Blackheath to Canary Wharf Walk

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Walk Map

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Walk Options

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13. Main Walk (12 km)

9. Main Walk, with alternative afternoon (11¾ km)
24. Extended Walk, with Isle of Dogs loop (18¼ km)
1. Alternative Walk, starting from Maze Hill (12¼ km)

Walk Directions

If you are doing the Alternative Walk (from Maze Hill), start at [?] in §C.

1. Blackheath Station to Greenwich Park (2½ km)
1. Cross the main road at the pedestrian lights outside the station and turn right to go uphill. Keep left at the mini-roundabout, passing Blackheath Halls on the left.

   The building contains a 600-seat concert hall and a smaller recital room. It was built in 1895, extensively restored in the 1980s and is now part of the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. Note the floral piano in front of the building!

2. Take the first left into Blackheath Park. Head east along this Private Road (with restricted vehicle access) for 800m, passing the church of St Michael and All Angels at the first crossroads.

   The church's tall thin spire is responsible for its nicknames as “The Needle of Kent” and (less obviously) “The Devil's Toothpick”.

3. Ignore several turnings off, including a branch of Blackheath Park leading to Morden Road Mews, but take the next left into Morden Road.

   The French composer Charles-François Gounod, best known for his ever-popular opera “Faust”, lived at #17 (with blue plaque) from 1870 to 1874.

4. Follow the road across a small dip and up onto the edge of the Heath, with the entrance to Morden College behind on your right.

   The college was built in 1695 as almshouses for “twelve decayed Turkey Merchants” (members of a company which regulated trade with Turkey and the Levant until 1825). It still functions as a retirement home.

5. Keep left towards the main part of the Heath, passing a striking crescent of substantial semi-detached houses linked by colonnades, The Paragon.

   Built in around 1800, the crescent was badly damaged in WW Ⅱ but was fully restored and is listed Grade Ⅰ.

6. Continue in the same direction across the Heath on a cycle path (Long Pond Road), passing the Prince of Wales Pond on your left and crossing two roads, to reach a crosspaths after 600m.

   The stone circle at the crossing commemorates three events in 2012: the Olympic Games, the 75^th anniversary of the Blackheath Society and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

7. Turn half-right at the crosspaths and go up to the A2.

   The A2 follows the route of the Roman Road from London to Dover, Watling Street.

8. Cross this busy road at the pedestrian lights, continue alongside the short Duke Humphrey Road and go across Charlton Way by a mini-roundabout.

   Just off to the right on the park wall is a memorial plaque (in Cornish and English) marking the 500^th anniversary of the Battle of Blackheath Field (1497), where Henry Ⅶ's army defeated Cornish rebels campaigning against taxes for Scottish wars.

2. Through Greenwich Park (4 km)
1. Go through Blackheath Gate into Greenwich Park, passing Blackheath Gate Lodge on your right.

   The lodge was built in 1852 for the park's Deer Keeper, in an innovative Swiss chalet / Tudor style which became the fashion for country park lodges.

2. Turn right through a side gate into the Flower Garden, passing one of the original sweet chestnuts planted in the 1660s. Keep ahead at the first path junction. As the path curves around the Lake there is a viewpoint on the right into The Wilderness, a fenced-off corner of the park.

   All the Royal Parks were originally created for hunting, and the small herd of red and fallow deer in the enclosure might be descendants of the original 16^thC herd.

3. Ignore a path off to the right and go down a short slope into a small wooded area. Keep right at the next two path junctions and leave the Flower Garden through a gate. Head across the grass towards the cast-iron Bandstand.

   Erected in 1891, the bandstand was made by the Coalbrookdale Company, famous for its decorative ironwork.

4. After passing the Bandstand turn left onto Great Cross Avenue and go up to its junction with the main Blackheath Avenue, where you could break at the Pavilion Café for mid-morning refreshments.

   The octagonal café was built in 1907. The granite Victorian drinking fountain was erected in 1891.

5. Turn right at the junction and go along Blackheath Avenue towards the Royal Observatory, first passing its newer buildings on the left.

