River Ravensbourne

In the past couple of months I have been to both ends of the River Ravensbourne. 

It rises from the ground at Caesar's Well in Keston in the Borough of Bromley...

...and then feeds a series of ponds.

After flowing through Bromley, Lewisham and Deptford, it joins the River Thames at Deptford Creek:

Here the landscape is quite different from where it started, with building sites along its banks and remains on the Thames shore, at the point it joins, of hundreds of years of industrial activity. Beautiful in its own way of course!

Update: on Thursday June 21st (10am to 4pm) Lewisham Rivers and People project are organising a Ravensbourne Expedition (Source to Mouth) - an epic 12 mile walk. Meet at Keston Ponds Car Park (off Westerham Road)

Into the blue

A little teaser -where is this mysterious blue labyrinth?

And what lies at the end of it?

Update, Monday 16 April:

As a couple of people identified correctly in the comments thread, this passageway is on Watergate Street, Deptford and leads to Watergate stairs down to the River Thames (or the beach at low tide).

The wooden passageway has been constructed to maintain access during the building works at the adjacent Paynes and Borthwick Wharves site. Work has restarted there after a delay of several years, and the passageway has been repainted blue. It gives the approach to the river a certain majesty, though the previous paint scheme had a certain poetry too - white boards extensively decorated by local youths for whom this is a place to hang out:

Lewisham River & Nature Trails

Lewisham Council are arranging a number of nature walks and river walks with the aim of getting the people of the borough to “get to know the waterways and the green spaces in your area.”


All are free but some of the courses recommend you book by emailing Chris McGraw or phoning Chris on 07850 713 974. The list of events includes:

Friday 23 July, 2- 4pm
Discovering the Waterlink Way – a walk from Ladywell Fields to Lower Sydenham (part of London Discovering Places Weekend – meet by the café / ranger’s lodge).

Saturday 24 July, 11am- 1pm
Discovering the Waterlink Way. A walk from Bell Green to Ladywell Fields - part of London Discovering Places Weekend) Meet by the main entrance to Sainsbury’s Savacentre SE26 4PU.

Tuesday 3 August, 11am- 4pm
Training course: Trees in the urban landscape. A look at the trees of Deptford, wild and planted. Please phone or email to book.

Sunday 8 August , 2- 5pm
Training course: Wildflowers of urban areas. Wildlife in the streets and derelict places. Please phone or email to book.

Wednesday 11 August, 12noon- 4pm
Afternoon family event at Manor House Gardens (wading and wildlife in the Quaggy).

Friday 13 August, 11am- 2pm
Creekside low-tide wade. Please bring your own lunch for a picnic afterwards. Meet at Creekside Centre, Deptford SE8 4SA.

Tuesday 17 August, 7- 9pm
Bat walk at Beckenham Place Park. Please phone or email to book.

Thursday 26 August, 6-8pm
Walk from Grove Park to Beckenham Place Park. Finding the Downham tributary of the Ravensbourne. Meet at Grove Park Station.

And for the arm chair Lewisham nature enthusiast, we’re pleased to see that the TAGWORTS google map of Deptford wild flowers from the 2009 Deptford X festival. The map is probably still fairly correct for this year but the position of this years individual flowers may have changed.

Lewisham River Attacks Tory

But it spits him out again.

The river clean-up that nearly cleaned the Mayoral office up is organised by Quaggy Waterways Action Group.