Mottingham to Beckenham

Yesterday I tackled the eighth segment of the Green Chain walk, a 6.3-mile route from Mottingham to Beckenham Place Park. It was a sunny and relatively warm day, good for walking. In fact although I wore a jacket, I had to take it off and tie it around my waist, the temperatures were so comfortable.

Before I started, I had coffee at a Mem's Cafe in Mottingham, across the street from the derelict Porcupine pub. I don't know if I was just jonesing at that point or what, but it seemed like really good coffee.

A bunch of guys in Harley Davidson vests and jackets and patches came in as I was leaving. It's not a look I see all that often in London, and I was perplexed until I saw that there's a Harley shop around the corner.

I got walking along this narrow fenced path between some woods and sports fields, and eventually came alongside the River Quaggy, a tributary of the Ravensbourne and eventually the Thames.

I found this curious graffiti on the pavement beside the river: "Boris is related to the royals, he won't leave till they say." (Apparently the relationship is real, though it's a very distant.)

The Quaggy is channelized through this area, and blooming daffodils brightened up the scene.

I detoured to do the so-called Chinbrook Link, a spur off the main path which took me through a neatly manicured public park and then along a wooded track past some allotments and the railroad. There were several trees down or broken, probably evidence of Storm Eunice a couple of weeks ago.

When I got to the end of the Chinbrook Link I had to retrace my steps along that muddy, slippery route to rejoin the main path. I'm not sure what the point of that side trip is, to be honest.

I passed through some neighborhoods with good views of Canary Wharf in the distance, and I began to recognize where I was. That's because this part of the walk is shared by the Capital Ring, the inner loop walk around London, which I did several years ago. I retraced my steps along the Downham Woodland Walk -- the teacups are still there.

This sign was a new feature, though. So many questions.

I ended up in Beckenham Place Park, near the 18th Century Beckenham Place Mansion. I was amused when I looked back at that post from three years ago to read that I was confused by the paths in the park, because they're still confusing. I eventually found my way but the directions are not entirely clear.

One flaw I have noticed in the walk maps (which I download from the TFL site) is that they often fail to give a sense of distance between points. For example, the map will say, "...after a while, turn left down a footpath." Well, what the heck is "a while"? Is it a meter or a mile?

Similarly, in Beckenham Place Park, the map said to cross the River Ravensbourne by a footbridge and "turn sharp left to take the path leading over the railway line." Well, there's an immediate left after the bridge and I almost took that, but something told me it wasn't correct, and I eventually realized that the intended path was actually a couple hundred yards farther along. You'd think they could SAY that.

Anyway, I figured it out, and then caught a train from the Beckenham Hill stop going back toward London. A good day out in the sun and fresh air!