3rd & 4th February – A weekend in London

 3rd & 4th February – A weekend in London

3rd February – Woolwich & Docks

I was attending my first music concert since 2016 in the Dalston area, my original idea was to head home on the Saturday night but when the overtime ban got announced I looked for options for accommodation to avoid the 23:40 service from Waterloo, just in case that got cancelled at short notice, locating a room in a shared house near Redbridge underground station which would be handy for the venue (even with the closure of the North London line).

The trip began later than usual due to needing to get 2 new tyres fitted to my little car in the morning, so it was onto the 10:37 service from Andover.  This was a busy train from Exeter with 158882, 159004 & 159104 for the nonstop run to Basingstoke, I went straight for the 158 as that attached at Salisbury and would likely have available seats.  At Basingstoke I popped out of the station (confusing the agency staff on the barriers who have no concept of break of journey) to grab some lunch items (good way to waste the 25-minute connection and saves a job for when I reached London).  After grabbing lunch, it was onto 165106 working the next stopper to Reading.

158882 at Basingstoke Station

I had a tight connection at Reading to board a late running service from Swansea (800001 & 800025) where I managed to board it was standing room only as there had been a couple of cancellations prior and a XC service from Birmingham with passengers avoiding the strikes on the West Coast.  Better than waiting around for the following service which was a 5-coach set from Great Malvern (which would probably have been rather cosy, even without the extra passengers).  Anyhow onwards to Paddington where I headed to the Lizzy line platforms to board 345009 to Woolwich where I started my little walk.

The first section was something I was hoping to do back in November time but had to cut that Thamesmead explore back at Plumstead due to the weather turning damp.  I walked along the A206 to reach the Broad Water (which I believe is an old dock from the days where barges were loaded by the military at Woolwich), these days it has a lot of new housing being built close to the channel as I followed the path towards the old entrance lock with the Thames.  After this water channel it was towards Gallion's Park with a lake leading into another water channel which I followed to Battery Road where the waterway continued, passing a "cycle path to nowhere" (the cycle path just ends with a secure fence, so either it’s been future proofed for more housing or plans changed as there seems to be some sort of secure military land sandwiched between housing).

Lake within Gallions Park, Thamesmead, London

Anyhow back to the walk, as I headed towards Gallions Reach Park, climbing a man-made hill (with the path spiralling around to make the climb less challenging) which gave good views, although would have been better if the sky was blue rather than 50 shades of grey.  I headed down that hill and onto another smaller hill (labelled as “Lookout hill”) before heading out of the park and onto Thames Path, staying on the higher path which is shared with cyclists.  I followed the path next to the Thames (with some good views of the water), reaching the Woolwich Foot tunnel to end the first section of my walk as I headed underground via the spiral staircase (as the lifts at both ends were broken) to go underneath the Thames to reach North Woolwich.

Woolwich Foot Tunnel

The second part of my walk followed the Capital Ring, a walking route which circles London, parts which I’ve already done as part of other walking trips creating some gaps in the coverage.  Completing the Capital Ring is one of my goals for 2024 (as well as making a start with completing more of the London Loop).  This section follows a path alongside the river Thames, giving a view of where I was earlier.  I passed Royal Victoria Gardens and into housing leading towards crossing the entrance lock into the King George V dock.  This area of the path was a bit overgrown and quite industrial as it crossed the lock of the Royal Albert dock before reaching new buildings (with more being constructed as I needed to head away from the Capital Ring at one point due to the path being blocked by a fence.  I left the new buildings behind heading onto the road going underneath the DLR near Gallions Reach station and again a few minutes later to head to a path alongside the Royal Albert dock.

Entrance lock to Royal Albert Dock, London

This path ran close to the buildings of the University of East London before heading away from the dockside towards Cyprus DLR station and into New Beckton Park.  The Capital ring continued going into Beckton Park, where it met up with the Beckton Corridor Walk (along an old railway line) for a short section before heading north towards the Beckton District Park, an area on my list to return as it was quite scenic.

The parks came to an end with a footbridge over the A13 (Newham Way) dual carriageway and a short distance until it reached the Greenway the end of my section of walk as I headed towards Brampton Park on Lonsdale Avenue, jumping onto a route 104 bus (a Wright Eclipse Gemini WHV55) for the short journey to Beckton bus station, where I transferred to the DLR for sets 143/131 for the short trip to Cyprus to start a second walk, although due to the time of day I had cut out a section.  

