Viewing the Bulwark - a walk from Stratford to Greenwich - Saturday 19th March 2011

It was Saturday 19th and It was arranged that we would meet at Stratford at 10am - just seven of us, perhaps because the walk had only been announced on Thursday evening.

I went along for the walk rather than for the thrill of seeing one of Britain's naval defences on a visit to Greenwich or the suggested noodle-lunch afterwards. I was quite happy to be led on the walk, too – as I couldn't envisage a realistic route that wouldn't duplicate ones I'd been on – either with the Group or personally – recently. But fings bein wot they are, Jim suggested that at least initially I take the lead.

 On the Meridian at the GreenwayOur first problem was crossing the road; a complicated mess of bulwarks against pedestrian access to pavements was a hint of things to come. The one-way road system negotiated, we left the main road and accessed a more pedestrian aspect of the walk by means of the way we'd taken when we did Jim's walk from Stratford to the South Bank some weeks ago. My idea was to soon pick up the Greenway for a short distance, then to walk along the Channelsea Creek by way of the Long Wall to Three Mills. We posed for a picture as we crossed the Greenwich Meridian on the Greenway, then walked down off it to the Channelsea. The mud, tyres and trolleys in the creek were rapidly becoming covered by the tide – a particularly high one I supposed because of the impending Equinox. A short way along towards the Long Wall – thankfully a short way – we found our way blocked by a security fence. This is fairly normal around Stratford these days – although quite unpredictable – but whatever, we had to turn back and retrace our route until we re-reached the high-road to London. We weren't long on that, because we were able to walk alongside the channel that runs directly to Three Mills.

Three MillsThe day was glorious, sunny and warm for March, and the Three Mills complex looked great in the light. I remember it when it didn't look so great, but was still a remarkable area. But then it didn't get the visitors, and in some ways I preferred that to the “busy-ness” that it experiences now – walkers, cyclists, tourists, boaters, anglers, historians, film-stars.

I was still trying to work out a route, and considered one through Bromley and Poplar on a route that I've been planning, but thought that this would then spoil that, so relented to keeping to the Limehouse Cut – precisely the route we'd done before. Going across the lock at Bow, I could see that on the long-inaccessible east bank of the Lea, the “Fat Path” that will lead directly to the Thames is laid out, complete with seats. That'll be a route - when it's opened!

Limekiln DockAt the Limehouse end of the Cut, I knew of a good café. It's right on the corner of the Burdett Road and Commercial Road, and used to be a bank. Good value, good selection of east London fare, and clean, too. After tea/coffee (and cake for Fred) we crossed towards Westferry Station and had a look at Limekiln Dock (again - for some). The tide by now was well in, and small waves were breaking on the shore, a nice sea-sidey sound. Along the Thames walk the sea-side feel was accentuated by the sea-salt smell that I haven't got for a while now. A few people in the riverside apartments were sitting on their balconies in the sun, or even getting chairs out onto their communal lawns.

HMS Bulwark at GreenwichWe didn't quite take the same historic-reference route that Susan B.'s Limehouse to Greenwich walk had done, but tried to stick more closely to the riverside. But this is harder-than-ought on the Thames Path, because in a number of instances we were blocked either by locked gates, inappropriate walls or development. Bearing in mind our objective was to reach a warship by the name of Bulwark, we encountered a few of these on route before we did so. Nevertheless, as we rounded the curve of the river, HMS Bulwark came into view, moored nearer the Greenwich bank. She is a large craft – 18,500 tonnes and with a length of 176m – and is classified as a 'Landing Platform Dock Ship', with the ability to launch helicopters, landing craft, tanks and hovercraft.

Unlike last time when we walked to Greenwich, this time we were able to walk through the foot-tunnel. Greenwich was crowded as usual, but we made our way directly to the noodle-bar and although it was busy, we got a table immediately. I'm not over-fond of Chinese-style food, but readily admit that the choice, service efficiency, cost and quality of the meals are admirable.

Our walk was about 5.5 miles, and we returned by way of the DLR to Stratford.

Paul Ferris, 20th March 2011