The brilliant morning sunshine was calling me out to the London fringe. This urge is best answered with a return to the London Loop. I started my circuit of London’s 150-mile orbital walking trail in January 2018 when feeling just such a push, with no intention of walking the whole thing. Hence I started with Section 17 from Enfield to Cockfosters, walking in the opposite direction to the TFL maps. And I’ve been chipping away at it ever since. My last foray onto the London Loop had been a year ago more or less, I obviously didn’t want my quest to end, but 2025 seemed like the right year to finally close the Loop.
Section 1 must be the most dramatic section of the London Loop. From the roadside of the A2, to the River Cray, the Crayford Creek Road industrial zone. The Dartford Creek in the sunset was stunning, QEII bridge arching away into the distance. The wind turbines, the reflective water, the flood barrier, then the path beside Erith marshes in the dusk. A large boat chugged along the Thames. As I entered Erith town centre in the dark I was starting to feel like a new person even though nothing had actually changed. That is the power of the London Loop.
About twenty years ago I collected the whole set of free Capital Ring leaflets from Thornhill Square Library in Islington. We used to go there for the ‘Stay and Play’ sessions in the basement and to use the Children’s Library. But as these things often transpire I didn’t actually use the maps until early March 2020 when I walked from Richmond Bridge to Horsenden Hill (Walks 7, 8 and part of 9). It was a great walk. I didn’t go back onto the Capital Ring until February 2023 when I did the glorious stroll from Crystal Palace to Streatham Common (Walk 4). So the other Sunday, with a light rain moistening the golden leaf-fall, seemed like the perfect time to make a run to London’s inner orbital walking trail.
The Capital Ring is the kid sibling of the London Loop – 78 miles compared to the Loop’s 150 miles divided into 15 sections rather than 24. And a key point is that they’re much closer to Central London making each section much more accessible. The season seemed to beckon me back to Crystal Palace but to walk in the opposite direction towards Grove Park (Walk 3). With the leaflet as my guide I circuited Crystal Palace Park, paid homage to the dinosaurs before heading out along Penge High Street. I could barely have chosen a more perfect suburban autumn perambulation as the route drew me across Alexandra Park, down Old Farm Lane, traversing Cator Park where the Chaffinch Brook and the River Beck flow, before I ended my Capital Ring excursion on the heights of Beckenham Place Park with its grand manor house and views out over Kent and Surrey.
How long will it be before I return to the Capital Ring, I have no idea. I still have a short section of the London Loop to complete, but there’s no hurry. The Thornhill Square leaflets on top of my bookshelf aren’t going anywhere and will wait patiently till I’m stuck for an idea for a walk and remember they’re up there looking down at me.
Stane Street was the Roman road that linked Londinium to Noviomagus Reginorum (Chichester). In use by AD70, It starts its journey at the southern end of London Bridge and ran for 57-miles. I decided to walk the first 10 miles from Borough to Tooting. Stone Street led me through Elephant and Castle, Kennington, Stockwell, Clapham, Clapham Common, Balham, ending at Tooting in the Trafalgar Inn. A collaboration with the brilliant Young’s Beer.
How can it have been two years since I ended Section 3 of the London Loop at Petts Wood? It felt both fantastic and odd to find myself back at Petts Wood station picking up the 150-mile long trail and knocking off the final couple of sections of the London Loop. I’ve loved all of my London Loop walks, which quite incredibly started with Section 17 in January 2018, and Section 2 did not disappoint, passing largely through woodland for a big chunk of the 8-mile route. I visited Scadbury Moated Manor, Sidcup, crossed the Kyd Brook and most memorably, strolled beside the River Cray as afternoon passed into early evening.
A freezing cold night in January I found myself ensconced in the Thameside Inn having stumbled upon the ruins of the Bishop of Winchester’s Palace in the narrow lanes near Borough Market. Supping a pint of Adnam’s Ghost Ship from Southwold, I looked across the river at the City lights reflecting in the Thames and the flashing blue lights on the ferry coming in to dock at London Bridge. I must make a video of this short deeply storied strip of the river between London Bridge and Blackfriars Bridge, I resolved as I lined up the second pint.
A couple of weeks later a friend and former colleague messaged me to say that I had to visit Hopton’s Almshouses just behind Tate Modern, a rare secluded gem hidden amongst the rush and tear of Southwark. This is what gave me the final push to go and shoot the Bankside stroll in this video.
The Route: Crossing Blackfriars Bridge we first visit Hopton’s Almhouses built in the 17th Century. Then we pass through Tate Modern and then Cardinal’s Wharf where Sir Christopher Wren stayed during the rebuilding of St Paul’s Cathedral. Next door is Shakespeare’s Globe theatre, a reconstruction of the famous Elizabethan theatre. We pass along Bear Alley the site of a Tudor Bear pit and into Park Street where we find the sites of the Rose Theatre and the original Globe Theatre. Our Bankside amble then passes the notorious Clink Prison and the ruins of the Bishop of Winchester’s Palace before ending at the reconstruction of the Golden Hinde ship famously skippered by Sir Francis Drake on circumnavigations of the globe.
What is it with these South London rivers? Probably my favourite walk of 2023 was the River Shuttle walk I did in February. I was guided into the dark by a brilliantly luminous full moon that made me think of Steve Moore’s magical book Somnium, which is set around the summit of Shooters Hill, not far from the source of the Shuttle at the foot of Avery Hill. I’d started the year by continuing my walk along the fantastically named River Quaggy – the whole route a delight. And then the Beverley Brook walk to celebrate London Rivers Week was one of the most bucolic and relaxing London walks of the year. The Norbury Brook continued this trend of South London river walks that entered my soul.