   The South Building and Altazimuth Pavilion (both with distinctive weathervanes) were added in the 1890s. The modern bronze-clad structure is the top of the 120-seat Planetarium, which opened in 2007.

6. At the end of Blackheath Avenue you come to the famous viewpoint by the statue of General Wolfe.

   A gift from the people of Canada, the statue was unveiled in 1930. Wolfe died in the course of his final victory, the Battle of Quebec (1759); he was a resident of Greenwich and was buried in the local parish church, St Alfege's.

7. Bear left towards the older buildings of the Royal Observatory, surrounding a walled Courtyard.

   The Great Equatorial Building (with onion dome) was built in 1894 to house the observatory's 28-inch refractor. Just inside the courtyard is a brass strip marking the Greenwich Meridian line, established as the universal baseline of 0° longitude at an international conference in 1884. On the wall is the 24-hour slave dial of the Shepherd gate-clock, installed in 1852 to show ‘Greenwich Time’, and below it the British Standard imperial measurements of length.

8. Go through the side gate to the right of the clock onto an enclosed path going past the front of Flamsteed House.

   The house was designed by Sir Christopher Wren for the first Astronomer Royal in 1675. Its large red time ball enabled mariners on the Thames to set their chronometers and is still dropped each day at 1pm.

9. Follow the path round to the left and down a slope, passing an entrance into the secluded Observatory Garden.
   • If you take a look around the garden (which is open to the public), return the same way.
10. At the end of the path go straight over The Avenue onto a faint grassy path going up a slope. At the top you come to a group of Anglo-Saxon tumuli.

    These low grassy burial grounds date from around AD 600. Off to the right is a Henry Moore sculpture “Standing Figure: Knife Edge”, placed here in 1979.

11. Continue past the tumuli towards Crooms Hill Gate. Bear left in front of the gate to continue along the edge of the park.

    On the right, Macartney House (with blue plaque) was the home of General Wolfe's parents.

12. After passing a putting green and tennis courts go through a gate to continue through the Rose Garden, passing the large Ranger's House on the right.

    Built in 1700, this elegant Georgian villa later became the home of dignitaries and minor royals appointed to the honorary office of “Ranger of Greenwich Park”. Since 2002 it has housed the Wernher Collection of paintings and antiquities.

13. Leave the Rose Garden and continue along the edge of the park, passing Queen Caroline's Bath on the right.

    This plunge pool was in the private gardens of the now-demolished Montague House. Princess Caroline of Brunswick was consort of the Prince of Wales, later George Ⅳ.

14. Follow the path round to the left, passing Chesterfield Gate on the right. Take either route around The Dell and continue past a sports pavilion to complete a circuit back to Blackheath Gate.
15. Go across Blackheath Avenue and retrace your earlier steps into the Flower Garden. This time, fork left at the first path junction to go around the other side of the Lake.
16. Turn right in front of the heather garden to continue around the Lake. At the next set of path junctions veer right up a slope, then turn left onto a path heading north-east.
17. After going between a few trees the main path continues alongside a border of shrubs and trees with a lawn on your left, but the suggested route is to veer right onto a Woodland Walk (leading to another viewpoint into The Wilderness), subsequently rejoining this path a little further along.
18. At the corner near Vanbrugh Gate turn sharp left onto a meandering path to stay inside the Flower Garden, now heading north-west.
19. Leave the garden at the next corner and turn half-right onto Bower Avenue, heading north. In 100m you come to a path junction with a low mound up ahead and an information panel about the possible remains of a Romano-Celtic temple.

    This site was first investigated in 1902. The mediæval-looking building in the background (just outside the park at Maze Hill Gate) is Vanbrugh Castle, built in 1719 by the architect and dramatist Sir John Vanbrugh.

20. Turn left by the information panel to go downhill on Lover's Walk. Soon after going over a path crossing veer right onto an adjacent path which gradually climbs above the main path. It eventually turns sharply right and comes to another fine viewpoint at One Tree Hill.

    The London Plane (surrounded by a ring of seats) is a replacement for the eponymous tree which blew down in 1848. The impressive view has been painted by many famous artists, not least JMW Turner in his “London from Greenwich” (1809), which can be seen in Tate Britain.

