Chelsea and Battersea Park walk

Chelsea with the King's Road, two Thames Bridges and Battersea Park, optional: Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms

History

This is a list of previous times this walk has been done by the club (since Jan 2010). For more recent events (since April 2015), full details are shown.

Date Option Post # Weather
Thu, 08-Feb-24 Evening Walk: Exploring Chelsea and the Battersea Light Festival 4 wet and windy
Thu, 09-Feb-23 Evening Walk: Chelsea and the Battersea Light Festival 9 cold dry night
Fri, 14-Oct-22 a Evening Walk - Sloane Square to Battersea Power Station (on its opening day) 8 dry
Thu, 17-Feb-22 Evening Walk: Explore the Storied Streets of Chelsea and Battersea Light Festival 12 slightly waning near full moon
Thu, 02-Jul-20 Evening Walk - Explore the Storied Streets of Chelsea and Battersea Park 7 light drizzle clearing to partly cloudy skies
Thu, 26-Sep-19 Evening Walk - Chelsea and Battersea Park 7 dry and fine
Tue, 24-Apr-18 Chelsea and Battersea Park evening walk 6 overcast with a little drizzle at the end
Wed, 07-Sep-16 Evening Walk 5

Evening Walk: Exploring Chelsea and the Battersea Light Festival

Distance: Approximately 4 miles or 6 km for those more metrically minded

Difficulty: 1 out of 10

Meet: Outside Sloane Square Tube (Circle/District line) at 18:30

Return: Battersea Power Station (Northern Line)

This short walk explores the storied streets of Chelsea….and the Battersea Power Station development where the Battersea Light Festival will be taking place with seven illuminated installations near the river. There are plenty of opportunities for food and beverage around the new Battersea Power Station development before heading home from the Battersea Power Station tube station.

More information about the route can be found here and a map of the light installations here. As in past years, you will need to alter the course slightly to follow the Thames Path along the River through Battersea Park then follow the option ahead to the Battersea Power Station complex (rather than crossing back over the River).

Enjoy the walk!

T=short.1

  • 09-Feb-24

    I cant work out how to write up a walk report, in the proper place so I shall do it here, as usual.

    There were 4 of us at Sloane Square underground, and we walked across the Albert Bridge taking the straight ahead by the Thames route to Battersea Power Station. We found four of the lights. The best one for me was the square-oidal bulbs above the piano inside the power station. An inside devoid of much interest apart from being a neo-liberal modern church with no soul, of sorts inside a historical building made famous by the Floyd on the Animals cover.

    So, Adrian played some Lizst sounding stuff, and I tried to play Chick Corea, and you can see the lights responding. The ladies present declined to take part.

    We tried to escape the area to find somewhere to eat, and the best we could find was the Duchesse Belle opposite the tube station. It did its job. I could see old clips of Scholes and co scoring for Man U, and the darts championship of the screens. The music was on the loud side. They did play Up The Junction, which reflected the area. The food was average to not that good and not especially cheap.

    The weather was drizzly, however it was good to get out.

  • 09-Feb-24

    To add, this from my field reporter: "just 4 on the walk on in wet and windy conditions. We saw some of the exhibits but eventually repaired to the Duchesse Belle Pub in Battersea for refreshments. Would not recommend the Pub."

  • 11-Feb-24

    Once a club walk comment has a # number or # weather (no space after the #), it and later comments are treated as trip reports. It's simpler than having to find out what time the walk finished

Stargazer

Evening Walk: Exploring Chelsea and the Battersea Light Festival

Distance: Approximately 4 miles or 6 km for those more metrically minded

Difficulty: 1 out of 10

Meet: Outside Sloane Square Tube (Circle/District line) at 18:30

Return: Battersea Power Station (Northern Line)

This short walk explores the storied streets of Chelsea….and the new Battersea Power Station development where the Battersea Light Festival will be taking place with eight illuminated installations near the river. There appears to be plenty of opportunity for food and beverage around the new Battersea Power Station development before heading home from the Battersea Power Station tube station.

More information about the route can be found here.

Enjoy the walk!

