Now that I can walk almost properly ( after a motorcycle accident) and for a fair distance, I am in need of something to test and push myself. Running is still a no go so walking will have to do, but it has to have a purpose as its just too boring and slow otherwise. And it needs to be near enough to civilisation just incase it all goes wrong. So I have decided to walk the Capital Ring, a 120km walking loop around inner London. And today was the first foray - Woolwich to Falconwood, just about 10kms.
First stop after getting off the train at Woolwich Arsenal was a charity shop to buy something warm; it was bloody freezing down by the Thames, despite the thick jacket and several layers I already had on. Then a quick nip into MacDonalds to use their loo and I was off.
This bit of London is very tatty as well as cold. Its south of the Thames, and has not benefitted from the Olympic tarting up of 2012. It is a rather desolate area, with evidence along the river banks of faded industry, dockland activity, and dilapidated building. But it is starting to reemerge as new development moves in onto cheap brown field land. And today was sunny so that made it look a bit more attractive that I suspect it would were it pouring with rain.
This area was all Royal Naval Dockyard grounds. Several walking and cycling paths follow the Thames and they are all well signposted; they even follow the same route for a while. So I followed them all westwards towards the Thames barrier. Opened 29 years ago, this structure remains pretty spectacular.
It was last activated just a few weeks ago when we had heavy rain, and there is talk that it won't cope with tidal surges for much longer.
There are also several small docks, once graving docks of the former Royal Dockyard. This was where various well know ships were built, including HMS Beagle, the ship that Darwin did his species collecting thing on, and also Great Harry which was Henry 8th's flagship and the then biggeset warship ever built.
Two canon, complete with rails, also remain. These were once part of the Gun Drill battery dating from the mid 19th century. a bit further along is the site where the Siemans factory once stood; it made submarine cables until the late 1960s.
The southern end of the Greenwich Foot Tunnel is along the same bit too. This was built in the early 1900s and is still a useful link between Greenwich and the Isle of Dogs. Its still undergoing some renovation though, although as a highway, it has to remain open 24 hours a day.
After that I headed back inland and up into Maryon Park, which was once a source of top grade sand which was used as floor covering before carpets were used. Its suprisingly rural up there, and offers great views back down over the river. Gets your heart beating as you climb the steep steps set into the banks.
More woods and parks followed as the Ring went further south, up over Oxleas Woods onto Woolwich Common and then Eltham Common. Woolwich Common was where the army used to congregate prior to getting their guns from Woolwich Arsenal and leaving for battle by ships in the Thames.
Severndroog Castle is the highest point of the walk and the last notable point.
It was apparemntly named after a fortress in India that Sir William James captured. He owned the land that later became Eltham Park; his wife had the castle built as a memorial to him. There were great views from the top here, looking right down over South London, towards Crystal Palace, and it makes you realise just how massive London is.
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