21. Make your way onto the broad path going steeply downhill in front of the viewpoint. At the bottom of the slope turn half-right at a major path junction onto another broad path, in 100m passing the Boating Pond off to your right.

    The giant Millennium Sundial beside the pond was designed by Chris Daniel and installed in 2000. Its location indicates that this is one of the few places where children can sail between the western and eastern hemispheres!

22. Leave the park through Park Row Gate. To visit the suggested lunch pub, turn right and go along Park Vista for 75m to find the Plume of Feathers. Afterwards, retrace your steps to Park Row Gate.

    Shortly before reaching the pub, a line across the pavement and a plaque on the wall to your right reveal that you will be dining in the eastern hemisphere.

    • To finish the walk here, go to the other end of Park Vista; Maze Hill station's access road is ahead on the left.
3. Through Maritime Greenwich to Island Gardens (1¾ • 2¼ km)

1. Starting from Maze Hill Station (+½ km)

1. If arriving from London on Platform 2, cross the footbridge to leave the station from its southern side and go up its short access road. At the top cross the main road (using the nearby pedestrian crossing if necessary) and take the street just off to the left, Park Vista.
2. Unless you want to visit the Plume of Feathers (the suggested lunch pub on the Main Walk, 200m ahead) the suggested route is to enter Greenwich Park through Creed Place Gate. Go past an information panel for the Queen's Orchard and turn right onto the broad path parallel to Park Vista.
   • If it is open and you take a look around the orchard you will have to return the same way; there is no other gate further along.
3. On the main path you pass a Children's Playground and then the Boating Pond on your left.

   …

4. Turn right at a major path junction to leave the park through Park Row Gate.
2. With Park Row Gate behind you, go through a pedestrian gate on the left (or the main vehicle gate further down the road) into a car park for the Royal Museums.
3. Veer right to go around the administration building and continue on the main path through the grounds, parallel to the A206 off to the right. Turn left to visit the large white house between two sets of colonnades, the Queen's House.

   This was designed by Inigo Jones for Anne of Denmark (wife of James Ⅰ) in 1616, although she died soon afterwards and it was another twenty years before the house was completed by Charles Ⅰ for his queen, Henrietta Maria. Jones had recently spent three years in Italy studying Roman and Renaissance architecture and based his design on the Medici villa at Poggio a Caiano.

4. After visiting the house, return to the main path and proceed to the next building, the National Maritime Museum.

   This claims to be the world's largest maritime museum, “filled with inspirational stories of discovery and adventure at sea”, covering the whole breadth of Britain's history as a seafaring nation.

5. Leave the grounds by the gate in front of the Museum and cross the busy A206 at the pedestrian lights. Go through a gate into the grounds of the Old Royal Naval College and turn right. Opposite the Queen's House turn left onto a path between the two domed buildings. The Painted Hall is at the far end of the left-hand building.

   This was the communal dining hall for naval veterans. The commission to paint the walls and ceiling was given to James Thornhill in 1708, when he was instructed to include many references to Britain's naval power. His ‘great and laborious undertaking’ took nineteen years and the result is considered to be “the finest painted architectural interior by an English artist”.

6. To visit the Chapel, cross the courtyard and go into the other domed building opposite.

   The original chapel suffered a disastrous fire in 1779 and was redesigned by James Stuart in a neoclassical ‘Greek revival’ style.

7. Go through the next courtyard to a gate in front of the river.

   There is a fine view of Docklands across the Thames; later you will be able to look back to this point from the other side of the river.

8. Turn left (either continuing through the College grounds or on the Thames Path just outside). At the far end of the grounds a detour left to the Discover Greenwich Visitor Centre is recommended.

   This “tells the story of the people who shaped the buildings and landscape of Greenwich through the centuries”.

9. Leave the grounds and make your way towards the Cutty Sark.

   This famous ship was built on the Clyde in 1869 and carried tea, wool and other cargo across the oceans until 1922. It was one of the fastest sailing ships of its time.

