Graham Pearcey

Richmond Park and Thames Path (8.78 miles / 14.13 km / 3.50 hours):

Please click here for a map of the route.

• Park on Ham Common or in Bishops Close, Richmond, TW10 7DE.
• Emerge onto the main road (A307), then take the pedestrian crossing into Ham Gate Avenue and follow this for about half a mile to the park entrance at Ham Gate, alongside a post-box in a pillar.
• Continue alongside the park road ahead, uphill. At the four-way junction (Ham Cross) proceed straight ahead along the track signposted “Isabella Plantation”. At the next junction continue ahead. (The no entry sign only applies to unauthorised vehicles.) After almost a mile reach a T-junction. Turn left, passing the car park with Pen Ponds visible in the distance on your left. Keep to the main road or any of the grass paths parallel to it, soon passing on your right the cluster of buildings that is the Royal Ballet School, with the 18th-century White Lodge in the midst of them. Continue to a four-way junction (Sheen Cross).
• Cross the road then immediately turn right onto the footpath / cycle-track signposted “Roehampton Gate”. Cross a stream via a bridge and arrive at a mini-roundabout where you turn left onto a good quality cycle-track. (Avoid the original track to the right, as this doesn’t have the advantage of a bridge to cross back over the stream.) Cross the stream again, and follow the cycle-track, with the park perimeter to your right, until you reach Sheen Gate. Cross the park road and bear left to cross a second road that leads to a car park, then immediately turn sharp right over a wooden footbridge to re-join the good quality cycle-track which continues to undulate near the park perimeter till it reaches an exit called Bog Gate (a pedestrian-only gate). You have reached the half way point of the walk.
• Continue along the cycle-track within the park. Pass two other pedestrian-only gates (Cambrian Gate and Bishop’s Gate) before reaching Richmond Gate. Here leave the park and initially keep right; then use two zebra crossings to reach the former Royal Star and Garter Home and turn right down the hill. Take the first left (Nightingale Lane) but then immediate right onto a footpath that descends via a grassy bank towards the river. Cross Petersham Road via the pedestrian crossing, turn left on the pavement and take the second path on your right. At the bank of the river, bear left to follow the Thames Path. Pass Hammerton’s Ferry and Ham House before continuing along the riverbank a further 1.5 miles to Teddington Lock (famous for the Monty Python fish-slapping sketch). At the blue bridge, turn left onto a footpath signposted “Ham / Richmond Park / Central London” which crosses two roads to arrive at a metal barrier opposite a children’s nursery. Here turn right, then left into Lock Road to reach Ham Common, with the pond on your right. Approaching the A307, bear left at the No Entry signs and follow the pavement to your car.

This route was last walked on 8 March 2024, and the directions were accurate then. Please e-mail me if you find any errors, if you would like a copy in Word format, or if you would prefer a version that starts and ends at Richmond station (add 2 miles/ 0.75 hours).

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