T=short.1

  • 12-Feb-23

    9 gathered in Sloane Square on a cold dry night for a pleasant stroll through the storied streets of Chelsea, then over the dazzling Albert Bridge and along the riverside promenade in Battersea Park. Arriving at the Power Station we set off to track down the 8 light installations....A couple were inside the shopping area of the new development and for those of us who had not been inside before, it was interesting to see the new space -- though we all commented that the shops were not very busy. We tracked down the final few installations with everyone enjoying "the neighborhood". Eventually 6 headed for the Gordon Ramsey bottomless pizza joint which was an interesting idea, but somewhat flawed with the background music being so loud you could not hear the servers! On route back to the tube, we were treated to the sight of a large waning moon rising between two high rise buildings.

Length: 4.0 km
Net Walking Time: 1 hour
Meet: outside Sloane Square Tube Station (District and Circle Line, Zone 1), by the Newspaper Kiosk, at 18.45 hours.
Finish: Battersea Power Station Tube Station (Northern Line)

The main point of this walk today is the Grand Opening to the public of the mega-famous Grade II* listed Battersea Power Station for the very first time! Only 10 years after having been purchased by its current owners...
Is it just another glorified shopping mall with overpriced flats above or something more substantial? Find out for yourself. There is an opening programme of sorts, see here.
Whatever you do, don’t forget to queue for Lift 109, which takes you 109m up onto the top of one of the four chimneys… (booking recommended)
The walk route: King’s Road, Chelsea Back Streets, Albert Bridge, Battersea Embankment, Battersea Power Station.
Even the outbound route is slightly revised compared to the webpage, based on input by a local, an ‘occasional’ SWC Walker, avoiding busy roads and Battersea Park (probably closed for the day anyway).
Refreshments: no shortage of options in and around the Power Station and in the railway arches.
For walk directions, map, some phots and gpx/kml files click here. T=short.1.a
  • 14-Oct-22

    8 walkers in dry weather.

    We shuffled through the delightful back streets of Chelsea with plenty of pricey real estate to ogle at, crossed the Albert Bridge, found the door to the park open, so waltzed along the path along the Thames to the Power Station, fighting through an ever-denser throng of people going the other way. Festivities/The Programme at BPS had started in the morning and loads of people were still milling about.

    We had time to investigate the innards before re-convening outside to watch one of the scheduled performances. Then, having seen the queues inside at the food places, decided to look in the arches for sustenance, but the same picture: long queues. All of SW london seemed to be in the area.

    So, an executive decison was made to tube it to Waterloo and eat/drink there.

    Then something unexpected happened: Mr Google Maps got us lost when looking for a certain eatery! But we got there in the end, I'm glad to report...

    As for BPS? Architecturally (not being an expert) I'd say it is a success, having retained plenty of features of the original industrial building to have an edge w/o being too tacky about it. Shopping-wise? Certainly a better environment than Westfield, but same as there: mainly the usual chains, albeit for a bigger average wage packet than in Stratford or White City. All in: well done, London...

Evening Walk: Exploring Chelsea and the Battersea Light Festival

Distance: Approximately 4 miles or 6 km for those more metrically minded

Difficulty: 1 out of 10

Meet: Outside Sloane Square Tube (Circle/District line) at 18:30

Return: Battersea Power Station (Northern Line)

This short walk explores the storied streets of Chelsea….and the new Battersea Power Station development where the Battersea Light Festival will be taking place with six illuminated installations near the river. There appears to be plenty of opportunity for food and beverage around the new Battersea Power Station development before heading home from the Battersea Power Station tube station.

I will add one caveat…hopefully, we can cut through Battersea Park on the roadway or along the Thames Path…..the park itself closes at dusk – but the website implies that there is access to the park facilities until about 10:30PM…..In the worst case scenario, we may need to walk around the perimeter of the park….

More information about the route can be found here.

Enjoy the walk!

T=short.1

  • 18-Feb-22

    Unlike my last walk post, a stunning 12 assembled at the appointed time and place and even waited 3 or 4 minutes for any late arrivals. We wandered through the smart streets of Chelsea and past the impressive royal hospital for military pensioners. We then crossed the brightly decorated Prince Albert Bridge with lovely views of a slightly waning near full moon . As it happens, the riverside gate into Battersea Park is open until 10:30 PM. On the far end of Battrrsea Park, we made a circuit of the light installations near the redeveloped power station -- the tigers seemed to be the favorite. We tried to get post walk refreshments at one of the many hosteleries in the area but all were full. So, on up to the shiny new tube station and Waterloo where one of our evening regulars brought us to an interesting and enjoyable Polish venue. A fun night out!