I headed away from Cyprus back towards the Royal Albert dock, walking the path which gave some nice views of London City Airport.  I continued towards the Connaught Bridge where Albert gave way to Victoria for a short section before running into a path closure for an extension to the Excel centre (which is what I was expecting from my research).  My original plan was to head south towards the Thames Barrier Park, but I suspected it would have been closed due to the times so headed towards the DLR stop at Prince Regent to end my exploring for the day.

Royal Albert Dock (near City Airport), London

Due to engineering works, there was no Jubilee line so I decided to take DLR sets 23 & 09 to Poplar, crossing over for a Stratford bound service (my theory is Poplar - Stratford would have been quieter than Canning Town - Stratford).  That idea went into the bin when a sub mile set rolled in with 13 & 89 which I took to Canning Town (13 being the one).  The older DLR stock is on borrowed time with the replacements due to enter service soon.  I headed towards the Stratford International platforms and onto a very busy set made up of 15/66 to Stratford.  In my eyes TfL could have either tried to make the Stratford - Woolwich services triple sets or at least extended the Canning Town - Beckton trains to Stratford to ease overcrowding due to having no Jubilee line running.

At Stratford I headed towards the Central line platform, jumping onto a set which had arrived taking it to Leytonstone (as by the time the announcement played at Leyton about it being an Epping train it was too late due to a large crowd boarding from the Leyton kickball, hard enough to fight my way out at Leytonstone and ID the service as formed of 91205, 92458, 92254 & 91069 (with 91069 being needed for a mile as a nice little bonus).  The train behind was for Hainault which did nicely as it was formed of 91137, 92442, 92166 & 91047 to take me to Redbridge, where I located my accommodation and relaxed for a short while giving my phone a charge.

Go Ahead London Bus SEe218 (LB23 PFK) outside Redbridge station on a route 366

I headed out of the shared house, feeling strange not having my rucksack on me returning to Redbridge underground station, jumping onto the first available service towards Leytonstone with 91073, 92262, 92416 & 91203 (with 92262 being needed for a mile).  I hung back at Leytonstone for a couple of services keeping my eyes for anything else I needed for a mile, linear hopping to Leyton with a service formed of 91195, 92052, 92020 & 91173 (with 91173 being needed for a mile).  Sadly, my luck wasn’t with me this evening as I cut my losses jumping onto a service formed of 91139, 92434, 92464 & 91169 to Stratford, transferring to platform 8 for the next Elizabeth line service towards Paddington.  Due to engineering works, there was no services running between Stratford & Shenfield with the Elizabeth line trains terminating at Stratford, normally platform 8 is the platform for Shenfield bound trains so a bit unusual departing towards central London for a random crossover (BLS hat time).

I alighted at Whitechapel, popping out to Sainsburys for something to munch before taking 378140 to Dalston Junction for a short walk to the venue for my concert.  A couple of hours later when the concert had finished, I headed back towards Dalston Junction with 378154 to Shoreditch High Street, where unusually it departed from platform 1 at Dalston Junction (normally the platform for northbound trains to Highbury but engineering works meant everything was terminating at Dalston today), just for another random crossover.  I exited the station at Shoreditch High Street walking to Liverpool Street via a Tesco Express for breakfast (making use of the fridge in the shared kitchen) before taking 345012 to Stratford (arriving at platform 5 to do the other crossover to the west of Stratford, because why not?)

Crossing over to the eastbound Central line platform saw me jumping onto an unknown Epping service (91037, 92420, 92124 & 91213) to Leyton for a short hunt before calling it a night with a service formed of 91239, 92422, 92036 & 91053 to Redbridge, walking back to the shared house to relax for the remainder of the evening, mainly looking at Google Maps and coming up with yet more ideas.

345069 at Stratford on a Paddington Service

4th February – Roding Valley & Wapping

My rough plan for this Sunday changed a few times over the week (London has so much to offer, sometimes it’s hard to actually make a decision), with the option I picked being a late notice discovery based on looking at Google maps in the Redbridge area.  I checked out of the shared house, it was reasonable enough, bit of outside noise due to the location but certainly somewhere I would use again if the need ever arose.  Heading towards Redbridge station I carried on via a subway underneath the A12, then one underneath the North Circular (A406) where a path which would head towards Ilford branches off before another subway underneath the A12 again for a short section of walking along the pavement of this busy road over the river Roding before I turned away from the A12 onto a path into the Roding Valley Park.