   • To finish the walk here, go down Greenwich Church Street to the south-west of the ship and turn right onto Crescent Arcade to find Cutty Sark DLR station. Greenwich mainline station is a further 600m away, along the A206 (Greenwich High Road).
10. Make your way to the circular brick building (with glazed dome) to the west of Greenwich Pier, the entrance to the Greenwich Foot Tunnel.

    The 370m-long pedestrian tunnel opened in 1902. It replaced an unreliable ferry service and made it easier for shipyard and dock workers living on the south side of the Thames to get to their workplaces on the Isle of Dogs.

11. Go through the tunnel to Island Gardens on the other side of the river.
    • To finish the walk here, go straight ahead on Douglas Path after leaving the gardens and cross the A1206 to Island Gardens DLR station.

If you are doing the alternative afternoon route (along the eastern side of the Isle of Dogs), go to §F.

4. Island Gardens to South Dock • Canary Wharf (3½ • 3¾ km)

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1. After taking in the fine view of Maritime Greenwich across the Thames, leave Island Gardens through a gate to the north of the tunnel exit and turn left onto Saunders Ness Road.

   You will mostly be following the waymarked Thames Path upstream all the way to West India Pier, just before the main Docklands development. Much of the route is along the riverbank itself, but in the middle there is an unavoidable 750m stretch along the parallel Westferry Road to get past the wide inlet to Millwall Outer Dock.

2. Follow the road round a couple of bends and continue along Ferry Road. Where this turns right by the Ferry House pub after 200m, keep ahead briefly on a side street.
3. Turn left in front of a restaurant to reach the riverbank and continue along the broad riverside path. In 500m you pass an information panel about “The Colour Makers” at Burrells Wharf.

   This was the site of a pigment / dye factory. The industry relocated in the 1980s and the site was converted into residential apartments in 1988.

4. Just before Masthouse Terrace Pier you pass an information panel and some of the giant chains used to launch the SS Great Eastern.

   The ship was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and was launched (with great difficulty) in 1858. It was by far the largest ship of its time but was a commercial failure and scrapped thirty years later. There is a walkway around the site which you could take for a closer look at the slipway.

5. The Thames Path continues past the pier for 300m, after which you have to turn right and make your way through the Ferguson's Wharf estate to the A1206 (Westferry Road). Turn left onto the main road, in 150m passing The Space on the right.

   This performing arts centre (with a cosy bar / café on its upper floor) was originally a church, built in 1860 for a Presbyterian mission. The fanciful façade is said to be a pastiche of Pisa Cathedral.

6. In 200m the road goes up a short slope to cross the disused westerly lock at the entrance to Millwall Outer Dock.

   Now home to the Docklands Sailing Centre, two large dockside cranes are a reminder of the site's former use. The large site being redeveloped to the north was Northern & Shell's Westferry Print Works, but their newspapers (the Daily Express, Daily Star, etc) are now printed at Luton.

7. Instead of turning left into Arnhem Place (as per the Thames Path signpost), continue a little further along the right-hand side of the main road to Tiller Road. Go through a gate in this side street into the Isle of Dogs Memorial Garden.

   This small garden is “dedicated to the memory of all those who have lived or worked on the Isle of Dogs”.

8. Take one of the winding paths through the garden to a gate at the other end and return to Westferry Road. Cross over into the Sir John McDougall Gardens and take the path up to the right to return to the riverbank.

   An information panel “The Mills on the Wall” reveals that there was a row of corn-milling windmills on the riverbank here, hence the name Millwall.

9. Go along the riverside path for 450m to the disused West India Pier and turn right into a side street, leaving the Thames Path. Go along Cuba Street for 250m, crossing Westferry Road along the way (via a pedestrian crossing on the left if necessary).

   An inconspicuous memorial stone set into the pavement on the eastern side of Westferry Road between Cuba Street and the crossing commemorates the founding of Millwall Football Club in 1885.

10. Where Cuba Street swings right by Neama café / restaurant, go up steps and turn right onto another road (Marsh Wall). In 40m turn left into South Quay Walk and follow the path round to the right in front of South Dock. Go along the waterside to an elegant footbridge, passing under the elevated Docklands Light Railway (DLR) along the way.

