This is another lovely section of the capital ring walk, from Crystal Palace to Streatham. When you start in Crystal Palace, if you haven’t already been to visit the dinosaurs, pop over to the Crystal Palace Park to see them before you start! I added some pictures of them in my previous post here.

This walk isn’t too long (6.4 km or 4 miles-ish) so it can work well as an add-on to one of the other sections before or after it. You’ll need to walk up some hills right after you leave Crystal Palace, but it is an easy route, mostly along paths and tarmac. I think you can even manage this section without getting you shoes muddy.

Crystal Palace to Streatham – The basics

Distance: 6.4 km
Public transport: Crystal Palace (rail or overground stations) to Stretham Common rail station
Best sights along the way: The White House in Norwood Grove as well as the views up high in Streatham Common.
Loos: There are public loos at the Rookery Gardens and Streatham.

Crystal Palace to Streatham Map

Capital Ring Section 4 – Route

The beginning of this walk takes you through pretty residential streets as you walk up the hill. I loved this part of the walk as there are so many chances to look down at gorgeous views. You need to cross Church Road to get into Westow Park. This park has an amazing looking adventure play area for kids, so if you’re planning to walk with little’uns, you may have to stop here for a bit.

Next you need to walk through Upper Norwood Recreation Ground. This was a large green space surrounded by houses. If you come here in spring, you’ll be able to see long lines of daffodils parading through the grass. After than you walk down a hill and past Biggin Wood allotments. The google map makes it look like you can take a short cut through the allotments… but we couldn’t work out how. You will probably have to go on a mini detour, walk down the road to Covington way.

Next, this path will lead you all the way to Norwood Grove. Norwood grove is a pretty park, and the Capital ring route leads you up to the White house and through their gardens. There are panoramic views to the south of Croydon and the North Downs from the top of the hill.

After you’ve seen the views, you can follow the path which leads into Streatham Common. The top half of the common is near the Rookery (and the rookery café if you need an excuse to stop!) However the path bears left, so you will walk down the hill towards Streatham looking far across the Wandle Valley.

…and that’s pretty much the end of the walk. The last road will take you to either Streatham station (if you turn right) or Streatham Common if you continue straight after the common.

Hike Highlights:

– The views! To make up for the hills, you get some gorgeous panoramic views down into South London down to Croydon.
– As you get closer to Streatham, there are lots of dog walkers so you get to see cute puppers.

I really can’t think of any bad points for this walk.

You will need to download the maps to your phone as the sign posts sometimes disappear for a while. The google map is here and the TFL map here.