We are drawing towards the end of the route around London, this time, Hackney Wick to Beckton District Park
We started off where we ended the week before, in the glorious sunshine of the summer – remember that, sun? Yes it seems so long ago now!
We made our way to Hackney Wick and the River Lea junction with the Grand Union Canal. We found the home base of Moo Canoes, a great company that gets volunteers to paddle about on the river cleaning rubbish. They also have an old Dutch Barge that doubles as a restaurant and coffee shop, so we grabbed a drink and set off (see the review here).
The start of the walk continues as the last leg ended, following the River on the footpath; thankfully, being earlier in the day, it was noticeably quieter. We passed the former Olympic Stadium, now home to West Ham United. A short while after, we passed under a bridge and were meant to turn left into the Victoria Walk and the Old Ford Nature Reserve, but this is closed, and it seems permanently.
So we walked back and forth trying to figure out where to go instead and had to backtrack to the stadium and walk around the roads and finally rejoined at the start of the glorious Greenway
Yeah, No! This is truly one of the worst parts of London, it sounds idyllic- a path of greenery and nature running for miles across London- it is not, it’s a cycle lane on top of an old Sewage Pipe! It’s all concrete, the grass verge died about 20 years ago and it runs through building sites, industrial estates and yes, past a giant sewage plant.
It is straight and boring, so boring in fact we detoured off to West Ham Station and around to a local park, just to give us a break, before rejoining the boring walk for the last section.
Eventually we turned off to head for The Beckton Way, a massive road, a bridge and then a park, where there was a dead body and the CR instructs you to stick to the Eastern edge of the park, avoiding the grass and the best feature of the whole area. A massive lake filled with wild fowl and little islands, one even with a Windmill on it!
We left the water and headed south to Beckton District Park and on to Royal Albert DLR and the end of the route.
If you want to see the whole section in motion, then you can watch our journey here on the London Creative Out & About YouTube.
Well, there you go. If you are doing the Capital Ring, we would recommend you just avoid this section altogether, or do it on a bike. It is dull and horrid! But do come back in a couple of weeks for the last section of the whole route and a full round-up and our thoughts. See you then!
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