I followed a path which varied in quality (but nothing that bad) as it followed the river Roding heading north splitting up (a cycle path within woods and two footpaths on either side of the river).  I took the cycle path before crossing over to one of the river footpaths for better views of the river (and to try and reduce the road noise from the North Circular which was close-by, turning into the M11 in the South Woodford area.  The path following the Roding continued passing a recycling centre still with the changing path quality with a section being a bit muddy (I suspect mainly caused by flooding).  I went underneath the Central Line (near Roding Valley Underground) and towards Buckhurst Hill, the path becoming more urban.  The first section of the path came to an end near Buckhurst Hill Underground with what seems to be a missing part, forcing a walk onto the roads to head into another park leading towards the Roding Valley Meadows.

Central Line viaduct over River Roding in the Buckhurst Hill area

I reached the Roding Valley Lake, circling around it with the river on my right hand side and continued my walk into the meadows, which was a scenic area (other than the noise of traffic from the motorway) and it was a shame when the path ended in the Debden area as I returned to the road network following the A1168 underneath the Central line tracks and towards a Sainsburys for lunch items.  I was toying with doing one of the bus routes which start from Debden but decided against it and headed to the station and jumping onto a London bound service formed of 91249, 92078, 92196 & 91091 (with a bonus of 91091 being needed for a mile).  I took this to Leytonstone where I was hoping to use the toilets, but they seem to be locked up.  I had a short wait before jumping onto a set formed of 91161, 91193, 92044, 91115 to Stratford transferring to the DLR for a very busy set formed of 34 & 70 to Canning Town where I had another little walk,

This is a walk I was hoping to do back in 2022 but had to change my plan due to rain moving in.  I exited Canning Town at the river entrance and headed towards the Bow Creek Ecology Park based on the land within a bend of the river.  I passed an old bridge which crossed the DLR tracks (which has been locked with gates for some reason), going round the bend and underneath the DLR tracks to the opposite side of the old bridge, near what seems to be an old railway bridge.  Crossing the river on what is called the "Blue bridge" (because it's blue) and I headed on the opposite bank of the river doing a large U to return to where I started near Canning Town station.  An enjoyable little stroll which had been on my list for a while (but never got round to doing it).

DLR units 123 & 154 crossing the Bow Creek in Leamouth, London

Anyhow back at Canning Town and it was onto a DLR service formed of 128 & 139 to Westferry stepping back to a triple set from Lewisham formed of 58, 01 & 96 getting lucky as 96 was one of my needed for a mile sets.  I took this service to Shadwell, exiting the station for a 3rd walk, another walk which had been on my list for things to do.  I headed away from the DLR towards the enclosed Shadwell Basin, doing a loop around the basin before reaching the Ornamental Canal.  This canal is broken up with the Wapping Woods as I continued along the path, passing a couple of old ships at the Tobacco Dock (which I presume are used for venue hire.  This canal ends in the Hermitage basin and was an interesting walk.

After I reached Hermitage basin I headed towards the St Katharine Docks, before heading to Tower Gateway to end my little stroll.  An enjoyable little stroll within Wapping but it was now back to playing with the trains, starting with the DLR looking for any of my sub mile units, managing to grab 94 & 73 before ending up in Stratford switching to the Central line for some linear hops, getting 92096 & 92258 into my book for over a mile, my luck with the S7 stock on the district/H&C line was a bit rubbish.  Certainly, linear hopping on the Central line is better in the open air due to how hard they are to try and grab all 4 set numbers when they rush into a station.

Ornamental Canal, Wapping

I ended up at Kings Cross St Pancras onto Piccadilly line 189 pushing that one over a mile but the Piccadilly line was operating with some service gaps, so I didn’t hang round for long before switching to the northern line, getting lucky with sub mile 95 stock 51631/51632 to Waterloo where I felt like I had hit a wall.  I think it might have been the underground air getting to me, but I felt like I had enough as I took a seat on the 17:45 service to Salisbury formed of 159021, 159001 (which was on a seaside special according to the destination screen) & 159103.  A service which needed all 9 coaches as it was very busy, and remained busy even after Grateley, I can only presume a large percentage of the passengers on board were changing to GWR at Salisbury for Bath, Bristol etc due to the limited GWR service from Paddington due to the overtime ban.  Anyhow I soon reached home, relaxing for the rest of the evening, after a couple of productive days walking wise, as well as getting some more TfL stuff over the mile (which is another one of my 2024 goals).

Next week sees a return to more long-distance trips with a return to Crewe, I wonder what type of biscuits I will get this time in my usual shared house.  More photos taken from this trip can be found on my Flickr account Here.  Thanks for reading, I will leave you with the canopy of Canary Wharf.

Canopy at Canary Wharf Station from West India Quay