Thamesmead — Abbey Wood
Thaabb two
Verified Slow Way
Verified by 100.00% of reviewers

Verified Slow Way
Verified by 100.00% of reviewers
By Daisy C on 22 Feb 2023
Description
This is a very green and off-road route for urban London. North Thamesmead was developed with pedestrian/cycle routes in mind and on this route the only road section is 700m of older streets just before Abbey Wood station, you don't even need to cross. The footpaths mostly follow small canals (whole area is reclaimed marshland) through a chain of small parks with Southmere Lake as the central point (where there is an arts centre/studios with a cafe). All the roads are crossed by footbridge or underpass. On the far side of Southmere Lake is the location for Clockwork Orange, but some of the brutalist architecture has been redeveloped, although the large towers remain.
Compared to ThaAbb 1 it's shorter, avoids the wide faster roads, and the northern section uses more green links and less paths between housing than ThaAbb 1 (second half is the same). ThaAbb 1 does use the waymarked Green Chain Walk, but I've found some of that signage ambiguous or hard to see
This is a very green and off-road route for urban London. North Thamesmead was developed with pedestrian/cycle routes in mind and on this route the only road section is 700m of older streets just before Abbey Wood station, you don't even need to cross. The footpaths mostly follow small canals (whole area is reclaimed marshland) through a chain of small parks with Southmere Lake as the central point (where there is an arts centre/studios with a cafe). All the roads are crossed by footbridge or underpass. On the far side of Southmere Lake is the location for Clockwork Orange, but some of the brutalist architecture has been redeveloped, although the large towers remain.
Compared to ThaAbb 1 it's shorter, avoids the wide faster roads, and the northern section uses more green links and less paths between housing than ThaAbb 1 (second half is the same). ThaAbb 1 does use the waymarked Green Chain Walk, but I've found some of that signage ambiguous or hard to see
Status
This route has been reviewed by 4 people.
There are no issues flagged.
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Information
Route status - Live
Reviews - 4
Average rating -
Is this route good enough? - Yes (4)
There are currently no problems reported with this route.
Downloads - 5
Surveys
What is this route like?
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Grade 1X based on 1 surveys | Sign up or log in to survey this route. | ||
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Description | Note | ||
Grade 1: Entirely smooth and compacted surfaces. Access grade X: At least one stile, flight of steps or other obstacle that is highly likely to block access for wheelchair and scooter users. |
Grading is based on average scores by surveyors. This slow way has 1 surveys. | ||
Full grading description |
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Survey Photos
Facilities
Facilities in the middle third of this route.
Challenges
Potential challenges reported on this route. Some challenges are seasonal.
Obstacles
Obstacles on this route.
Accessibility
Is this route step and stile free?
Measurements
Surveyors were asked to measure the narrowest and steepest parts of paths.
The narrowest part of the path is 110.0cm (1)
The steepest uphill gradient walking East 6.0% (1)
The steepest uphill gradient walking West 7.0% (1)
The steepest camber: no data
How clear is the waymarking on the route: Unclear in places (1)
Successfully completed
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Recommended by an expert
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Terrain
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There is no data on how much of this route is on roads
There is no data on how much of this route is lit at night
Thereis no data on amount of route paved
There is no data on muddiness
There is no data on rough ground
There is no data on long grass
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1 surveys
Information from verified surveys.
Geography information system (GIS) data
Total length
Maximum elevation
Minimum elevation
Start and end points
Thamesmead
Grid Ref
TQ4637780781
Lat / Lon
51.50701° / 0.10780°
Easting / Northing
546,377E / 180,781N
What3Words
online.spill.poet
Abbey Wood
Grid Ref
TQ4738479026
Lat / Lon
51.49098° / 0.12157°
Easting / Northing
547,385E / 179,026N
What3Words
mixer.swift.palace
Thamesmead | |
---|---|
Grid Ref | TQ4637780781 |
Lat / Lon | 51.50701° / 0.10780° |
Easting / Northing | 546,377E / 180,781N |
What3Words | online.spill.poet |
Abbey Wood | |
---|---|
Grid Ref | TQ4738479026 |
Lat / Lon | 51.49098° / 0.12157° |
Easting / Northing | 547,385E / 179,026N |
What3Words | mixer.swift.palace |
Sorry Land Cover data is not currently available for this route. Please check back later.
reviews
Strider
02 Aug 2024I walked from Abbey Wood to Thamesmead.
Problems first: Two temporary diversions, easily walked around with diversion signs (see images). A few steps, easy to wheel around, but one set on the North side of Southmere needs a reasonably large detour due the steps on the East side of a really very good restaurant (Thamesmead Social, recommended). Map readers can account for this and therefore this route is reasonably good for wheels with adjustment.
Good bits. Few cars, largely off road and pedestrian.
Jane Taylor
11 Apr 2024Walked Abbey Wood to Thamesmead.
The route is almost entirely off road and makes the most of Thamesmead’s pedestrian friendly design.
Another plus is that it follows the Green Chain network in places, so signposting is generally good.
The starting point at Abbey Wood confused me until I worked out that I needed to start at the upper (station) level, then use the lift to the north of the station entrance to drop down to street level, where I could pick up Felixstowe Road and go under the A2041.
There is one diversion where the path around Southmere connects at the NE corner to Bazalgette Way. There’s now a big building site in this space - I backtracked a few metres to the orange Lakeside cafe (photo), and took the path to Bazalgette Way from there. Once on Bazalgette Way the route is clear. The diversion is supposed to be temporary.
There was one rather damp underpass which I didn’t like very much (photos 7 and 8), but apart from that all was most pleasant. It’s an interesting area, lots of water, which is part of the Thames flood defences.
The meeting point at Thamesmead is a rather imposing tower; good bus routes including Superloop bus to Bromley about 2 minutes walk.
As the previous reviewer points out, if approaching Abbey Wood from Thamesmead and you want to connect with the Lesnes Abbey area (and maybe even go on to Erith on Abberi) then you can walk straight there by continuing along the Abbey Way footpath, without going all the way to Abbey Wood station and back out again.
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Andrew
07 Jan 2024This is a very cleverly devised route which is almost entirely off-road and traffic-free. There were only two occasions when I had to cross a road, and neither was a through road. It is a great tribute to the planners and developers of Thamesmead that there are pedestrian/cycle routes under or over all of the intervening thoroughfares on this 3 mile route right across (not around) Thamesmead. There are even further footbridges which take you over the railway to the ruins of medieval Lesnes Abbey, and the delightful Abbey Wood beyond.
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Daisy C
12 Nov 2022 (edited 22 Feb 2023)I designed the route and was still pleasantly surprised. Follows small canals, small parks and round Southmere Lake, which was beautiful at sunset. The area is designed with pedestrians in mind and I barely saw a road until a few hundred metres before Abbey Wood station.
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