I took another long walk along the south shore of the Thames yesterday, following the Thames Path nine miles from Greenwich to Thamesmead. It was a sunny day and I figured I'd better seize the moment!
I started where I left off a few days ago, near the Greenwich Power Station and some new modern apartments, and soon passed Morden Wharf (above) where there's a riverside beer garden. (I didn't stop for a drink -- it was only 11 a.m.!)
The river along this stretch is pretty industrial. Yes, I meant to get my shadow in the picture. Let's call it "Self-Portrait with Tires."
There were boatyards and dry docks...
...and even nautically-themed art. This is a piece by Richard Wilson called "A Slice of Reality," a precisely sliced 1/8 segment of a sand dredger.
Wilson's artwork is part of "The Line," a sort of art trail that follows pieces of public art scattered through East London along the waterways and the Greenwich Meridian. I'd never heard of The Line before. Sounds like another future walk!
My route took me around the backside of the O2 Dome, past more apartments (what must it be like to live in a glassy high-rise with a view of the Thames every day?) and then through another industrial area, this one focused on "aggregates" like gravel and sand. The air was literally gritty. I could feel it in my teeth.
Eventually I passed the Thames flood barrier, which I've shown you several times before.
I also passed this derelict pub, which you may remember from one of my previous posts, when I saw it while walking the Green Chain. I said at the time that I thought it was possibly beyond repair, but look! Someone's repairing it! (I took this picture when I rode past later on the bus, which is why there's a bit of a "ghost image" over the building -- it's a reflection in the glass.)
I stopped for lunch at a little cafe on Woolwich Road. I actually wound up having a vegetarian English breakfast, but it counted as lunch. This was the view from my table. There's loads of construction in this part of south London. That guy in the blue shirt across the street was busily taking down old advertising posters from the shop window and putting up new ones.
Restored by my brief meal break, I kept going through Woolwich, past the round entrance to the foot tunnel that runs beneath the river. (Remember when I walked through it?)
Near the older buildings of the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich, I passed this interesting group of iron sculptures. I thought they were by Antony Gormley but it's actually a piece called "Assembly" by Peter Burke. (Looking online, I see I'm not the only one who's made this mistake.)
Past Woolwich the path turned eventually to gravel, leading through woods along the river. This area looked like it had been burned in a past wildfire. The trees were dead but there were loads of wildflowers -- nature regenerating!
In Thamesmead I caught a bus back to the tube at North Greenwich. I think I can finish the Thames Path in one more walk. Maybe next week?
24 comments:
That's a long walk. I wouldn't have thought you'd get wildfires in London but why not, I suppose.
I enjoyed this segment of the walk more than any of the others I think. I like the variety of river, boats, art, industry (even if now disappeared) and life as shown in your photographs.
Love the boat! I'm happy to see the derelict pub getting repaired too. The iron sculptures look like something you'd see in a Dr Who episode.
I love these posts about your walks. Reminds me of John Rogers “London Walks” on YouTube. Have you seen him? I think you would like watching him. Check it out. https://www.youtube.com/@JohnRogersWalks
I love that word <-BEER. No niceties, no subtle persuasive language or names of other drinks. You want beer? Well, it's here - right this way. It's the kind of tactic I might expect to see in the Australian outback. Well done on completing that long stretch on what appears to have been a nice day, weather-wise.
Beer, this way. Cool, well hopefully cold beer.
I would have guessed they were Gormley statues too.
What I great walk. Thankyou. I wish I could so it myself.
Great walk. That segment of ship is a cool piece of art and it's nice to see that old building being saved.
A little bit of everything on that walk.
I always forget that London is also a real city with industry, I always think of it as old. Thank you for the lovely walk.
I thank you for taking us with you on these walks ... I am loving seeing places I will never see myself, except through your blog and various other ones!!
That was such a nice long walk. I love what you see there. Thank you for taking us along.
Another great walk complete with footnotes. If ever you get tired of library work, you might have a future in Guided Walks in London for Very Fit Tourists.
My thought was Gormley too. I'm surprised it was someone else. That "slice of reality" piece is interesting. At first I thought it was just industrial trash left behind.
Looks like another interesting walk.
