This is one of the walks in the book 'Exploring the Elizabeth Line' by Jeff Lock and is a circular walk from Abbey Wood station passing the abbey and through the woods. Some of the route follows the green chain walk but a lot of it was new. The book says 3 miles in but it seemed rather longer and there were some pretty steep parts.
I arrived on the Elizabeth line at Abbey Wood station around 11am and then proceded over the flyover to enter the park. The ornate entrance is one of eight designed by Trish Hawkes and forged by local metalsmith Heather Burrell.
I followed a path through light woodland and then entered the abbey grounds through a second ornate arch.
A wooden statue of a monk created by artist Tom Harvey who created several sculptures in the woods. Then past the abbey ruins.
The path goes past an old mulberry tree and then reaches a viewpoint with three eclesiastical metal windows, also the work of Heather Burrell.
The viewpoint offers good views of central London, but due to mist it was far from its best.
Now into the woods and I soon pick up section 2 of the green chain walk which I follow for a while. This part has nicely dried out compared with how it was last time I walked it.
Very pleasant through the woodland which offers some shade from the sun on this warm spring day. Evntually I leave the green chain and pick up the blue marked 'active' path for the rest of this section.
Paths are steep in placess. The carved wooden seats of the Outdoor Classroom are passed.
After passing some houses the path swings back north. Here an alternative path is followed steeply downhill for quite a while, this route is it seems less steep than the official blue route. I thought I might have got lost as the book suggested it was only 100m but it was more like half a mile before I found the blue route joining again.
Then some ponds, first Conduit Pond, then having joined the green chain again two small ponds before the much larger Pine Pond is reached.
Turning off the green chain again and there is another steep climb through woodland, eventually emerging on a large meadow with the flyover and station visible. Across the meadow then across the flyover to the station. Here I caught the train to Woolwich where I ate in the Old Harry before making my way home.