Beckenham Hill to Nunhead and DONE!

Yesterday morning I decided to take on another segment of the Green Chain walk. So I hopped two trains to South London (not at the same time) and soon found myself back at Beckenham Hill, ready to hoof it.

The Green Chain in this area follows the same path as the Capital Ring, which you may remember I walked almost exactly three years ago. So I'd seen this territory before. Still, I enjoyed reawakening those memories while experiencing some new frustrations, such as trying to find the much-touted Edward VIII iron pillar mailbox near Stumps Hill. (Hint: Despite what the map says, it's not on Stumps Hill. It's on nearby Brackley Road. Unfortunately I only learned this afterwards.)

In Cator Park I was passed by a kid acrobatically standing on his bicycle seat while singing Steve Winwood's "Higher Love" at the top of his lungs. It amused me that a 9-year-old kid would be singing a 35-year-old song, though granted there have been more recent cover versions.

I eventually wound up in the community of Penge, near Crystal Palace, where I found lots of interesting street art the last time I passed through. There's still lots of art, though the pieces are new. I particularly liked this mural (above) of a great tit standing on a positive lateral flow test indicator.

Here's some more interesting art. The last time I was on this street it looked much different.

From there, I passed into Crystal Palace park, where I once again visited the Victorian dinosaur display:

The 170-year-old dinosaurs have experienced a rough time in recent years, with Historic England declaring them "at risk" and one losing part of its jaw. But there's been some repair and investment since then and they are definitely crowd-pleasers. You can't tell from this photo, but there were hordes of people visiting them. (They're fenced off and can be viewed only across the pond.)

I also found this rather peculiar statue in Crystal Palace park. Looks like someone has fitted it with the head of Egyptian goddess Wenut.

Crystal Palace Park is so named because it once contained the gigantic glass structure that housed the famous Exhibition of 1851. The structure was relocated from Hyde Park to this park in South London, where it burned down in 1936. The arches in the photo above are pretty much all that's left.

Although I'd finished segment ten of the Green Chain walk at this point, I decided to press on and complete the last segment as well. I walked through beautiful Sydenham Wells Park and on into Sydenham Hill Wood.

I found this dramatic scene at the Cox's Walk footbridge. Apparently the bridge has been closed for years and an improvement project was delayed because of a public outcry over the planned removal of two oak trees at the bridge's western end. The plans have since been reconsidered but the bridge is still closed -- which caused a problem for me, because the Green Chain route crosses it.

I found an alternate route and continued on, past Peckarman's Wood and into Horniman Gardens. (It's juvenile of me, but I can't stop laughing at some English place names.) At the Horniman Museum I had lunch -- an enormous grilled cheese sandwich -- overlooking the London skyline.

From there, the path passed through another park and a couple of cemeteries. This was probably the most impressive grave I saw. That's all for one person, with each of the stones carrying a separate message from one of her children and their families. A real king-sized bed, huh?

I came across this mailbox in a nearby neighborhood with a knitted mini-Stonehenge on the top!
 

And finally, my 9.5-mile walk concluded in Nunhead Cemetery, where the woods have been allowed to take over the gravesites and many headstones are now buried deep in the foliage. It's a wonderful place and although I'm not crazy about the idea of being buried myself, if I knew my grave was going to be so enveloped by nature I might go for it. This obelisk is a monument to "Scottish political martyrs."

I exited the cemetery and walked to the nearby Nunhead train station, where I bought a couple of garden plants (a Nicotiana and a silverleaf, which looks like what I know as a dusty miller) from an amazing garden shop called the Nunhead Gardener. Then I caught two trains home (not at the same time), and now I am finished with the Green Chain!