I’ve never been to Wimbledon or much to the area southwest of London. Coincidentally, I went to both areas yesterday and today with two different friends.
My only knowledge of Wimbledon is the annual tennis tournament and The Wombles, especially the song, Remember you’re a Womble!
Yesterday, on heading to Wimbledon, our target was Wimbledon Common. However, my friend said “Wimbledon Park”. So we got off at the wrong tube station. As we looked at the park itself we wondered why it was so small. Once we realised our mistake, we decided to walk through the park and head towards the Wimbledon tennis stadium.
The stadium complex is huge. As well as the many courts, there’s a museum and cafe. You can do a paid tour (about £25) of the courts. After leaving the stadium, we headed towards Wimbledon and Putney Commons.
After even briefly walking around Wimbledon, we realised how affluent the area is. It’s full of large houses. It’s also very picturesque. I’ve heard a few stories of people living in Wimbledon who don’t venture much outside of it. I can see why. Wimbledon Common and the adjacent Putney Common are both lovely places to walk.
The people we met were friendly. We spoke to an impressive young woman who was doing high intensity interval training in Wimbledon Park, to two elderly woman (one of whom was struggling with her bidirectional zipper!) and, inevitably, to a few dog owners out in the park and the Commons. Every conversation ended with people wishing us a good afternoon or evening. Very civilised!
After a few hours of walking on the Commons, we walked around Wimbledon Village and settled at Megan’s for lunch/coffee. Our route home was from Wimbledon rail station to North London via Vauxhall. This is when I realised I would be doing the reverse journey the following day, only this time going a bit further to Kingston.
