Route: Richmond Park
Area: South West London
Date of walk: 23rd November 2015
Walkers: Andrew and Gilly
Distance: 7.6 miles
Ascent: 400 feet
Weather: Weak sun, cold
Richmond Park is the largest of London’s eight Royal Parks and is the biggest enclosed space in the capital. It is also a National Nature Reserve and home to herds of wild red and fallow deer
We parked at Pembroke Lodge and from there we picked up the Tamsin Trail which we followed in a clockwise direction for the initial part of the walk. It was hard to imagine that we were in the capital city, so vast were the vistas of unspoilt woodland and parkland – the squawking of ring necked parakeets and the passenger planes flying overhead were the only reminders that we were in London and not the New Forest
After visiting Pen Ponds and walking through Isabella Plantation we completed the circuit and arrived back at Pembroke Lodge
There were plenty of deer and other wildlife sightings along the way and this added greatly to the enjoyment of a wonderful walk – Londoners are lucky to have this slice of countryside on their doorsteps
Click on the icon below for the route map (subscribers to OS Maps can view detailed maps of the route, visualise it in aerial 3D, and download the GPX file. Non-subscribers will see a base map)
Scroll down – or click on any photo to enlarge it and you can then view as a slideshow
Before we set off on our walk, I made a dawn visit to the park…
Fallow deer
Jackdaw picking ticks off a red deer
I then returned to our nearby hotel (the excellent Bingham on the bank of the River Thames)
A full English breakfast later I returned to Richmond Park with Gilly and we started the walk from Pembroke Lodge, shown here
The view west from Pembroke Lodge
A pair of Egyptian Geese
On a clear day St Paul’s Cathedral can be seen from King Henry’s Mound - the view is protected and no new building is allowed to impede it
Looking the other way - too hazy to be able to see Windsor Castle today
We leave the grounds of Pembroke Lodge and set out along the Tamsin trail in a clockwise direction
Heron at Adam’s Pond
Beverley Brook
Walking towards the footbridge over the brook
Beverley Brook again
Red deer stag - rutting season has just finished and he looks to have a few battle scars
(I used a telephoto lens for the deer photos as these are wild animals and it’s not sensible to get too close, nor is it good for their welfare)
We walked past Spankers Hill Wood, wondering what unusual activity we might witness
Snoozing in the sun
A short diversion to see Pen Ponds
Looking across the larger of the two ponds
Pond Plantation
More thrilling red deer sightings…
We walked through the 40 acre Isabella Plantation, famed for its azaleas camellias and rhododendron which must be a wonderful sight in spring
Peg’s Pond
Moorhen in the pond…
…and a mallard
We leave the plantation, and spot a fallow deer on the way back to the start
The end of a wonderful walk as we approach Queens Road, which leads back to Pembroke Lodge
Later that day, we go for a short stroll from our hotel along the Thames
A perfect end to a perfect day