WOW thank you for this walk- much of it Sarah and I tootled around in, but I had forgotten where we were. The old pub - so glad to see renovation going on, It has soul and I do hope that the people doing the reno do not kill it! I LOVE your posts and click backs! I could spend all day on your posts- following you around and not even breaking a sweat! Great walk!
I wonder what the point was in having the figures in Assembly be cracked open (for lack of a better way to describe it. is that the river those tires are in? is that mud?
I'm guessing that industry is dying there, and being replaced with apartments and retail? Seattle is losing its working waterfront, which is kind of sad. It's the end of the line for a way of life.
When you retire, and if you still live in London, you could be a tour guide of famous walks in the city! It sounds like you sure got your exercise!
There's something so appealing to me in that last photo with the dead trees. It's my favorite in your post.
I expect living in a glass apartment overlooking the Thames, would be the same as a ocean front house overlooking the beach. In the past, I would start off religiously spending hours just washing the waves tumble into the beach, especially at sunrise and sunset. But as the weeks wore on, I would only glance to determine tide level or wind direction/speed and then go about my daily life. In other words, I quickly take it for granted until I'm back in the Midwest farm from the view.
The gormley ish men are impressive
The walk has a flavour of a london I’ve never seen or experienced
Seeing that derelect pub reminds me of Christopher Fowler's wonderful "The Victoria Vanishes" -- I think possibly my favorite of the Bryant and May series that I've read. He crams so much history into those. That's quite a walk!
Today I unpacked a book at the thrift store where I work and thought of you:
Iain Sinclair’s “Lights Out for the Territory”— (Granta 1998?)—a series of London walks, but not as straightforward as yours. Have you read Sinclair? He looks interesting but challenging to read.
Btw, yes, I would recommend “The Hare with the Amber Eyes”— fairly easy reading about the complicated connections between art, history, family & self.)
There are always such fascinating and historical sights along your walks whereas mine only include trees, trees and more trees with a mountain and some foothills thrown in on clear days.
Caro: Yeah, in the wilder areas, they can certainly happen. I think I remember hearing about a fire in the Plumstead marshes (which is the area I walked through).
Rachel: That's part of why the Thames Path is fun, especially in the outer areas -- you get a mix of urban and rural.
River: Ha! They DO look like a sci-fi backdrop.
Don: I haven't seen him! Will check it out! Thanks for the link. London is a great walking town!
YP: Yeah, I thought it was a pretty funny sign. Straight to the point!
Andrew: They look so much like his work, don't they? (I'm sure my saying that would annoy Peter Burke!)
Tasker: Glad you enjoyed it!
Bob: At first I thought the ship segment was just some piece of shipyard scrap.
Pixie: Yeah, once you get out of the center of the city and the "touristy" parts, it's quite gritty. (Sometimes literally!)
Marcia: The miracle of the Internet! :)
Robin: Glad you enjoyed it!
Boud: Ha! I do like to give people a little background or links in case they want to read further. It's the reporter in me. :)
Sharon: I thought the same thing!
Linda Sue: Yeah, this is heading down toward Sarah's neighborhood, isn't it? She's around Woolwich or Charlton? We should all get together when you visit!
Ellen: Yes, the tires are in mud. I think the figures are casts of an actual body, but I may be wrong.
Allison: Yes, exactly. A lot of the old shipping docks are being refurbished into waterfront housing.
Michael: I'm not sure I'd like being a guide, though. I used to give tours of the NY Times building when I worked there and it was never my favorite thing.
Kelly: A bit of nature in the big city, I guess! (And funny, because I almost didn't include that picture. I put it in because it's such a contrast from the rest.)
Ed: Human nature, right? No matter how spectacular our surroundings, after a while we tend to stop seeing.
John: It was a very interesting segment of the path, going from quite urban to rural parkland.
Fresca: I bought a book of Sinclair's for our library, "American Smoke," which as I recall was sort of following in the footsteps of the Beat writers. I was eager to try it but I couldn't get into it. He is not easy reading.
Margaret: Well, London has a LOT of history, and a city is always going to have more than a suburban or rural area. But you might be surprised by the stories behind some of what you're seeing on your walks!
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