Are you feeling sluggish after all those days sitting slumped in front of the
television, eating and drinking too much over Christmas? This month's walk
in south west London is guaranteed to put the spring back in your step and
get your circulation going for the New Year. It takes in one of the best
sections of the London Thames Path between Barnes and Putney, part of the
Beverley Brook walk and a ramble across Barnes Common.
Highlights
The towpath at Putney
The Beverley Brook Walk
Barnes Common
Barnes High Street
Thames Path at Barnes
Hammersmith Bridge
Harrods Village
London Wetlands Centre
Type of walk: circular
Time taken: two hours approx
Distance: 5.5 miles approx
This walk can be muddy in winter, with substantial stretches along
unsurfaced paths, so wear good shoes or boots
Start and finish: Putney station (train from Waterloo).
Turn right out of Putney station and walk down Putney High Street. On normal
weekdays, the high street is often clogged with traffic, partly because it
doubles as the A3. But in the New Year with many people still on holiday, it
is much quieter. Continue straight on down towards the river and the
junction with Putney Bridge Road, where you need to cross the road at the
pedestrian lights to the Whistle and Flute pub. Turn right, then left into
Lower Richmond Road, with the Thames on your right and the large bulk of the
Star and Garter pub and hotel ahead of you. Cross Lower Richmond Road so
that you are walking along the pavement nearest the river and veer right at
a sign saying Riverside Walk.
You are now on the Embankment, which leads to Putney's boathouses. Putney is
famous as the starting point for the annual Varsity boat race between Oxford
and Cambridge universities. A number of schools, including Westminster and
Kings College School, also have boat houses here, opposite the concrete boat
ramp leading down into the Thames.
If you walk along the Thames from east to west on the south bank, Putney is
where the river starts to get rural as riverside industries give way to
elegant parks and gardens, with poplars and weeping willows lining the river
banks.
Continue straight ahead until the road ends at a pedestrian bridge. The river
flowing underneath the bridge is the Beverley Brook, one of a number of
little-noticed tributaries flowing into the Thames from the far-flung
suburbs of south London and Surrey. The Beverley Brook runs through some of
south west London's loveliest open spaces, rising at New Malden and flowing
for seven miles through Wimbledon Common, Richmond Park and Barnes, winding
through people's back gardens and under suburban streets, before joining the
Thames at Putney.
It is now possible to walk the whole length of the Beverley Brook along
signposted tracks (although the signposts are not always totally clear so
you need to concentrate and read your map). The walk route follows the
Beverley Brook from Putney to Barnes, so look for a green metal Beverley
Brook Walk sign to your left immediately after the pedestrian bridge, and
turn away from the Thames.
The path runs alongside playing fields and you are soon out of sight of houses
and in the open air. Keep going along the path beside the brook, ignoring a
footbridge to your left, until you see another green metal walk sign to your
left. Follow this across the bridge to the open grass of Putney Common and
look for a wooden post with a red and yellow logo of a deer and arrow,
another indicator of the Beverley Brook Walk route.
The route veers round to the right past tennis courts on your right and the
gravestones of Putney cemetary on your left. Keep going straight ahead to
the car park and look for a green Beverley Brook Walk fingerpost on the
opposite side of the access road. This leads you along a well-used path
through grass to Rocks Lane. Cross the road and pick up the tarmac path
leading straight ahead across the inviting open space of Barnes Common,
looking right for a glimpse of the large red brick Edwardian houses of
Ranelagh Gardens, characteristic of the area. Barnes is sought after and
expensive, despite its somewhat isolated position on a loop of the Thames.
At the junction of two tarmac paths, turn right and continue straight ahead to
Barnes Green. This is where you rejoin the Beverley Brook, which has been
flowing under roads and through gardens while you have been crossing Putney
and Barnes Commons. Cross the small bridge onto the green and keep straight
on along the left of two tarmac paths, with the barn-like red brick building
of the Methodist church to your left.
Pass a pond on your right and cross Station Road at its junction with Barnes
High Street. This and surrounding streets are lined with pretty Victorian
cottages and the High Street itself has Victorian shop fronts displaying
upmarket deli food, fresh fish, meat and cheese. This is also a good place
either to pick up some food and drink for a picnic by the river, if it is
warm enough, or, more likely, to take the chill off with a meal and drink in
a pub or restaurant. There is a choice of pubs serving the local Youngs ale,
alongside pizza and pasta chains like Pizza Express and Strada.
The route continues to the end of the High Street where it meets the river,
with the distinctive curves of Barnes Bridge to your left. Cross to the
river at the zebra crossing by Strada and turn right, with a short diversion
to your left, if you want to admire the handsome Regency houses in The
Terrace, once home to the composer Gustav Holst among others.
This done, continue up Lonsdale Road past the Bull's Head, along a raised
pavement with railings by the Thames. Where the railings end, look for a
path off to the left marked by a Thames Path sign and leave the road for the
peace of the river. This is the start of one of the best London sections of
the 184-mile Thames Path, a wide earth path shaded with trees, with views
over to the Georgian terraces of Chiswick Mall and Upper Mall in
Hammmersmith.
The path sweeps up to the tip of the peninsula at Castelnau, past the academic
hothouse of St Paul's Boys School and under Hammersmith Bridge. The current
bridge was built in 1887 by Joseph Bazalgette, its curves and pillars
resplendent in green and gold after a recent restoration.
When the bridge was closed for repairs for two years in 1997, the upside for
residents of normally trafficky Castelnau was that their roads were more
peaceful than they could ever remember. The downside was that getting out of
the area proved a logistical nightmare, as Hammersmith Bridge was the only
route to the north side of the river for several miles.
Continue along the path under Hammersmith Bridge (duck if you are of normal
height because the bridge is only about five and a half feet above the
path). Shortly after Hammersmith Bridge you reach the grand terracotta
buildings of Harrods Village, once Harrods Furniture Depository and now
converted into luxury apartments.
Next door to Harrods Village is the London Wetlands Centre, a haven for
birdwatchers and nature lovers which has become one of London's most popular
destinations for a day out. The centre was built in 2000 on what used to be
the Barn Elms Waterworks, a series of reservoirs which were no longer needed
when Thames Water completed its London ring main. If you want to visit the
Wetlands Centre, look for a path to the right off the Thames Path signposted
Red Lion 600 yards. This leads to the main entrance to the centre in Queen
Elizabeth Walk.
Otherwise, continue on (almost certainly alongside joggers, dogwalkers and
families out for a stroll) to a stone memorial. This was erected to
commemorate Steve Fairbairn, founder of the head of the river race in 1926.
The obelisk is "exactly a mile from the start of the university boat
race course" and still used as a formal distance marker.
Ahead of you is the small footbridge over the Beverley Brook where you left
the Thames to walk to Barnes. Cross back over the bridge and retrace your
steps back up Putney High Street to Putney station and the end of the walk.
