This month's walk takes you round Greenwich's Christmas markets, through the Royal College and its seasonal ice rink, past a tempting choice of pubs and restaurants and up the hill to the Victorian village of Blackheath before returning to Greenwich across Greenwich Park.

Highlights

Cutty Sark and the River Thames
Royal Naval College
Greenwich ice rink
Greenwich covered market and town centre
Stockwell Street market
The Point, Blackheath
Blackheath and Blackheath Village shops
Greenwich Park


Type of walk: circular, starting and finishing at Cutty Sark Docklands Light Railway (DLR). Trains run from Bank, Tower Gateway, Canary Wharf and Lewisham). (Linear alternative: start at Cutty Sark DLR and finish at Blackheath where trains run to London Bridge, Waterloo East and Charing Cross)

Distance: Six miles approx.

Time: 2.5 to 3 hours

Weekends are the best time to do this walk as this is when all the markets are open. Greenwich covered market is open from Thursday to Sunday, the Village Market in Stockwell Street is open on Saturdays and Sundays and the Farmer's Market in Blackheath is open on Sundays.

Start. Come out of Greenwich DLR station and turn left, walking through an archway to the main road, then turn left again to see the Cutty Sark ahead, seaonally decorated with a Christmas tree on one of its masts. This famous Victorian tea-clipper recently faced the possibility of being dismantled because its hull is rotting. But thanks to an energetic local campaign it has won a Heritage Lottery Grant for half of the £25 million needed to make repairs. As part of the renovation, the ship will be lifted off the ground onto a high tech sling so that visitors can walk round the hull.

Walk straight on for a view across one of London's most varied stretches of riverside, with the Royal Naval College to the east a stark contrast to the silos further downriver towards Woolwich. Almost the whole river front between Greenwich and Deptford to the west is now covered with new apartment blocks of varying levels of blandness, replacing the industrial buildings which used to line the mouth of the River Ravensbourne where it flows into the Thames at Deptford.

The small domed brick building by the river is the entrance to the Greenwich foot tunnel (look across the river and you can see its twin on the other side). Until the DLR was opened in November 1999, this was the only way of getting between Greenwich and the Isle of Dogs.

Turn right past the tunnel building and walk past Greenwich Pier on your left to take the narrow path by the river with black painted railings on your right. Take the elaborately wrought second gate, Water Gate, into the grounds of the Old Royal Naval College, planned by Christopher Wren for Charles II. Look at the ground as you walk for a plaque which explains you are walking on the remains of the tudor palace where Elizabeth I was born in 1533.

The view towards the Old Royal Naval College from the Thames is sublime, especially on a crisp sunny winter's day when the twin domes and their gold weathercocks gleam in the sunlight and the green hill of Greenwich Park rises up beyond the Domes, topped by the Royal Observatory.

For years, these wonderful buildings were owned by the Ministry of Defence and closed to the public but now the buildings are occupied by the University of Greenwich and Trinity College of Music. You can walk freely around the grounds and into the Painted Hall and Royal Naval College chapel, before getting into a festive mood by watching the skaters on the Greenwich ice rink in the College grounds. If you want to skate, you have to book in advance but watching is just as much fun, preferably with a warming hot chocolate from the rink-side café/bar built across the terrace between the Chapel and the Painted Hall. It has views of the skating rink, the Queen's House and Greenwich Park on one side and the Thames on the other.

Retrace your steps away from the skating rink, go down the steps towards the river and turn left past the Painted Hall to the main gates of the Old Royal Naval College. Along the drive to the gates, a line of Christmas stalls is selling cards, candles, flower arrangements, jewellery and ceramics on the weekend of December 10 and 11, and from December 15 to Christmas Eve.

Cross the road ahead and cross again at the pedestrian crossing, turn right up College Street away from the Royal Naval College and enter the Greenwich covered market under a stone arch.

This is definitely the best of Greenwich's markets, smelling of incense, spices and baking, a feast of fresh food, homemade gifts, crafts, children's toys, clothes, stalls selling New Age crystals, silks, cushions and hangings and stallholders offering homeopathic remedies and tattoos. There are stalls selling fudge and cakes, homemade sausages and cheeses, old prints of London and hot spicy drinks flavoured with apple, ginger and cinnamon from Ye Olde Drinks Co next to the Coach and Horses pub.

The shops lining each side of the market are well worth a look for off-the-wall Christmas presents as well. Try Cuffs & Co for cufflinks and ties, Autumn & May for distinctive delicate gold and sliver jewellery and watches and Compendium, which sells every conceivable board game from Monopoly to adult drinking games to while away Christmas afternoon. The market gets quite crowded at weekends so be prepared for a squash between the closely packed stalls.

