Straightforward route, needed some attention to follow at the Plumstead roundabout/ ridgeway junction....

Jane Taylor

WARNING - this route is temporarily blocked (23/5/25) installing a slope for wheels down to the Thames path....

Strider

Toilets at Abbey Wood Station, Sainsbury's Abbey Wood (just north of the station), Lesnes Abbey, Pier Road Erith....

JohnMyerson

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)....

Strider

Would have been a little monotonous along the Ridgeway if not for the blackberries, Elderberries, dill, mallow, sweet peas & raspberries etc....

Strider

This was a brilliant varied Slow Way with woods and views and a nice walk along the Thames....

Slow Ways Darren

It's a fine, easy to follow route. Not particularly exciting or hard to walk. Well connected by the Elizabethan Line at each end....

Slow Ways Darren

After crossing the Bronze Age Way near a church (photo #2), a steepish road brings you into Frank's Park, which is on the top of a little hill. Between Frank's Park and Lesnes Abbey Woods are a few hills, with little traffic on their residential streets (photo #4)....

Derick Rethans

Walked Abbey Wood to Thamesmead. 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....

Jane Taylor

As well as the Thames at Erith, highlights are Frank’s Park at Belvedere, and Lesnes Abbey Woods, including the abbey ruins. If continuing to Thamesmead, there is a good linking path from the abbey ruins area directly north, which connects to the Abbey Wood to Thamesmead Slow Way (Thaabb)! Because its not clear whether the Abbey Wood meeting point is at the low (street) or high (station) level, so if you are continuing on you may need a change of level...

Jane Taylor

The route passes Bexleyheath station; the meeting point is some distance away but with good bus links including the Super Loop bus...

Jane Taylor

The first third is along quiet residential roads, first following the railway (photo #1), before heading north (photo #2) towards the Ridgeway....

Derick Rethans

After leaving Bexleyheath's centre (photo #1), the first part of this route is mostly along quiet residential streets (photo #3, #4), with occasional highlights such as the Bexleyheath Cemetery (photo #2)....

Derick Rethans

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....

Andrew

Due to new housing need to follow Green Chain and Thames Path in Erith. Lesnes Abbey Park went to right , when could of gone straight on. Lots of green space....

Lizbiz70

At the Abbey Wood end there is a lot of walking through some lovely green and wild places, then quiet residential roads punctuated by a station and some shops. I wasn't happy with the vague line that AbbBex 1 took through Lesnes Abbey Woods, which can be very disorienting even if you are following an actual path, or that it missed Bexleyheath Station when there isn't a station at Bexley town centre....

Daisy C

Once it joined the Green Chain Walk at the eastern end of Lesnes Abbey Woods it was really easy to navigate as there are lots of fingerposts and wooden waymarkers all the way to the Thames and then back around to Erith Station....

Daisy C

The start point is immediately outside Abbey Wood Station and it seemed to turn right along the new flyover (Harrow Manorway photo 11) but then it's impossible to turn onto Abbey Road, down at ground level (photo 12). If instead you decide that the route should go down to street level, or if coming the other way from Erith, you'll be forced off the route line a bit, going down the stairs/lift to the right/south of the station and then walk below the flyover (at street level the Slow Ways start point is inaccessible). After that I could actually turn onto Abbey Road. The route also misses a trick by using the public byway shown on OS maps instead of a rather lovely walk through the Lesnes Abbey woodland. In fact I had a great time walking this route but as it is literally unwalkable at Abbey Wood I can't recommend it....

Daisy C

Overall I enjoyed this route, it was easy to navigate and either no- or low- traffic except a short bit between the Plumstead underpass junction and the beginning of the residential developments at Woolwich Arsenal. The Ridgeway path is green and quite wild (not overgrown though) which gives some sense of distance from the sometimes noisy industrial sites either side, they are currently mixed in with wild brownfield sites but that might not last. At the Plumstead end, if you (like me) miss the last turn off then you'll end at the high level end point which leads onto the roads, where you could get a train or buses but it isn't terribly pedestrian friendly and you'll have missed the onward route via Mallard Path, so take the path down and back to the right which soon turns again to the low level exit....

Daisy C

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....

Daisy C

The western half of this route (Woolwich - Plumstead) is along the A206. The western half runs south of the railway line, much quieter than this route, and the eastern half is close to this route and a fairly similar experience....

Daisy C