A tale of two rivers

This was one of those occasions when not having a planned route for a long walk with a friend worked out well.

One of our regular starting points is Pembroke Lodge in Richmond Park because that is the same distance from home for both of us. My rough plan was to walk from there through Richmond Park and Wimbledon Common, as we had several times before, and then to curve round clockwise in a loop back towards Kingston, something we had not done before.

In Wimbledon Common we followed Beverley Brook south before going in to Raynes Park for a coffee where the very popular Babylon cafe did an excellent job.

I checked the map then and took us through uncharted territory (for us) towards a large patch of green, name unknown. Confusingly, this took us through an area called West Barnes which is someway south of the Barnes we knew.

We also rediscovered Beverley Brook, which I was not expecting. We then followed the brook, not intentionally, we were just both going in the same direction, to Worcester Park, home to a ridiculous New England style development unembarrassed to call itself The Hamptons.

From there I was looking for a green route to Kingston and found one created by our second river, The Hogsmill. The route was well signposted, not least because it is part of London Loop (why is that not further west?!). It was also pretty muddy but at least one of us had appropriate footwear; Colin will know better next time.

The Hogsmill is not particularly attractive but did have the advantage of having a plaque showing where  Millais painted the background for Ophelia (she was painted in a bath) and of some bold street art near Berrylands station. It also had the must less interesting smell from the Thames Water's Hogsmill Sewage Treatment Works.

By the time we got to Kingston we had had enough and it was time for lunch so we took the lazy way out and the 65 bus home.

The route worked out at 22km and took us about four and a half hours including the coffee break and lots of mud.