[1] Leaving The Albany, turn left onto Douglas Way and continue until you meet Deptford High Street. Turn left along Deptford High Street and continue walking towards Deptford Station (possibly the oldest in London) and the railway bridge that crosses the High Street, until you reach the zebra crossing. Use this to cross the High Street and continue on the other side into Crossfield Street and then left into Coffey Street. Pass St Paul’s Church on your left.
(A) If you wish, take a detour through the church grounds and visit the church, if it is open. Crossfield Street gave its name to a prison, where convicts were detained or released without reference to the sentences of the courts. Such rough justice did not impress the convicts, who once murdered their governor.
[2] At the end of Coffey Street, turn right briefly to use the zebra crossing to cross Deptford Church Street towards the street sign for Bronze Street. Walk to the left of the sign, heading for the entrance to the Sue Godfrey Nature Reserve.
[3] Enter the Nature Reserve and follow the path, walking towards a modern building with an exterior of blue, green and mauve high-performance plastic panels, and past a small section of a wall in the centre (remains of the pottery works). Continue walking through the children’s play park with the dome shelter, Ferranti Park.
(B) The striking modern building in front of Ferranti Park is the Laban Centre, a contemporary dance school which has a café (and toilets) open to the public.
[4] Turn left after Ferranti Park into Creekside and walk to the end of the road. Turn left, walk to the traffic-light-controlled pedestrian crossing and cross the busy Creek Road towards an orange and cream building, the McMillan Student Village. Turn right and then left into Gonson Street. Cross this road and turn right at the end into Stowage. Walk towards wooden bollards at the end of Stowage.
[5] At the end of the road, turn left into Glaisher Street. Continue through the new housing area of Millennium Quay, along Glaisher Street until the road curves round to the left. Cross over here, and take the road on the right towards the Thames. At the end, turn left and join the path along the river Thames.
(C)You join the Thames Path just at the point where Deptford Creek joins the river. At low tide you may see flocks of black-headed gulls feeding in the fresh water of the Creek, as well as ducks and swans.
Enjoy the views across the river to Canary Wharf and right towards Greenwich. As you follow the Thames Path you will see a statue on the left to Peter the Great and his dwarf. In the river itself you will see the remains of the old coal-loading wharf that served the power station. This area of the riverside was once part of the Royal Naval Dockyard. This was set up by Henry the Eighth, and Samuel Pepys worked there. Many whales have been beached here.
[6] Continue further along the Thames path with views towards the city of London, until you reach the Ahoy Sailing Centre. Follow the path to the left past the Sailing Centre then to the right to the bollards at the end of the path. Continue straight on into Borthwick Street. The area on the right is now a transformer station.
[7] Walk on the left-hand side of the road towards the entrance to Twinkle Park, at the junction of Borthwick Street and Watergate Street. There is a street-sign, but it is almost illegible. A right-hand turn into Watergate Street leads you down to the river (hence the name) but NOT onto the Thames Path.
[8] Twinkle Park consists mostly of decking and contains a shallow but unfenced pond with a warning notice in Vietnamese. Many Vietnamese live in the area.
[9] Leave the park along the path next to the metal seats, walking towards the school building. At the gate continue straight on along the path between the school and the houses. Turn left at the circle of stones then right into Charlotte Turner Garden at the signpost in front of the main entrance to the school. Continue straight through the gardens.
A detour to the left here takes you to St Nicholas' Church whose gateposts are topped by skulls and crossbones, which may hve inspired the design of the Jolly Roger.
[10] Turn right at the other side of the gardens and continue towards Evelyn Street until the traffic-light-controlled pedestrian crossing. Cross Evelyn Street, turn right and then left into Deptford High Street, which recently was pronounced Britain’s most varied high street.You can buy Vietnamese food, fried snail, and- just as esoteric- eels, pie and mash. A ghost was seen here in 1809 in the former Quaker meeting house; another was seen around the corner in Albury Street in the mid 1970s. Continue along the High Street until you reach the zebra crossing again near the railway bridge. Cross the High Street here and retrace your steps back to The Albany.