Saturday 14th March.       Three Parks Walk

             Watch out for future events we seem to be getting good weather on all our walks….. so far. This was a real marathon, but the eleven hardy souls who gave up their Saturday morning really enjoyed it and must have gone home a lot fitter. The walk started at the mansion in BPP and progressed up through the woodland to the Westgate Road exit from here along the ‘rural’ unmade up road and on past the really old cottages in Chancery Lane, some dating to the 1770s. Then down Court Downs Road to Kelsey Park. We followed the lake side path past the heronry and further on  pointing out the top of  the ice house which is roughly opposite the kingfisher artwork on the edge of the lake. Even the animals were very obligingly on view, as here we also saw the male and female Mandarin ducks sitting together by the edge of the water.

             After leaving Kelsey Park by the Stone Park Avenue exit  came the more boring bit as there is no choice but to trot along the road for a while. Still by now everyone was chatting away  to each other and there are some nice houses to look at for some of the way. After navigating our way around the roundabout at Elmers End it was just a short distance over the railway bridge and into South Norwood Country Park. This entrance opens straight onto the large lake which has viewing platforms. There are visits to this body of water by quite a variety of water birds making it worth a look at any time of the year. There were shelduck, tufted duck, moorhens, mallards and a selection of gulls. On the summer evenings Daubenton’s bats can be seen skimming across the surface of the water in search of insects. Moving on from the lake it becomes apparent that this is very different from BPP and Kelsey Park with its open expanse of rough grassland dotted with clumps of trees and bushes. There is a small pitch and putt course but it is shut at the moment for refurbishing. Following the wide pathway with Beckenham Crematorium on our right we eventually arrived at the Visitor Centre and children’s playground, but the best thing was the picnic tables to collapse on to and break out the biscuits!

             It was a really enjoyable day and with all the chatting it hadn’t seem such a long walk. After a restful break decisions were made on getting back. There is the train from Elmers End to Beckenham, Sydenham and Catford. The 54 bus which stops outside BPP and the tram which goes to many places. Some of us walked back via three other parks, but that’s another story!