlton, where I met the dog, and walked through Charlton Park.

There was some tree surgery going on outside Charlton House. I hope they weren't cutting it down entirely, but I didn't stick around to find out.

I walked toward Woolwich and Plumstead, where I came across this brightly tiled pedestrian underpass. The interior was filled with mosaics of animals and angels. An odd combination, but colorful and intriguing.

I also passed this very ordinary block of flats that someone tried to jazz up with a Miami Beach-style canopy. I'm not sure it worked.

My walk took me across Plumstead Common, where I found someone's lost dog collar and tag hanging from a fence. Mindful of my own recent experience with losing a dog tag, I called the phone number and told the owner where they could find it. They seemed very appreciative so hopefully they'll follow through and retrieve it.

I then walked on to an area called "The Slade," where these houses overlooked a rather steep drop into a park with a pond. Those houses have a great view, and at first I thought that must be a desirable place to live. But then I wondered if they have to maintain that retaining wall. And what's their insurance payment like?

I walked all the way to Bostall Woods, where you may remember a couple of these Green Chain walks have taken me before. Don't try to use the public restrooms there, by the way. They're locked. Is there anything more annoying than being on a long walk and coming across a public restroom, only to find it inaccessible?

That was the end of the A route. I found that I could catch a bus down Plumstead High Street and pretty easily walk back to the fork in the path, so I could also take the B route. On the way, I popped into a pub and bought a bag of chips and used their loo. Thank goodness for pubs.

The B route also took me across Plumstead Common, but headed in a different direction, toward Oxleas Woods. As you can see, by this time clouds had settled in and the rest of the afternoon was gray and chilly. I passed these intrepid people out with their hula hoops. I haven't seen anyone use a hula hoop in ages.

"YOU SHALL NOT PASS!"

(I did anyway.)

This was quite a cat-friendly area.

After walking across some very high ground with spectacular views over the Thames Valley, I finished my walk in Oxleas Meadows, at the same cafe where I had lunch a couple of weeks ago. (It was closed yesterday, though, so my bag of chips turned out to be my lunch.) From there I caught a bus back to a tube station and returned home.

While riding on the bus, I passed this group of horseback riders from (I believe) the nearby military barracks at Woolwich:

Interesting that one of the horses is riderless. Is that a symbolic thing, or did someone just not show up for horse-riding duty?

All in all, I walked about six miles, counting some extra walking I did through Charlton at the beginning. After sitting around the house through so many recent rainy days, it felt good to finally get some exercise!