Walk Report

Beverley Brook Walk, Wednesday 6th June 2017
10 walkers, 8 miles - leader Peter Aylmer
Nine regulars were joined by one new walker, Jane. She was a little concerned whether she could keep up but we later hear that's she's a triathlon regular, so no surprises that she reached the end with much in hand.
Beverley Brook is a little Thames tributary rises which in Worcester Park but the walk itself starts a little to the north, at New Malden. We first find the brook in a mean little concrete culvert beneath a little bridge just north of the A3, but things do get better as the stream flows busily through Wimbledon Common and then Richmond Park, where a brief heavy shower has us scurrying for the waterproofs. We're pushed off on to roads around the back of East Sheen and find ourselves dallying unwontedly at a level crossing outside Barnes station where no fewer than four trains pass before the barriers lift. We catch another glimpse of the brook on Barnes Common before joining it on Putney Lower Common - one of the wildest places in inner London - for its last few hundred yards to the Thames. Strangely, the brook is narrower here than back in Richmond Park. Just an easy stroll now, past the Thames boathouses to Putney Bridge. For the finish I chose the rather sweet Eight Bells pub, round the corner from Putney Bridge tube, but it was rather crowded and strangely a splinter group headed back over the bridge, muttering something about Wetherspoons.
More photographs by Ian Fairweather on the group Facebook page

---