Green Chain Walk
A fifty-mile network of green paths across south-east London, linking the parks and woods between the Thames and Crystal Palace
The Green Chain Walk is a linked set of paths, around 50 miles in all, joining the open spaces of south-east London. It is not a single line but a branching network, waymarked with a green leaf-and-tree logo, running between the Thames at Thamesmead and two southern ends at Crystal Palace Park and Nunhead Cemetery. The idea, dating from the 1970s, was to protect and connect a chain of parks, woods and playing fields across the boroughs of Greenwich, Bexley, Bromley, Lewisham and Southwark.
The pleasure of it is how much green it strings together in a built-up part of the city. From the river it climbs past Lesnes Abbey and its ruins, over Bostall and Shooters Hill, through the ancient Oxleas Wood with its long views south, past Eltham Palace, Beckenham Place Park and a run of smaller commons and cemeteries. Much of the walking is under trees or across grass, with only short stretches of street between one open space and the next.
The going is easy — a few hills, such as Shooters Hill and the climb to Crystal Palace, but nothing hard, and it is flat enough for a family afternoon. Being a network, it is meant to be sampled in sections rather than marched end to end.
It is exceptionally easy to reach and leave, threaded as it is through the suburban rail map: dozens of stations sit on or near the route, so any section can be walked between two of them. It also links to the Capital Ring, which shares part of the same ground.