Leave the market by the narrow path between shops, passing Marcet Books second-hand bookshop on your left and the Warwick Leadlay gallery on your right selling antique prints, maps and globes. Turn right when you emerge onto Nelson Road and follow the road round past Pizza Express (good for a predictable lunch if you're hungry at this point). If you need Christmas cards, take a detour across the road to the eighteenth century St Alfege's Church, built by Nicholas Hawsmoor, where charity Christmas cards are on sale in the church porch every day except Sundays until December 17.

Otherwise, continue along Greenwich High Road to its junction with Stockwell Street and go through the gates on the left. This is the Village Market, full of second hand clothes, old records, tatty paperback books and antique furniture of various vintages and values. Not the most obvious place to come for Christmas presents but good fun for a browse. If you enjoy markets, make the most of this one because developers are trying to push through plans to build houses on the site, sweeping away most of the market stalls.

When you come out of the market, cross Stockwell Street to Cafe Rouge. Walk up Greenwich High Road following signs to Greenwich Station, Post Office and Police Station, passing the recently reopened Greenwich Picturehouse and another smaller, second-hand market on your left. Turn left up Royal Hill to a parade of small, luscious shops busy with locals stocking up for Christmas. Try The Creaky Shed, which sells beautifully packaged chocolates, Drings the butcher for real meat and The Cheese Board for cheeses and breads.

A few doors further along is the Greenwich Union, part of the Meantime Brewing Company which brews its own range of wheat, fruit and more exotic chocolate and coffee beers. This is a good place to stop for lunch, served in a light and airy restaurant at the back.

Otherwise (or after lunch) keep walking up Royal Hill, turn left up Point Hill and right into Maidenstone Hill. Here most of the tall narrow Georgian townhouses and smaller Victorian terraces have been well cared for by their increasingly affluent owners.

Half way along Maidenstone Hill take the stepped tarmac footpath leading up the hill to the left. Where the path swings round to the left, take the steep steps up and emerge onto a stretch of grass. This is The Point, an exhilarating protected view across a great sweep of London from Telecom Tower, past the London Eye, St Paul's Cathedral and Canary Wharf. On a clear day you can see across to the northern heights of Hampstead Heath and Alexandra Palace.

You are now on Blackheath, a windy, open plateau above Greenwich and the Thames, popular with children flying kites and people playing impromptu games of football at weekends. Head diagonally across the green space of The Point and at the road take the footpath half right towards the pedestrian crossing. Cross at the lights and bear left then strike out across the Heath, keeping left of the brick Cadet Training Centre building and walking towards the two church spires on the horizon. Pass the Hare and Billet pub and cross the road to a tarmac footpath, keeping the mid-Victorian All Saints Church on your left. Look to your right to enjoy the perfect crescent of red brick Georgian terraces of Grotes Place, built in 1770, then descend into Blackheath Village down Tranquil Vale.

The triangle of Victorian streets made up by Tranquil Vale, Montpelier Vale and Royal Parade is lined with small individually owned shops, with plenty of present-buying and food-indulging potential. Check out Boulangerie Jade for French cakes and chocolates (and a welcome coffee or hot chocolate to break your walk), Madame Chocolat for Belgian chocolates and Cookery Nook for Le Creuset cooking pots and business-like carving knives and coffee-making machines. If Christmas consumerism is overwhelming you, try Oxfam in Tranquil Vale where you can arrange for a friend or relative to give a camel/donkey/school equipment to poor people in developing countries.

Continue south along Tranquil Vale to Blackheath Station where the Sunday farmer's market in the station carpark sells organic meat, cheese, fruit, vegetables and homemade cakes.

Trains to London leave from Blackheath if you want to finish here. Otherwise, follow Montpelier Vale back up to the Heath, cross Royal Parade and take the tarmac path to the left of All Saints Church to a Talbot Place sign. Turn right and go straight ahead across the heath towards the gates of Greenwich Park, crossing the A2 at the pedestrian crossing.

Enter Greenwich Park through the elaborate wrought iron gates and bear half left across the grass, seeing the towers of Canary Wharf rise up in front of you as the ground drops away down to Greenwich and the river. Pass the sculpture by Henry Moore ("Standing Figure Knife Edge") and go down the hill to the park gates. Keep straight ahead down King William Walk, turn left into College Approach and you will see a sign for Cutty Sark DLR in front of you.

Multimedia

Related Internet Links

• Map: print out a map of the Greenwich walk

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• An Olympic walk in East London

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