Wandle Trail: Wandsworth to Burford Bridge

Another fine day allowed me to complete a ride I have always been meaning to do: the Wandle Trail which as its name suggests follows the River Wandle through the SW suburbs of London. Here's a map of my route. Also, here is a handy pdf guide to the trail.

I took the train to Earlsfield and cycled down to the start of the trail on an island ('The Spit') where the Wandle joins the Thames. Then I retraced my steps and carried on along the trail. Signing is patchy, and I probably deviated from the pucker route in places. The ride has pleasant stretches on good riverside paths and through parks (surprisingly bucolic for such an urban setting). These are linked together by mainly quiet backroads, and a few busy main roads where care is needed (eg the first few hundred yards out of Wandsworth itself). Morden Hall Park (in the care of the National Trust) is especially pleasant. Merton Abbey is the site of a calico printing works with associations to William Morris.

The trail itself ends in Carshalton: from here, the suburbs become leafier. You climb along Telegraph Track and Oaks Track through open fields with good views over London, and on through The Oaks Park ,and then through Woodmansterne and Banstead to reach the Tattenham Corner of Epsom Race Course. From here you can follow NCN22 across the Epsom Downs to descend to the Burford Bridge hotel. NCN22 can be followed to Guildford, or you could pick up the train at either Dorking or Leatherhead.

This route forms part of the Avenue Verte cycle route from Paris to London.

The Spit, where the Wandle Trail starts (or ends)

Typical Wandle Trail

NCN22: On Oaks Track, twixt Carshalton and Woodmansterne

Tattenham Corner of Epsom Race Course