Introduction
The Green Chain Walk is a linked system of open spaces between the River Thames and Crystal Palace Park. In 1977 four London Boroughs (Bexley, Bromley, Lewisham and Greenwich) and the Greater London Council created this Green Chain of 300 open spaces to protect them from building activity. Many parts of the system are also part of the Capital Ring route.
This cache trail follows probably a lesser walked part of the chain and links up two of my favourite local walking areas – Elmstead Wood and Beckenham Place Park. Both of these areas already have an abundance of caches, so I thought it would be fun to create a cache link between the two. These are my first hides so feel free to let me know what you think! The walk is around 2.5 miles and is generally well sign-posted – I've provided a few additional notes that may help. I quite like local history and trivia so I'll try to point out a few interesting things on the route. If you know anything else about the area that I've missed then do give me a shout and I'll add it in.
Should you need it, there is plenty of free parking along New Street Hill. You could either walk back at the end (there is a slightly shorter route to retun via Avondale Road) or if you wanted to avoid this you could catch the train from Ravensbourne to Bromley South and then catch the 126 or 261 bus to New Street Hill.
The caches are a mixture of sizes and styles. All have waterproof logs – so they will write even if they do get damp. Please bring your own pen, and let me know if any need maintenance. I don't think that any are too dificult, but if you do get stumped with any then drop me a line and I'll give you another clue. Please make sure that you do write in the log as I will delete any electronic logs that don't correspond – and please don't leave spoilers.
Route
The trail begins at Elmstead Wood – there is no reason why you couldn't do it the other way round, but my feeling was that the way I have marked it is mostly downhill. There are 9 caches in Elmstead Wood so do have an explore, and then follow the railway line, which will bring you to a main Green Chain marker post.
Desciption
Elmstead Wood is a large area of ancient woodland with a wide range of trees of different ages from veterans to saplings, including oak, hornbeam and sweet chestnut coppice. Ancient woodland isn’t always managed through coppicing. It forms one area of woodland with the much smaller Marvels Wood to the north in Lewisham Borough. There are lots of squirrels and fungi and many bird species. The ground flora is very varied. Originally part of the Bishop of Rochester’s estate, centred on the bishop’s palace at Bromley (now part of the civic centre). It provided timber for ship building and became so depleted that by 1580 the bishop gave orders to stop any further felling except when timber was needed for repairs to his own palace.
The Cache
You are looking for a magnetic key safe.