Hampton Court to Kingston - historic Thames Royal: SW London Walk 2

This is one of my favourite walks.  We enjoy gorgeous vistas, great outdoors and also learn about royalty, including some of their excessive culinary and ahem, toilet habits.  We also encounter squatters, a very cute but puzzled dog, some clattering horses and an unfortunate character from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. There’s a feisty Indian princess who fought for human rights, an embarrassing moment involving a slipped stocking and an encounter with someone who was arguably the first ever king of England.

Practicalities:

We start 11am ­­­at Dish, one of Hampton Court’s most popular cafés, almost opposite Hampton Court Station. Distance: about 3.5 miles on the flat. Various short stops en route to admire the view and hear about the history.

Get train from Waterloo to Hampton Court (details to follow as not currently available for this date but takes c40 minutes and you’d need to leave Waterloo c10.00h - tbc). Dish is at 3 Bridge Road,  E Molesley KT8 9EU. Exit station and cross over road at traffic lights and you can see Dish, slightly to your right.

End Kingston for lunch c13.30h (venue tbc), with 4 trains an hour back to Wimbledon (District Line), Clapham Junction (rail connections), Vauxhall (links to Victoria line) and Waterloo (Tube and rail connections). 

Start and end stations are both in Zone 6.