Polished Turds - Lower Clapton to Erith
Cycling from The Hackney Marshes to Erith, via two Victorian Pumping Stations
About 2 hrs at a slow pace.
The East End of London has tons of walking routes in and around the various canals and the Thames. I did a little post about one of them here, but this time I wanted to see a bit more in a day and the best way to do that was to get my old bike out.
I was inspired by this ride. I had originally intended to take the north route past Barking and Rainham, but it’s hard to reach the Thames and a large part of the ride would have been spent on main roads trying to skirt round the enormous Tate and Lyle factory and other factory buildings on the north side at this point. I decided last minute to head south from Woolwich.
My Bike
A quick shout out to the bike. I’ve been riding fixed gear bikes since about 2008, at the time there was a big scene around it, with regular meet-ups and events where I lived Bristol at the time. I built this particular bike back in 2013 after moving to London when I used to commute from Peckham to Primrose Hill for work, with the help of the late Sheldon Brown’s amazing website. The track frame was built by frame builder Sid Mottram who was based in Leicester in the 70s. Nitto bars, NJS pedals, threaded headset, Stronglight cranks. I’ve forgotten the gear-inch but it’s relatively normal for a city with very few hills, I can’t be bothered to use Sheldon’s gear inch calculator to work it out.
The Route
This route is super simple, as it’s essentially two very straight cycle paths with next to no engagement in traffic.
Start at the Hackney Marshes and make your way down to the start of the Greenway, a cycle path that runs from the Olympic park about 4 1/2 miles all the way to Beckton. I assumed it used to be a railway line due to its elevation and how straight it is, but I can’t find any evidence of that to back it up. Apparently Ghandi used to walk along it regularly while he was visiting London for a few months in the 30s, so perhaps it’s always just been a walk way I’m not sure.
Cycle the entire length of the cycle path from start to finish, passing the first of two beautiful Victorian pumping stations Abbey Mills on this route, as you go.
Once you reach the end turn right past the end of London City Airport’s runway and take the only obvious route to the Woolwich ferry crossing. If it’s closed, next door there is the entrance to a tunnel very similar to the one found by the Cutty Sark in Greenwich wich will take you under the Thames.
Once you reach the other side take a moment to have a look around Woolwich Works and the surrounding area, many of the buildings here were part of the Royal Arsenal.
This marks the start of the second leg of the journey. From here’s it’s just as simple as before, we’re going to take the Thames path to Erith, simple as that.
Don’t miss the WW2 Pillbox
Here you’ll also pass the second and most famous of London’s Victorian pumping stations, Crossness. The inside is absolutely bonkers, given it was built to pump human shite into the Thames. You can take a guided tour of the inside (and Abbey Wood).
You’ll soon start to feel like you’ve left the London you thought you knew and will be transported to a pretty ghostly and unattractive stretch of working Thames. Despite it only taking a couple of hours, it really feels like you’re going behind the actor’s curtain to see a part of London that the vast majority of Londoners have never heard of, let alone been to.
Eventually you’ll touch down in the town of Erith, which is fine. It’s got a big Morrisons and a pier with views over a basmati rice factory.
