Yesterday john and I had agreed we would go for a walk. He occasionally leads walks for small groups and when he does he will always does the walk to be certain of the route and to find out any amenities such as a cafe or public toilets. Although I have a lot of sewing I need to get done I also need to get more exercise so I agreed I'd go as well. We caught the tube to London Bridge station and then took the mainline train to Erith in South East London. The day was cold but dry and although it was crowded at London Bridge station, we saw very few people for the rest of the day. We were following the Green Chain Walk. This is a 40 mile network of footpaths that link together many of the best open spaces in South East London. It goes through ancient woodlands, park lands, allotments, formal gardens and meadows. We had a map of our route but the whole network of paths is very well signposted. Our reason for taking a map was that occasionally the signs get turned the wrong way and also the map gave us some additional information about the area. We started the walk at the River Thames, a short walk from the station. On our way to the river we diverted to take a photo of the library because it was a cute building.
I also really liked the weather vane of the roof.
From the river we walked along the road for a while until we came to a church of St John the Baptist. I liked the spire as it looked like the tower was wearing a hat.
We left the road to walk over a foot bridge that took us over a road and the railway lines. As I looked down from the bridge I could see this tree covered in berries.
On the other side of the bridge we followed the road briefly before entering Franks Park. The path was wide to begin with and nice and flat but soon we had to take a path on the left side which led uphill.
This tree appeared to have been damaged in the recent storms.
The route we were following was well signposted and the paths were clearly visible. We soon came to the end of the park and had a period of following the road to take us into Lesnes Abbey Woods.
Having entered the woods we came across this post with the lore of the wild. This one told us we needed to walk and listen.
We also came across this beautiful carving on a tall bole of a dead tree. I just had to have a photo. I think he looks very wistful.
We came across another Lore of the wild post but I couldn't work out what this one was saying. The post had a QR code for more information but I didn't click on it.
Further along the track we came to the area of Lesnes Abbey. This shows the abbey as it was but now only the ruins remain.
By the ruins there was a gate into the monks garden.
A plaque in the garden explained the types of plants they would have grown. As the abbey had an infirmary, the garden was used to grow herbs and other plants to ward off disease and heal injuries.
The garden would have had real bee hives but I really liked the stone ones and the silver bee decorations are fun.
Next we had a look at the abbey ruins. There were plaques to tell us about the ruins and what we were looking at on the ground.
To one side of the ruins there was a very old tree. King James 1 had mulberry trees bought into the UK to provide food to silk worms as he had plans for setting up a silk industry in the country to rival that in Europe, but unfortunately he imported the wrong mulberry trees. He imported black mulberry trees rather than white. The UK already had black mulberry trees but no white mulberry which the silk worms prefer. The black mulberry leads to poorer quality silk.
Further up the hill there were arched window frames like the windows that would have been in the abbey. These framed views across the area.
As we left the abbey ruins we came across this mosaic.
We used the foot bridge to cross a major road and railway lines. The sides of the bridge were decorated with green chains to match the walk we were following.
Coming down to ground level from the bridge we found this lovely mural.
As we headed through the park on our way to the river we saw this.
We walked through the park and enjoyed seeing ducks, geese and swans on the pond as we made our way back to the river, but about five mile upstream from the starting point. Looking right we saw this.
Looking straight across the river
and looking left, oops I moved too fast.
We continued to the main area of Thamesmead as we needed to catch the bus to the nearest station. This is the clock in the centre.
By this time I was tired and was happy that we were heading home. The journey home was quick and the only busy part was the walk through London Bridge station from the main line train to the underground. There were a lot of people returning to London after Christmas.
We enjoyed our day out but I was very tired. I'm looking forward to a calmer and slower day of sewing today.
Take care
Lyndsey
