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Mitcham Common walk

Large wooded common popular with bird watchers

Easy London Short

History

This is a list of previous times this walk has been done by the club (since Jan 2010). For more recent events (since April 2015), full details are shown.

Date Option Post # Weather
Thu, 10-Nov-22 Evening Walk - Mitcham Common in the Dark 3 warm for the time of year
Tue, 03-Sep-19 Evening Walk - A Wooded Common in Sarf London: Mitcham Common (broadly map-led) 3 pleasant summer evening
Thomas G
Thomas G
Length: 4.7 km
Ascent: negligible
Net Walking Time: 1 hour and a bit
Take the 18.11 Dorking (Main) train from Victoria (Heart of Battersea 18.18, Balham 18.23), arrives Mitcham Junction at 18.33, and then wait for 4 minutes, because…
You can also take a Thameslink train via Elephant (St. Pancras 17.57, …, Blackfriars 18.06, Elephant 18.10, stations via Herne Hill), that arrives at 18.37.
Return trains are 7 per hour to either Victoria, Waterloo (via Wimbledon) or Thameslink stations.
Mitcham Junction is in Zone 4, and also a Tram Stop on the Wimbledon to East Croydon line.
This walk worked quite well 3 years ago, in the light. Let’s check it out in the dark…Bring a head torch!
“Mitcham Common is an ancient common in south London and a medium sized open, a mix of grassland, trees, small ponds, and low man-made hills.”
Eat/Drink: several options, most convenient are the Crown of Mitcham (Indian and Chinese, just beyond the station, a Bollywood Night may be on) and The Ravensbury (Indian and Pan-Asian, 10 mins from the end).


For walk directions, map and gpx/kml files click here. T=short.18

  • 10-Nov-22

    Tried to join u at the end but the crown was empty and the ravensbury seemed a bit too upmarket for us :)

  • 10-Nov-22

    Well Andrew, you may have been there waaayyyy before we got anyway near there...

    All other known walkers (actual and attempting) today were travelling down on the Thameslink train from Farringdon, Blackfriars or Elephant & Castle. Unfortunately, one of the trains immediately in front of the posted train was stricken and blocking the route somewhere around City Thameslink (a passenger alarm had been activated, I think), so after endless waits and frantic sms between suspected walk attendees, the 2 Elephant punters tried to get onto the much delayed train, knowing that 3 others were already on it. To no avail. It was so grotesquely overcrowded, in 27 years in London I haven't seen worse. Small consolation: that train was then short stopped at Streatham anyway and 3 of us only got to MJ on the next one anyway, eventually arriving 49 minutes behind schedule.

    The other 2 had stayed on the original train but gave up upon the short stopping at Streatham and returned home they way they came. So, 3 plus maybe the webmaster + 1 ???

    We had an uneventful but nice time on the walk (compared to the journey to it), under some Serious Moonlight, which meant that - with the High Priestess of moon walking amongst us - headtorches were kind of 'Verboten' and used only very sparingly.

    We did dine at The Ravensbury which is not posh at all (the footie was on the tellie) but served really good Indian dishes, we thought. The (delayed) 22.04 was the train that we did catch back to London.

    warm for the time of year

Thomas G
Length: 4.7 km
Ascent: negligible
Net Walking Time: 1 hour
Take the 18.26 Horsham train from Victoria (Clapham J 18.33), arrives Mitcham Junction Station at 18.46.
You can also take a Thameslink train via Elephant (St. Pancras 17.57, …, Blackfriars 18.06, Elephant 18.10, stations via Herne Hill), that arrives at 18.37 and wait a few minutes.
Return trains are 7 per hour to either Victoria, Waterloo (via Wimbledon) or Thameslink stations.
Mitcham Junction is in Zone 4, and also a Tram Stop on the Wimbledon to East Croydon line.
This walk gets a very cautious write-up by its author. Let’s be checking it out…
“Mitcham Common is in medium sized open space in south London. It is a bit run-down and unloved. Good for a stroll if you live nearby, but not worth a long journey. It is bisected by several roads, some busy, and much of it is taken up by a golf course. However, there are long term plans to link it with Beddington Park via a former Sewage works turned wetlands nature reserve.
There are noticeboards/maps at the entrance to each region of the common.”

Eat/Drink: 2 pubs on the common, and a carvery in a former stately house nearby.

For walk directions, map and gpx/kml files click here. T=short.18
  • 03-Sep-19

    The good thing about managed expectations is that one can easily be nicely surprised, and so were we today. Yes, some roads, a common rather than a manicured park. But clear paths, varied trees, some fine clearings, a very fine pond, a couple of modest hills with surround views, no rubbish strewn about, no dangerous dogs (or people), not many people at all really. We liked it. The sparse directions and the gpx didn't always follow the same route, but it is difficult to get lost, as (see above) there are lots of roads around the Common, giving you a grid within which to stay.

    Near the end, we turned into The Ravensbury for a drink and a chat.

    3 walkers off 3 different trains on a pleasant summer evening .