Sunday walk 4 - Shuttle riverway

Yesterday we did the Shuttle riverway walk and it was the most challenging one we've done by miles! Claire was visiting her mum over the bank holiday weekend so Arup and I set out alone again. This time we chose the Shuttle riverway walk - the Shuttle is a rivulet that feeds into the Cray near Hall Place. We decided to walk it from it's source - in Avery Hill Park, in Eltham - to where it meets the Cray, at Hall Place. This was the second walk we found on the Bexley council website and this one said it was 'about 5 miles long' and fully signposted.

The weather forecasts weren't great so Arup decided to buy me some proper walking boots so that i wouldn't go sliding all over the place in the mud. I chose these from Millets and against the lovely Simon's advice, chose to break them in on the walk rather than around the house.

Having overslept and generally been very lazy on Sunday morning, we got to Avery Hill Park on the bus, arriving at 1pm. Our first hurdle was trying to find the first Shuttle riverway sign as we had no idea how to get to the point in the park where the walk officially begins. With a little help from a passerby, we followed the Green Chain walk into the park until we found the first sign for 'our walk'.

Green chain walk into Avery Hill Park

This sign informed us that the walk was 5.75 miles long - 1 mile longer than any we've done before. I was a bit concerned but after all it was only a mile - how bad could it be?

Avery Hill Park is a big, beautiful park which is now part of the grounds of the University of Greenwich.

There were lots of dogwalkers, dad's with children, and football teams around and we enjoyed people watching as we walked. Which is possibly why we missed the sign that told us where to leave the park for the walk. A half mile detour later, we were back on track, but my feet were starting to get sore and we still had almost 5 miles to go!

The next part of the walk was mainly through residential streets of Eltham and the sun was beginning to get quite hot. I was getting fed up with the heavy boots and the fact that we'd been walking for AGES and we still hadn't seen hair nor hide of the blasted Shuttle! Finally, I gave up and took advantage of a grassy verge to change back into my trainers (luckily, we'd had the foresight to bring them or it would have been a very short walk!)

A little further and finally, the Shuttle made an appearance. What a wimpy little river!

Nevertheless, it cheered us up and the clouds had come up making it cooler, so we were in a better temper. Soon afterwards, we entered a park, which, while not exactly wilderness, was at least green and not a residential street.

To be honest, the next bit is a bit of a blur in my memory as for some reason I found the walk very hard this time and it seemed to go on for ever along more residential streets. By this time it was pouring with rain, my trainers were getting wet and we were hungry and miserable. Eventually, we came out onto Penhill Road, which I recognised from house hunting last year. We plodded up it, reaching the roundabout and realised we hadn't seen a sign for some time. The absolutely useless map from the council website wasn't much help except that it seemed to indicate we should be walking along the river. We very nearly gave up then and took a bus home. But we knew we hadn't walked even halfway so we forced ourselves to go back to the last place we'd seen the river (another 1/4 mile detour) and scan the place for signs. None. We set off along the river, hoping we were going in the right direction when we met a lovely lady walking her dog who told us we were in completely the wrong direction and needed to cross the road and follow the river that way. Needless to say there were no signs on the other side of the road either.

Still, the rain had stopped so we ate our sandwiches and crisps in companionable exhaustion. It was actually a rather pretty place with enormous trees and few people.

Our break done with, we kept going through parks and more parks until we reached Bexley Woods. Now this was the last bit of the second section of the walk so we cheered up considerably. It is a very small wood if you walk straight through, but hey a wood practically in our back yard isn't to be sniffed at.

Onwards we went. I was really starting to flag now but kept going on willpower. There were more residential streets and a few green riverside walks. The rest of it wasn't very interesting to be honest and finally we found ourselves right next to the A2. We walked parallel to the A2 for what felt like miles and I could see the desparation in Arups's face as he watched me struggle and stumble on. He was worried I would just give up and there was no way to get help there despite being in the middle of civilisation. We finally made it to the dead end of Upton Road South where I collapsed in a heap (well sort of) and Arup ruled that we would find the nearest bus stop and go home. Which we did.

Having calculated, with all the detours and mistakes, we must have walked at least 5.75 miles even if we didn't get to Hall Place (we got pretty close though - it as only about a mile from where we took the wrong turn). It felt like a lot more though and was hard or both of us, though Arup was wonderful in helping me on. It's told us we're not quite experts yet - either at walking or at map reading but it hasn't dimmed our enthusiasm and we'll be at it again next weekend. See you then.