Total Distance: 6.4 miles
Time: 3 hrs 30 min
Points of Interest:
Woolwich Foot Tunnel
Thames Barrier
The O2 Arena
Old Royal Naval College
Cutty Sark
The first section of the path took us from Woolwich to Greenwich. It was a warm and sunny day, so we were well-prepared and brought plenty of water and snacks with us! As I live north of the river in East London, we walked through the Woolwich foot tunnel that brought us to our starting point just outside the Waterfront leisure centre. The foot tunnel was opened in 1912 and is 504 metres long, and at it’s deepest the tunnel roof is about 3 metres below the river bed.
On leaving the foot tunnel we walked west, first crossing a very busy road (the Woolwich ferry and just came in, so had to wait for the traffic to clear). Once across the road, a nice wide path welcomed us for the start of out Thames path adventure. There are a lot of cyclists along this part of the route, but there is a cycle lane, so hopefully people stick to it!
We continued along this path for about a half a mile. This is the first time I had been along this part of the Thames, so it was good to have a view from the opposite side of the river from where I live. The Tate and Lyle factory, although not aesthetically pleasing to the eye is a familiar landmark in the east end.
Going inland slightly, through an area of derelict buildings, we arrived at the Thames Barrier. There is a visitor’s centre here, which we unfortunately didn’t visit, but we did sit in the park and gazed at the view and rested our feet/paws for a while.
This is also where the Thames path trail started before it was extended to Woolwich. There was a tunnel here that went along the Thames, but unfortunately this was closed.
After our short rest, we continued along the path towards the Greenwich Peninsula. This area, along with most of the east end, has always been industrial and there are still remnants remaining. But as you move towards the Peninsula the industrial landscape has changed since the building of the Millennium dome, which, of course, is now the O2 Arena. From the Greenwich Yacht Club onwards, the path opens up to the re-developed area around the arena. The Prime Meridian passes the western edge of the Dome. The Dome is 52 meters at its highest point, representing the 52 weeks of the year. Each span is 365 meters apart, symbolic of the numbers of days in a standard year. There are 24 scalloped edges at the base of the canopy, for each hour of the day. The dome was seen as a white elephant and was reported unfavourably by the press, but it has certainly now become an iconic building in this part of London.
Walking around the O2 Arena, you get some great views of another area that has been completely re-developed in recent years – Canary Wharf. Along the way, we came across this sign post (right). After a quick Google search, I discovered that it’s an artwork called Here. The sign marks the 24,859-mile distance around the earth and back.
As we continued along the path, the landscape turned industrial again, but we could see our end point in the distant. The chimneys of the Greenwich power station came into view, which is still used as an emergency back-up power provider. Not far to go now, we were both ready to have a sit down and a beer (water for Cher). There are many riverside pubs to pop into as you approach Greenwich. The Cutty Sark and The Trafalgar Tavern are two notable ones, but these were both exceptionally busy, as expected on a sunny weekend, so I settled on a Turkish restaurant called Midpoint and ordered calamari and chips along with a beer. Both much deserved after our first journey along the Thames path.
So much fascinating history and facts. Love the number facts about the O2 and Here. Good looks yum 😋