If you are doing the Extended or Alternative Walk, skip to the next section.

11. Finishing at Canary Wharf Station (+¼ km)

1. If finishing the walk here, go over the footbridge. On the far side of South Dock go down steps and through a revolving door into the building ahead. There are steps down to Jubilee Mall, but to go directly to one of the stations exit through another door at the far end.
2. Heron Quays DLR station is off to the left and the western entrance to the Jubilee Line station is 100m ahead, in Jubilee Plaza. The Elizabeth Line station is a further 300m ahead (via Cabot Place Mall and Adams Plaza), beneath Crossrail Place Roof Garden.

   The location of this botanical garden on the Greenwich Meridian rather neatly allows it to display American plants in the western hemisphere and Asian plants in the eastern.

5. South Dock to Island Gardens (3 km)

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1. Ignore the footbridge and continue along South Quay Walk, soon passing the waterside Hazev bar / restaurant. The most direct route is to cut through South Quay Square or South Quay Plaza on the right to return to the main road (Marsh Wall), where it runs under the elevated DLR.
   • Building work might mean that some of these routes are temporarily closed. In any case if you continue alongside South Dock you will be forced to turn right in front of a linking waterway (Millwall Passage) to reach Marsh Wall, with South Quay DLR station opposite.
2. Go past the western end of the DLR station onto West Quay Walk, passing Capeesh restaurant and with Millwall Inner Dock on your left. Go all the way along this waterside path, eventually reaching a street with the Pepper Street Tavern opposite.
3. Turn left onto Pepper Street to cross the dock on a drawbridge, Glengall Bridge. Turn right onto another waterside path, now with Millwall Outer Dock on your right. The dock widens out and in 250m you come to a crescent-shaped area at its eastern end.

   Glengall Bridge separates the two Millwall Docks, which were constructed in the late 1860s. They mostly handled grain and timber cargoes until they closed to commercial traffic in 1981.

4. From the centre of the crescent head directly away from the water, then go down a flight of steps at the back and under the DLR. Cross East Ferry Road and take the signposted footpath just off to the right into Mudchute Park & Farm.

   In 1974 the Greater London Council had earmarked this area of wasteland for a high-rise estate, but local campaigners defeated the proposal and were able to transform it into a public park with a city farm.

5. Follow the stepped path gently uphill under a trellis, then through a metal kissing gate. For the suggested route (via the main farm area) ignore the path ahead and turn half-left to go directly up the grass bank, where there is an information panel about “The Mudchute”.

   Mud dredged during the creation of the Millwall Docks in the late 19^thC was pumped up to create this area, hence the name ‘mud shoot’.

6. Continue on a grassy path along the top of a low ridge, later passing some beehives down to the left. Keep ahead at a path crossing in a small dip, passing a depression on your right.
7. Go up to a farm enclosure and veer right to go gently downhill alongside the wooden fence. At the bottom turn left onto a broad track. You soon pass a large 3.7" Ack-Ack Gun on the right, surrounded by information panels about its history in World War Ⅱ.

   This was one of four anti-aircraft guns installed on Mudchute to help defend the docklands, a prime target for German bombers during the blitz.

8. The suggested route is to loop around the farm enclosures behind the gun emplacement. After returning to this point carry on along the main path for 40m to a major junction, with the entrance to a picnic area and the Mudchute Kitchen Café ahead.
   • If you detour into this area (which has more farm animals), return the same way.
9. Unless you want to revisit the enclosures behind the gun emplacement, take the slightly elevated path heading S away from this junction, running along the top of a wooded embankment. In 150m it curves round to the right and in a further 75m passes a flight of steps down to the farm area.
   • If you do retrace your steps back to the farm enclosures, a path at the back leads to these steps.
10. On this long straight elevated path there are glimpses of Millwall Park through the trees on your left and allotments down to the right. Where the path swings right in the south-western corner of Mudchute Park turn left down steps and make your way out of the park through a metal gate.
11. Turn left onto a broad pedestrianised walkway, heading E into Millwall Park. In 50m veer right onto a link path which merges with the park's perimeter path. Follow it round to the left to head SE alongside the brick arches of Millwall Railway Viaduct.

