Introduction
On two Saturdays in the autumn of 2016, we did a couple of short walks to finish the Capital Ring long distance path. Since they were short, I’m grouping them here.
Saturday 22nd October
We began from West Ham station and walked a short distance back to the Greenway (which, for those who missed last time, is a path that runs along the route of a very large sewer).
After a short distance, we left the relatively fresh air of the Greenway and had to cross a busy dual carriageway on a footbridge most notable for its view of ‘Beckton Alps’ (not pictured) - a hill in the distance, actually a very large slag heap from the old gasworks.
A short street took us to Beckton District Park.
Emerging from the park, we left the route and headed south to Royal Albert DLR station.
Saturday 5th November
A couple of weeks later (after seeing an exhibition at the British Museum in the morning), we returned to Royal Albert station and rejoined the route in Beckton District Park.
After crossing parkland and some residential streets, we crossed a bridge over Cyprus DLR station (which doesn’t appear to be all that convenient for Cyprus, unless my geography is exceedingly mistaken) and through the University of East London campus to a dockside path.
We left the dockside and headed toward the Thames, along a very large dual carriageway that fades away into nowhere. The guidebook said this area ‘is awaiting redevelopment and can seem rather lonely and desolate’. It went on to suggest an alternative route, but obviously I thought this sounded like the best bit. (I’m not sure R agreed!)
Our route then followed a riverside path.
The path crossed both old locks which had once been entrances to the Royal Docks.
We followed the riverside all the way to North Woolwich.
To complete the Capital Ring on foot, we crossed the Woolwich Foot Tunnel.
The tunnel itself looks rather like other foot tunnels. It has lots of signs about not cycling, and indeed, several people passed us on bikes.
After that we walked back to Woolwich Arsenal DLR and headed home.
It was good to finally finish the walk (and I liked the tunnel at the end). Having walked all 78 miles, I think it was a pretty interesting route. There aren’t as many rural sections as the London Loop (which is a longer route, further out from the centre), but there are still lots of interesting, different parks and generally nice bits. And it’s very easy to walk because the sections are very short and have loads of public transport links at different points. So if anyone’s thinking of walking it, go for it!