Paul Hampton

From Hackney Wick to Woolwich

Another early morning and my wife agreed to be taxi again. We headed out at 8:15 and picked Chris up on the way. Chris had planned our route into London with meticulous precision. Unfortunately British Rail had other ideas.

We buy our travel cards and head to the Twyford Station platform. The electronic notice board declared that the train we planned to catch (the 8:43) was delayed… this then changed to cancelled. No problem we will just catch the next one. But this one was also cancelled.

We end up catching the 9:29 after spending an hour on the platform soaking up the sun. We had some debate on the route to Hackney Wick. Chris said we needed to change at Bond Street, my app said we needed to change at Whitechapel. But checking Elizabeth Line maps Whitechapel seems to be on the line to Abbey Wood. So we went with Chris’s plan. (we end up going through Whitechapel – I have no idea how). Stop at Stratford and then a short ride to Hackney Wick.

We arrive at the start at 10:50. The walk starts right outside the station.

Capital Ring – Walk 14

We start the walk by walking through streets covered in very colourful graffiti. But it does not take long to reach a bridge over the canal. The area has a number of trendy looking cafe’s and restaurants, some hosted on canal boats. After crossing the bridge we head down to follow the canal.

The canal is quite busy with joggers, walkers and the odd cyslists.

We follow the canal and soon we are walking past the West Ham stadium. The path goes up a ramp to join the Jubilee Greenway (a 37 mile walking / cycling route around London).

We walk past the ABBA arena.

We get to the The View Tube Café, but the original route is blocked. Seems the old path is no longer working, so we take the first of many detours on this walk. Double back and follow the road to get passed the blockage.

We get back on the Green Way. This seems to be a disused rail track that has been converted to a walking path / cycle route. The Green Way goes on for a long way. We leave behind the new developments around the Olympic park to walk past older residential areas. The path is raised up, providing good views over the surrounding area.

The path has a number of diversions along the way. Most of these are short diversions, although one section of the Green Way is blocked, resulting in a diversion through some back roads. The electronic map has the diversion. The printed map does not.

We turn off the raised path for follow the Green Way, over a footpath over the rather noisy A13 to enter Beckton District Park.

The path meanders through the park, past a rather nice lake. The path goes through wooded sections which give some relief from the sun.

We follow the path through the park and come to the start of walk 15.

Capital Ring – Walk 15

The walk picks up from Walk 14. We walked through a park with public playing fields. Many are full of Sunday afternoon football teams playing friendly matches.

We decide to take a break and sit on a bench in the park and eat our packed lunch. We are now close to the London City airport. Sit and watch planes taking off as we have our lunch.

The route follows the path through a number of parks (the route is still part of the Green Way). Soon we come out to the Royal Albert Docks with views of London City airport.

We turned left and followed the docks out east. We soon come to the Sir Steve Redgrave Bridge. We cross the bridge over the docks. Great views looking back into the city.

We have now reached the river Thames. We turn right and follow the river heading back towards London.

We follow the path past the Woolwich Ferry and look for the entrance to the foot tunnel under the Thames.

We enter the tunnel entrance. We are passed by a guy with a bike. He moans about the number of steps and keeps asking people if he is near the bottom. Apparently there are 126 steps down and 101 steps up the other side. There are lifts but they were not working.

Slightly disappointed that the tunnel does not have a glass roof so that we can watch the fish swimming in the river above.

We climb the 101 steps to emerge on the southern side of the Thames. We head back to Woolwich and end up at the start of walk 1. Another walk done and time for a beer or two.

Final Thoughts

Another great couple of walks. These walks really show you interesting parts of London.

Ongoing Stats:

• 4 Walks done
• 18.12 miles completed
• In 6 hours and 9 minutes.