    The viaduct originally carried the Millwall Extension Railway, which operated from 1871 to 1926. Some of this railway infrastructure was reused for the DLR when this branch terminated at Island Gardens, but when it was extended to Lewisham the line was rerouted to run underground here.

12. On reaching a children's play area fork left to pass to the left of two of the DLR's huge airshafts. Follow the path up to a fenced formal garden and bear right to go around its edge, with a bronze sculpture in the middle.

    The sculpture is a copy of Woman and Fish (Frank Dobson, 1951); the original is in Delapré Abbey Garden, Northamptonshire.

13. Follow the path out to the main road (Manchester Road) and cross over at the pedestrian lights off to the right. Head directly away from Island Gardens DLR station along an alleyway (Douglas Path). At the far end cross a minor road and go through a gate into Island Gardens, completing this circuit of the Isle of Dogs.
6. Island Gardens to Canary Wharf (3½ km)

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1. Head towards the river and go all the way through Island Gardens on the Thames Path, passing a metal toposcope identifying the main buildings to be seen in Maritime Greenwich.

   You will be following the waymarked Thames Path downstream to Blackwall Basin, with only a few short stretches away from the riverbank.

2. At the end of the gardens continue on a permissive path between a development and the river. The path then swings left to skirt around Newcastle Draw Dock, heading towards the Waterman's Arms pub before returning to the riverbank.

   On a wall near the head of this inlet a relief sculpture of a kneeling woman was salvaged from a nearby chapel which was destroyed by bombs in World War Ⅱ.

3. In 250m you have to cut through a car park to skirt around the Cubitt Wharf building. In a further 100m you pass two prominent white pillars on the riverbank at the site of a former oil storage depot, Dudgeon's Wharf.

   Two memorial plaques on the pillars commemorate five firefighters and a construction worker who died when an oil tank exploded in 1969.

4. In the next 300m the path passes a private pier at the Millennium Wharf development before zig-zagging around a former shipyard, with steps leading down to the pebbled Folly House Beach. At the far end the path skirts another draw dock and returns to the riverbank.

   On the opposite bank the unusual tower with a triangular pattern is The Optic Cloak by Conrad Shawcross (2016), an artistic covering for flue stacks on the Greenwich Peninsula's Energy Centre. Its design was influenced by the ‘dazzle’ camouflage style developed for ships in World War Ⅰ.

5. After a straight stretch of 300m the path makes another jink to the left, then has to skirt around a solitary house on the waterfront. In a further 100m the path starts to curve left past the modern Pierhead Lock development and comes out onto the A1206 (Manchester Road) by the drawbridge at the entrance to South Dock.
6. Cross the bridge and take either a ramp or steps on the right, by a ‘Riverside Pub’ sign. Go down a short street (Coldharbour) and follow it round to the left in front of The Gun pub. Continue past a row of waterfront buildings for 200m, then back to the A1206 (now Prestons Road).
7. Cross the main road carefully. Go through a gap in the wall opposite, down a few steps and alongside Blackwall Basin. Ignore a footbridge over the water to the right and turn left towards a second footbridge, over a side channel. Cross this, go through an archway and turn left to go past a row of houses on Lovegrove Walk.
8. At the end turn right onto Brannan Street. After passing through a vehicle barrier turn left into Harbord Square Park. Cut through it to an exit on the right-hand side and continue along a broad pedestrianised area, away from the park.
9. In 150m go straight across Charter Street onto Water Street. In 75m this swings left and right to go alongside the dock in Wood Wharf, with information panels about the artworks in this new development area.

   The massive Whale on the Wharf sculpture by Jason Klimoski & Lesley Chang was created from recycled materials “as a striking reminder of the millions of tonnes of plastic waste swimming in the Atlantic & Pacific oceans”.

10. Carry on in this direction, crossing a bridge over a water channel. The eastern entrance to the Jubilee Line station is straight ahead, on Montgomery Square. The Elizabeth Line station is 300m off to the right (via Upper Bank Street or the underground malls), …

» Last updated: March 3, 2026

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