Thamesmead to Erith

Finally! A day of sunshine! And I think we're going to get more today and tomorrow. After our recent dampness and gloom I feel blessed.

I set out yesterday to walk another segment of the Thames Path. I really want to finish it this summer before school begins, and I had only nine miles left -- I've walked that far before so it was certainly doable. But I wound up walking just five. I figure I'll go back on Friday and do the rest. No need to kill myself.

I started out in Thamesmead, after taking two trains and a bus to get there.

This little bee joined me early in my journey. The poor thing was so covered in pollen it was a bit punch-drunk, I think. I let it ride on my chest until it regained its senses enough to buzz off to another flower.

This section of the south bank of the Thames is quite industrial. Once you leave Thamesmead it's all crumbling wharves, docks and machinery. Above is the old Crossness Pumping Station, the terminus of London's Victorian sewage system, parts of which are open as a museum. It looks amazing inside; I'll have to check it out sometime.

At first, when the station opened in the 1860s, it mostly collected the city's sewage in a reservoir and pumped it into the Thames on the ebb tide. Eventually technology developed to separate out the sludge, which was taken farther to sea on barges and dumped, while liquids were released into the river. I was surprised to see on this timeline that the dumping of sludge at sea didn't end until 1999!

Although the old Crossness station isn't operating any longer, there are now more modern sewage disposal facilities in the same area...

...including an incinerator for sludge (foreground). There's also an incinerator for business and household trash (the far building).

So, yeah, the Thames Path goes right past all of this, and although it didn't smell great it was quite interesting to see.

There was also some really good graffiti along this stretch -- precise and colorful!

At one point, the path went up this very steep ramp, which was equally steep going down the other side. I understand the "cyclists dismount" sign -- you'd bust your head rolling down this thing.

I wound up in Erith, a riverside community where I've been several times before, as parts of the Thames Path are shared by the Green Chain and London Loop walks, which I've already done. In fact I've photographed this crumbling dock before, though I had much sunnier conditions yesterday.

As I said, I decided to head home from here. I caught a train in Erith and then a couple of tube trains. I was listening to music on the way home -- the Bee Gees' song "Spirits Having Flown," to be precise -- when I suddenly felt a surge of emotion. This happens sometimes when I exercise and I think it has to do with endorphins, or maybe it was the music or being out in the sunshine all morning, but anyway the world suddenly seemed so BEAUTIFUL, even underground on a barreling tube train!