Weather: Sunny intervals and Warm
Distance Walked: 13.71 km
Distance By Tube: 10.45 km
Stations Visited: 6
Fantastic Place:The Hub Cafe in Victoria Park
This walk took me out of "My London" into the East London Badlands! Some bits were familiar from the Capital Ring while most of the route was new. A walk of two halves, the first two thirds through interesting streets with lots of art, and large open parks. The last third a bit of a trudge through dull repetitive suburbs.
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| The Six Stations On The Walk |
The walk started out in bright sunshine and the narrow canyons of financial London. There were some interesting sculptures near the old market buildings of Spitalfeilds; a goat and a family of elephants.
This part of the walk and the whole of the leg to Bethnal Green is part of London I don't know at all, and I've lived in the city for 2/3 of my life. It is colourful and vibrant with a mix of buildings old and new. Lots of street art as well. This street scene is not far from the modern financial district with all the concrete and glass. Also at this point I'd like to say that Douglass Adams was wrong. In the Hitch-hiker's Guide series of books he postulated a Shoe Shop Intensifier ray that meant that shoe shops proliferated everywhere. He was wrong. It is coffee shops.
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| Possibly my favourite coffee shop name |
Bethnal Green station is one of those that is totally below ground and was the site of one of the worst civilian tragedies during the war when 173 people including 62 children were killed in a crush when attempting to enter the unfinished station which was being used as an air-raid shelter.
Crossing the busy Mile End Road via a green bridge I found Mile End station then turned back north following the east side of the park until I reached the Hertford Union canal - which joins the Regent Canal near this point. A smaller but no less attractive waterway. Waterways, be they natural or man made do add an air of calm to an city and I'm so glad many of them are being improved in London (though having been trapped by an enthusiast at an event near the Cotswold canal they can talk the hind legs off of a donkey!).
Victoria Park is a classic London Park. Big with lots of mature trees, wide paths and places for people to relax and children to play. Most importantly it has an awesome cafe at the centre ideal for hungry walkers to refuel before heading off on the next leg of the journey.
The next leg follows the Greenway which I last walked on the Capital Ring. It sits on the embankment that contains Joseph Bazalgette's Northern Outfall Sewer. Even if you didn't know this you could guess as there was a very strong stench of sewage in the air as I strolled along.
The last time I walked this the Olympic Stadium was being constructed for the 2012 Olympics. They have been and gone and now the stadium is home to West Ham.
Building works caused a detour from the planned route here and a very tiresome walk alongside main roads towards Stratford Stadium. Lots of the Olympic arenas still stand and are used for sports and other events. Stratford station is very busy with lots of different lines converging and a major shopping mall.
The walk from here through Leyton and Leytonstone was very dull, lots of very samish Victorian and Edwardian terraces and I was quite glad to see the last station on this leg. Even more pleased to see it had a water fountain so I could fill up my bottle as I had got quite thirsty.
Leytonstone station has a number of mosaics commemorating the films of Alfred Hitchcock who was born in Leytonstone.
One feature of the walk I've not mentioned was the amount of vibrant street murals decorating buildings, even on quite grubby side streets. Here is a selection.
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