Norbiton to Hammersmith
Length: 16.8km (10.4 miles) Toughness: 2/10

10:18Strawberry Hill train from Waterloo (Vauxhall 10:22, Clapham Junction 10:27, Wimbledon 10:34) arriving at Norbiton at 10:43.

For the return journey, there are frequent tube trains and bus services from Hammersmith (TfL zone 2). Norbiton is in TfL zone 5

The morning section of the walk is mainly through Richmond Park, followed, after lunch in Barnes, by an afternoon leg along the Thames Path, with a diversion to visit the grounds of Chiswick House. The house itself is closed for the winter, but nearby Hogarth House (home of the artist William Hogarth) is open until 5pm.

The directions include various options for shortening the walk by dropping out at Barnes or Chiswick, and for extending the walk to Putney.

There are several possible lunch places in Barnes, including the Sun Inn (020 8876 5256) on Barnes Green.

You will need to download a PDF of the walk directions, or print the version you want from the walk's information page, suppressing the sections you don't need.

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Extra Walk 261 (second half only) – Barnes to Putney
Length: About 11 km (7 miles). Toughness: 1/10

11:14 Strawberry Hill (via Richmond) train from Waterloo (Vauxhall 11:19, Queenstown Road 11:22, Clapham Jct 11:25, etc), arriving Barnes at 11:34.

Barnes is in TfL Zone 3 and Putney in Zone 2, so use your Oyster card.

The full version of this walk is rather long for winter so I'm specifying just the second half alongside the river, hopefully attracting those who did the earlier sections in 2016 but dropped out before the end.

Quite early in the walk you'll reach the grounds of Chiswick House where you can admire the elaborate displays of the Magical Lantern Festival, with its Chinese New Year theme of “Explore the Silk Road”. You could stop for lunch here at the Chiswick House Café but I'd be tempted to press on and try one of the five riverside pubs on the stretch to Hammersmith. Rather surprisingly the walk author doesn't appear to have done any in-depth research, so it's a case of choosing the first one that takes your fancy.

If you stay on the north bank for the final leg to Putney you'll be able to explore the grounds of Fulham Palace towards the end of the walk, with its café providing a convenient tea stop if you're not too late. You can return on the District Line from Putney Bridge or the mainline station to Clapham Jct & Waterloo.

You'll need to print the walk directions (with maps) from the Extra Walk 261 page. You can significantly reduce the amount printed by clicking the “Afternoon Walk” option. As most of this urban walk is on firm surfaces, choose comfortable footwear. T=swc.261

Extra Walk 261 – Norbiton to Putney
Length: Up to 20 km (12.4 miles), with lots of drop-out points. Toughness: 2 or 3/10

10:18 Strawberry Hill train from Waterloo (Vauxhall 10:22, Clapham Jct 10:27, etc), arriving Norbiton at 10:43 (see below for an afternoon walk option).

Norbiton is in TfL Zone 5 and all the possible return stations in Zones 2 or 3, so use your Oyster card.

This walk had its début on a rather damp Saturday in February when most people dropped out early, so I'm hoping for better weather this time. The first part of the walk is through Richmond Park and if the Kurume Azaleas in the Isabella Plantation are in full flower it'll be worth taking the extended route here. Hopefully you'll be able to squeeze into the popular Sun Inn for lunch in Barnes, but there are alternatives nearby (and a picturesque village green if you bring sandwiches).

For the afternoon leg you can basically choose to go as far as you like along the Thames Path, with a short diversion inland to visit the grounds of Chiswick House (free entry, but about £7 if you want to visit the house and aren't a member of English Heritage or the Arts Fund).

You'll need to print the walk directions (with maps) from the Extra Walk 261 page, which lists the possible drop-out points from Barnes Bridge onwards. As a fair proportion of the walk is on firm surfaces, choose comfortable footwear.

Afternoon Walk: If you're doing some other long walks this weekend and just want a half-day outing, an alternative to dropping out early would be to take the 12:44 Windsor & Eton train from Waterloo to Barnes, arriving at 13:03. Click the 'pm. Afternoon Walk' option to start the directions at §D and (if you like) look for the main group in the Sun Inn or around Barnes Green. T=swc.261

New Walk – Norbiton to Hammersmith
Length: 16½ km (10.25 miles), with longer and shorter options. Toughness: 2/10

10:12 Shepperton train from Waterloo (Vauxhall 10:16, Clapham Jct 10:21, etc), arriving Norbiton at 10:37.

Norbiton is in TfL Zone 5 and all the possible return stations in Zones 2 or 3, so use your Oyster card.

This walk starts with a trek through a huge deer park and ends with a stretch along an attractive part of the River Thames. In between you can have lunch at a pub overlooking a village green and then explore the grounds of a historic neo-Palladian villa, currently celebrating the Chinese New Year. All in south-west London.

The park is of course Richmond Park and the lunchtime stop is at the Sun Inn in Barnes, “the village on the river”. The grounds are those of Chiswick House, where Lord Burlington's attempt to recreate the gardens of ancient Rome is somewhat overshadowed this month by the vivid displays of a Magical Lantern Festival. The suggested destination is Hammersmith but you can easily cut the walk short or extend it to Putney; see the walk document for details. However, if you do the extension note that football fans will be spilling out of Craven Cottage at 5pm as Fulham have a home game with Charlton.

You'll need to print the walk directions (with maps) from this New Walk page. As a fair proportion of the walk is on firm surfaces and the park shouldn't be too muddy, choose comfortable footwear.

PS. Before anyone asks, there's no GPS route on the website; the better to show up any inadequacies in the written directions. In any case you hardly need one for urban walks and Richmond Park is a nice place to get lost in. Leave your gizmo at home! T=swc.261.y