We are once again back on our walk around London, this time, Barking Station to Woolwich Arsenal.
We walked this section on an ominous day, the 9th September 2022 – aka the Queen’s Funeral and in the end it seemed apt.
This section is not the prettiest (but there are a few spots worth seeing) it’s not one we would do again – on foot at least. We would recommend doing it on two wheels and making use of the cycle lanes but that said this is what we found on our travels.
So you start at Barking Station, this is truly one of the low points of London – it’s just dirty, scary and horrible, there isn’t anything appealing about the High Street. So we made a quick escape, avoiding the drug addicts, dealers, drunks and Chavs in favour of the Abbey Grounds. A nice little park around what remains of the Abbey and the churchyard of St. Mary’s. A lovely church and peaceful graveyard, except for the shifty drunks.
Leave by heading south towards the River Roding, the same river we crossed at Debden a couple of weeks before, except it has grown quite substantially in its route, so much so, that the river holds large barges and is crossed via a massive lock.
Circle around Hand Trough Creek and the sandbanks of the river and the 9,000 shopping trolleys in the shallow water.
Walk along a little park, before passing under the A13 and coming to one of the truly special parts of the entire walk (Sarcasm!) The ‘Traveller’s’ encampment and the burnt out cars, huge rubbish dumps, old caravans and stables for old, sad looking ponies.
Then turn south and walk parallel with the A1020, along a bike path, avoiding the 900 heroin needles and holding your breath against the overwhelming smell of chip fat and boiled sugar from the KFC, McDonald and other drive-thru’s.
Eventually emerge on the large Gallion’s Reach roundabout this will be familiar as we cross over a couple of the Capital Ring last section’s locations.
and one highlight of the route – the Dockland Porsche Dealership (clutching at straws for a highlight)
Take a moment to marvel in the beautiful cars and then continue south to reach the iconic Sir Steve Redgrave Bridge – the saddest memorial to GB’s greatest olympian, a loud, busy, lump of concrete over a disused dock and the approach path of the London City Airport!
At the roundabout we strongly advise a detour past Gallion’s Reach Hotel and the end of the basin to stop off for a delicious coffee at Well Bean Bakery before continuing over the bridge and to the end of the route.
Once across the water follow the road around to get to the River, Albert Road and the Royal Victoria Gardens, a nice little park with some unusual benches and then walk to the north embankment and alongside the Woolwich Ferry and then the Woolwich Foot Tunnel – an interesting and historic piece of Victorian Engineering and a well worth walk under the Thames.
You emerge at the south side behind a run down leisure centre and traipse through Woolwich Arsenal’s shopping centre to get to the DLR station and quickly leave!
In all not the best walk, but as we say it has a few nice points and would be a good, 30 minute cycle ride, rather than a couple of hours walk, which may have been more interesting any other day, as everything was shut due to the funeral!
Well there we go the lowlight of the CMHoL – but every walk has one and usually in the East of London it seems – but come back next time for a nicer section as we head into South East London.
Climbing Moss 