South of the river now, and not walking alone, but with a companion knowledgeable in the area, having lived in south-east London for almost 30 years - and at the weekend, we walked from Woolwich to Mottingham. We started off at Woolwich Arsenal, walking through the site, once a major munitions works, and now a residential complex with a good number of old buildings and a museum preserved - and some very odd iron people sculptures, which to my eye look some way after Anthony Gormley of Angel of the North fame. Then along the river, admiring old graving docks given over to flowers and fishing, and to the increasingly imposing presence of the Thames Barrier.
Then inland, and southwards through a string of small connected parks in Charlton, complete with children's zoo. Then round to Charlton House, a magnificent Jacobean house much neglected by Londoners, but a real little gem worth a visit if you care for that sort of thing. Then across Woolwich Common, where the army used to camp before embarking in the Thames for foreign wars, collecting it's weapons at Woolwich Arsenal as they did so. The common is very rough, and an excellent mixture of rough grass, scrub and trees, before we emerged on the third military site, "The Shop", as officers called the training academy which preceded Sandhurst - also about to become rather smart houses, on a Victorian site where the brickwork is reminiscent of Tudor architecture.
After the common, a wonderful couple of miles through a series of lovely woods, including Severndroog Castle - the highest point on this walk at 404 feet, with extensive views southwards - and Oxleas woods itself, genuine ancient woodland in the heart of London. Magic - but almost disappeared beneath the road-builder's bulldozers a few years ago. The woods are wonderful - mighty trees, lovely views of the North Downs (and a cafe from which to enjoy them), and a fine example of one of my common themes: trees are immortal - two trees blown over by the wind, their rootplates entirely pulled out of the ground, and both growing upwards from the top of the recumbent trunks, all while young children use them as swings and climbing frames.
From Oxleas onwards, through Eltham Park across the horrible A2 to Falconwood. This was meant to be the end of our walk, but it was a fine evening and the lure of Eltham Palace was too great. So we carried on across various parklands till we reached it, a lovely late Tudor palace, with some fine decoration and a lovely bridge over the moat (and a fine art deco house next door!). We didn't venture in, but skirted the park, enjoying yet more views over fields to central London, many landmarks in the City and West End visible, before reaching Mottingham, after 10 miles lovely walking, green and open, with some fine architecture to boot.
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