Norbury Brook at Heavers Meadow Selhurst
I started my Norbury Brook walk on a blustery November day at South Norwood Station, a name that calls to mind the Great North Wood that covered this part of South London. I only had a blog post from the brilliant Diamond Geezer to guide me, other online sources were scarce, but the brook is well marked on maps. The Norbury Brook rises a mile or so away from the station, just beside Selhurst Railway Depot, which is where I first encountered it as the brook emerged through a brick arch from beneath the tracks and ran along the side of Heavers Meadow. The first sighting of a river is a magical moment, when the river deity casts its spell upon you.
We then soon lost the river as it descended beneath the road which gave us the opportunity to admire Maud Milton’s wonderful mosaic roundel on the front of Selhurst Station. I filmed Maud in her studio when she was creating this mosaic for Southern Rail, the tiles embossed, designed and conceived in collaboration with the local community forming a unique portrait of the area and its heritage. The Norbury Brook was there alongside Amy Winehouse, Adele and Wilfred Zaha among the names of Selhurst luminaries celebrated on the tiles.
(Sub)urban river walks always involve a bit of zigzagging through the streets to catch glimpses of the watercourse as it flows between the houses. We commenced our river dance in Swain Road, swerving round into Ecclesbourne Road, Boswell and Lucerne. The brief absence from the river making the heart grow fonder and I was wowed once again by its beauty as it elegantly opened up the landscape.
We crossed into Thornton Heath and walked down Brook Road. There were some classic old iron park railings in Thornton Heath Recreation Ground that guard the river as it flows along the edge of the open space.
Norbury Brook at Heavers MeadowThe Norbury Brook from Swain RoadEcclesbourne Road, CR7
Exiting the recreation ground the brook crosses Braemar Avenue and Strathyre Avenue before running along back gardens popping into view again in Ederline Avenue and Dunbar Avenue. Walking beneath the railway bridge that crosses Manor Farm Road, a fine phalanx of iron railings alerted me to the presence of the river. And there it was, blessing a culvert carved into one side of Manor Farm Nature Reserve before ducking under a brick arch to cross Norbury Avenue.
The brook next leads us into the expansive Norbury Park, purchased by the Corporation of Croydon from a builder in 1935 after it’d briefly been a golf course. Previous to that, this had been a series of open fields owned by Pembroke College, Cambridge. There’s an article on the history of Norbury Park via the Norbury Watch blog: “In 1583 the area that we know today as Norbury Park was then known as Palmers Fields and it comprised of 75 acres. In 1583 the executors of the will of Archbishop Grindal (who was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1575 to 1583) purchased Palmers Fields for £500 on behalf of Bees Free Grammar School in Cumberland which had been Archbishop Grindal’s native home. In 1606 the governors of Bees Free Grammar School leased Palmers Fields to Pembroke College Cambridge for 1,000 years at a nominal rent in exchange for the maintenance of a fellow and three scholars at Pembroke College.”
Where the Norbury Brook heads under the grassland to cross the park it seems to pick up another water source via a large concrete outlet – could this be a tributary or maybe just drainage from the park or adjacent allotments? It was carrying quite a substantial flow. I wondered if this was the tiny tributary I’d crossed on Norwood Grove earlier in the year that was said to be a tributary of the River Graveney – which the Norbury Brook becomes once it leaves the park. But that might equally have been the Donny Brook or the Falls Brook which make their confluence with the Graveney further along its course in Streatham. I will now need to walk that rivulet from Norwood Grove to see exactly where it ends up.
Thornton Heath Recreation Ground
Hermitage Bridge on Streatham High Road marks (more or less) the spot where the Norbury Brook becomes the River Graveney. The brook somehow becomes a river and changes its name to one associated with a local family who owned this land in the middle ages.
River Graveney
I pursued the Graveney into the sunset as it led me into Streatham. I watched it catch the golden light as it drifted across Sherwood Avenue. I spied another slice of this suburban magic from Helmsdale Road before my final sighting of our glorious river running fast and loud as it crossed Streatham Vale. The light was fading fast, it was nearly dark, and I had no chance of reaching the confluence with the Wandle, 2 miles away or more, before it was pitch black. Satisfied I had walked the Norbury Brook, I decided the save the final reaches of the River Graveney for another day.
I often overlook the Capital Ring. Partly because I’m always encountering those little waymarkers on my walks. I collected a full set of free fold-out maps from Thornhill Square Library about 20 years ago, detailing the 72-mile route broken down into 15 sections. However, I’ve only intentionally set out to walk the Capital Ring on one occasion, in March 2020 when I walked from Richmond to Horsenden Hill.
Capital Ring Walk 4Upper Norwood Recreation Ground
So last week, with a false Spring breaking over London, I set off from Crystal Palace Station to walk Section 4 to Streatham Common, and wow what a glorious walk it was. There were spectacular views throughout – looking south towards to the North Downs, and across the Thames Basin to the north with the shimmering towers of the City below. From Biggin Wood we looked across the high-rises of Croydon to distant hills. And at the end of the walk we gazed west over the Wandle Valley. Between we strolled across beautiful open spaces at Westow Park, Upper Norwood Recreation Ground, Norwood Grove and finally Streatham Common. We passed beneath the boughs of one of the remnants of the Great North Wood in Biggin Wood and explored the secret garden at The Rookery on the site of Streatham Wells.
view from Biggin Hill The Rookery
I now can’t wait to get back and continue the Capital Ring to Wimbledon and Richmond.