Short 1: Chelsea and Battersea Park

Distance: Approximately 4 miles or 6 km for those more metrically minded

Difficulty: 1 out of 10

Meet: Outside Sloane Square Tube (Circle/District line) at 19:45

Return: Victoria (mainline/tube) or Vauxhall station (mainline/tube/overground)

This is a late start short walk around the storied streets of Chelsea…hopefully in relative peace….combined with a promenade through Battersea Park….After which there is a choice to finish at Victoria or Vauxhall station…The routes are similar in length…

Unsure about refreshments on route….though, if no take-out available along the way, I would suspect refreshments could be found at a “local shop” and enjoyed along the river….

More information about the route can be found here.

Enjoy the walk!

T=short.1
  • 03-Jul-20

    Given the rather extreme downpour taking place about the time I left my office, that is, home....I was surprised to be met by six others, making for 7 keen evening walkers in light drizzle clearing to partly cloudy skies ....I suppose the competition for evening social events is limited these days....

    Chelsea is a lovely area to explore (especially when not teeming with hordes) and we explored some diversions on the route recommended by a "local"...

    Across the bridge we enjoyed a riverside promenade through the park and rehydrated near the Battersea Power Station development....after which 3 headed to Victoria and 4 to Vauxhall....

    A nice evening in good company...

Thomas G
Thomas G
Length: 6.0 km (if finishing at Victoria)
Net Walking Time: 1 ½ hours (if finishing at Victoria)
Meet: outside Sloane Square Tube Station (District and Circle Line, Zone 1), by the Newspaper Kiosk, at 18.30 hours.
Finish as per the route map is at London Victoria; should punters have a drink or meal in one of the establishments under the railway arches by Chelsea Bridge, then a bus finish from Chelsea Bridge makes more sense.
King’s Road, Chelsea Back Streets, Albert and Chelsea Bridges, Battersea Park.
At the end, punters could explore a route past the Nine Elms Thames-side development to Vauxhall Tube and Main Line stations…
For walk directions, map and gpx/kml files click here. T=short.1
  • 26-Sep-19

    7 on the walk, 2 of which had come via the Meetup feed-through posting. dry and fine

    We got to Chelsea Bridge in less than an hour, and all opted for a meal/drink. Mother was the venue chosen, in one of the railway arches towards the Battersea Power Station development. Quite a satisfying visit, by all accounts.

    All then chose to try to walk on to Vauxhall along the river, but the immediate power station site is still off-limits, so we had to curve around it to Nine Elms Road and re-join the river further along. Amazing to see how much has changed in the area over the last few years, but also frightening to see how much still needs to be done, especially at the power station. Anyway, very interesting to see it all, and - despite the diversion - a walk I'd do again, quite happily. At Vauxhall Bridge and station for 21.15...

DAC
Chelsea and Battersea Park
Time: 19:00 prompt
Distance: 5km

Meet 19:00 outside the entrance to Sloane Square underground.
T=short.1
  • Sandy
    23-Apr-18

    Great news - the resumption of summer evening walks and really handy for the office - many thanks DAC. As I will have time to kill before kick-off, you may find me in the Antelope (Eaton Terrace) from about 6.20 having a preparatory Coca-Cola. Probably.

  • 24-Apr-18

    2 in The Antelope for pre-walk strengthening, 4 others at the station, so 6 in overcast with a little drizzle at the end weather.

    After a bit more than an hour of walking, we ended up in a Ramen restaurant in the arches under the railway bridge (Power Station side), and after a meal most then took buses from there to their respective destinations. A fine start to the evening season.

Wed, 07-Sep-16 : Evening Walk 5
DAC
DAC
Chelsea and Battersea Park
Time: 18:45
Distance: 5km

Meet 18:45 prompt outside the entrance to Sloane Square underground. This is the last of this summer season of self-led evening walks. T=short.1
  • 08-Sep-16

    5 of us enjoyed this leisurely stroll on a beautiful summers evening.