Capital Ring 5 - Wimbledon to Richmond

For various reasons, it's been a very long time since I last walked a section of the Capital Ring, the 78 mile orbital walk through London's suburbs. I'm picking it up again and would very much like to complete it this year.

Last time out was my fourth walk but I completed Section 5 (of 15) as I'm trying to do the ring in 10-12 even sectors rather than the official fifteen sections that vary between 4 and 8.5 miles.

The Wimbledon to Richmond section has few transport links, and is the longest that I will have to tackle in one go at 7 miles (plus the distance to/from the stations). Train and tube took me to Wimbledon Park, home of the tennis championships, where I was greeted by the familiar Capital Ring logo.

The park was a patchwork of tennis courts, football pitches and children's play areas, nothing particularly photogenic and I didn't think to take one for this post as I passed through. It was only after I left the park and was following a road around the perimeter that I could see the lake and wilder areas.

A couple of streets later I entered Wimbledon Common, home of the elusive womble and followed a wide path through the woods 

before emerging near Wimbledon Windmill, the last remaining hollow post flour mill in the country.

A quick check of the distances done and still to come,

then back into the woods and downhill to Queensmere Lake:

Uphill again, and then the path skirted round the edge of a golf course, where it was strange to see the immaculate greens surrounded by the woodland of the common.

Leaving the common and the golf course behind, I followed the Beverley Brook 

past playing fields

and on to the A3, my first major road crossing of the day.

I was surprised to find a pegasus crossing (for horses) alongside the pedestrian crossing,

but the reasons for this became clear as I passed a livery stable

and immediately entered Richmond Park via the Robin Hood Gate.

The path headed gently up the side of Spankers Hill, 

and it was only when I looked back that I could see how high I'd got.

Over to my right I could see White Lodge, home of the Royal Ballet School, in the distance.

Dropping down again, the path passes between two lakes which form Pen Ponds, 

best seen while looking back from the next hill.

Turning off the main path close to Sidmouth Wood, I paused for lunch by an old oak tree which reminded me of JK Rowling's whomping willow at Hogwarts

and admired the view of where I'd been.

Pushing on, I crossed Queen's Road into another part of the park and paused at a viewpoint which looks out over the Thames and the Surrey Hills, but the lighting was all wrong at this time of day and using the nearby trees to block out the sun lead to an almost monochrome view of layered skylines.

Staying on high ground, I skirted around Pembroke Lodge Gardens (behind the fence/hedge on the right) 

and then diverted away from the Capital Ring, into the Gardens and up to Henry's Mound, where legend has it that Henry VIII waited for a signal that would tell that Anne Boleyn had been executed so he was free to marry Jane Seymour.

The view from the front of the mound is a good one, out over Twickenham and the Thames, 

but is was the view from the back of the mound that fascinated me, a protected view of St Paul's Cathedral 12 miles away in central London, 

visible through a gap that has been maintained in Sidmouth Wood since  at least 1710. I could only see a hazy shape with the naked eye (much like the middle photo above) but a telescope or camera zoom revealed the dome much more clearly.

I returned the path and descended the hill, finally leaving Richmond Park via the Petersham Gate. A couple of streets away, I entered Petersham Meadows (bordering the River Thames) hoping to keep my feet dry today.

The meadow path met the Thames towpath close to a large plane tree, one of the Great Trees of London.

There were originally 41 of these on a list drawn up after the Great Storm of 1987, with 20 more tress being added to the list in 2008.

I followed the river along towards Richmond Bridge,

with gulls whirling overhead ('Flight' for the Winter Photography Scavenger Hunt),

and passed a 'Legible London' sign which reminded me that this tranquil riverside spot is still part of that great city

before turning away from the water, up to Richmond station and three trains home again.