New Malden - 16 miles - Tuesday 17 January 2017 (The wrong way round)

First of all I walked this one the wrong way round, I started from SE9 and walked to New Malden, in fact I continued past New Malden to Kingsmeadow, home of AFC Wimbledon for their FA Cup replay with Sutton United, that was a disaster! All in all I ended up walking 21 miles that day.

I've done this walk a number of times now and can now do it without the help of a map, well almost, I had to refer to my A2Z when I arrived at Tooting as I became a little disorientated. The most interesting fact is that this walk takes you through the London Boroughs of Greenwich, Lewisham, Southwark, Lambeth, Merton and Kingston, so it starts with a Royal Borough and finishes with a Royal one! With a bit more planning I could have squeezed in Wandsworth!

BLACKHEATH RUGBY CLUB

B15 BUS STOP

I left home at 13:05 and headed for Westhorne Avenue and the South Circular passing Blackheath Rugby Club, crossing the roundabout at the Yorkshire Grey and off towards Catford. I passed Alwold Crescent, Horn Park, the termination point of the B15 bus, which passes me on my way down to the station at Falconwood.

Whilst in Catford I visited both Catford Bridge and Catford railway stations and then continued onto Forest Hill passing St Dunstan's College which looked particularly impressive in the glowing afternoon sunlight.

ST DUNSTAN'S COLLEGE

HORNIMAN'S MUSEUM

Needless to say I visited Forest Hill station for a sign selfie (I'm collecting station sign name selfies). From Forest Hill it was up hill past Horniman's museum and down into Dulwich, past the park and Peckham Town FC on my right hand side, whilst on my left hand side was Dulwich College, which was called Alleyn's when I was at School. I remember one time when we played them at football, the teams got mixed up, our 1st XI played there 3rd XI and out 2nd XI their 2nd XI. When it should have been 1st v 2nd and 2nd v 3rd, anyway both teams got thrashed!

As I continued around the South Circular A205 towards Tulse Hill I called in at West Dulwich Railway station, but before Tulse Hill I turned off into Lancaster Avenue up York Hill and then down into Streatham passing the impressive Odeon Cinema.

Crossing the A23 I ended up at Tooting Bec Common, why is it called Bec I wonder? Because It is named after Bec Abbey in Normandy, which was given land in this area (then part of the Streatham parish) after the Norman Conquest. Today there were no beautiful young things jogging up and down only school children on their way home. Oh and a Eastern European asking where Balham was, just as well I didn't attempt to assist as I would have sent him the wrong way towards Streatham!

By now the sun was setting and I stopped off at a bench to have a cup of coffee from my flask. Once refreshed I continued my odyssey down Church Lane where they was a pretty good sunset above Colliers Wood, that big black tower has been modernised and is no longer black but actually looks quite nice.

When I arrived at Mitcham Road just down the way from Amen Corner I was a little disorientated as I mentioned above but I was soon back on track arriving at Colliers Wood, were I popped in for a station sign selfie as I did when I arrived at the next stop South Wimbledon. Both these stations have magnificent the up lighters on the escalators, real Art Deco stuff.

From South Wimbledon, I stopped off at Merton Park for another Station sign selfie although really this is a tram stop, but they are permitted.

I thought that would be the last station sign opportunity but I had forgotten about Wimbledon Chase. My friends and me used to walk down here of an evening and hang around on the platform for an hour of so, I think the service was really poor in those days (the 70's).

I was now on the final leg and I was making really good time, so I began to wander about, I walked into an estate I had never been into before, this was built on the site of Carters Tested Seeds. As a young lad we tried to sneak in here and play as there was an old pill box in the centre of the nursery. 

I had hoped I could cross the the A3 and gain access to New Malden via Beverley Park but I couldn't and so had to retrace my steps. This took me through a dodgy subway and through the back end of a retail/industrial park and up  an unknown path  bringing me out at Blagdon Road and then on to New Malden station, where I arrived at 18:45.