06/01/25 - London Spiral Stage 17 - Woolwich to Roding Valley

The Great Guinness Shortage

Another Thames crossing on the London Spiral. I have used bridges, ferries and cable cars. Today, I can add feet - taking the deep dystopian plunge into the underworld and using the Woolwich Foot Tunnel. Only slightly worrying that there is an alarm sounding and no one else going subterranean. 

Going Underground

Not that I really wanted to surface. North Woolwich in the freezing rain.

Take me back down

Today's walk vividly demonstrates the essence of what Iain Sinclair's definition of psychogeography. Walking through industrial estates, alongside airport runways and under motorways is not for everyone. Route finding is tricky. Paths appear unexpectedly but also cannot be found to match the map. 

For Iain Sinclair, psychogeography is a way to uncover a city’s hidden soul, focusing on the forgotten, overlooked, and unloved spaces where history lingers. By walking through these neglected areas—abandoned industrial sites, crumbling estates, and disused railway lines—Sinclair reveals the stories and memories embedded in the urban landscape. These places, often dismissed or erased by modern development, serve as a counterpoint to sanitized urban spaces, offering a raw and chaotic glimpse of the city’s true essence.

Through his explorations, Sinclair celebrates the poetry of decay and the persistence of the past, reclaiming the narratives buried beneath the surface. Psychogeography, for him, becomes both a method of discovery and a form of resistance, connecting visible and invisible layers of urban life.

The end of London City airport runway

The River Roding

Most of this walk tries to follow the River Roding. Like many of London rivers, there is a waymarked walk associated. 

Delighted to find waymarkers

Yet this Roding Valley Way is a secret. I can find no official PDF or route map. Just a few blogs and part recordings on the usual tracking sites. Within metres of finding this marker, I manage to get to a dead end of new flats development (is there any other kind) and have to back track.

But getting lost has its own rewards. The diversion takes me to Barking Abbey. A rare bit of cultural history in an unloved part of town.

Ruined first by the Vikings, then Henry VIII

Refreshments? A rich seam for the pub archeology, with every pub passed derelict or turned into temples for different faiths. But there is an outlier in Ilford. And it opens before midday.

The Good Beer Guide Jono's.

How many Irish Pubs in the Bible?

I'm not sure what to make of this. Whilst checking whether open, I am instantly hit with a sign. No one likes signs in pubs. They should remain the last bastions of free living.

Marketing Myth or reality? Surely first come, first served.

Now, I only drink Guinness on St Patricks day. And only then if I am in Cheltenham Racecourse. Yet what else are you meant to drink in an Irish Pub. I chance my arm, but my Brummie accent ruins any chance of being mistaken as a regular.

Tribute it is. The only cask on offer and even then, the pump hidden around the corner away from the keg. Almost as if they are apologising for serving cask.

Decent TBF - Especially for 11:45am on a Monday

A real Good Beer Guide oddity. The guide adds scant info on its inclusion - noting that an occasional second pump sometimes serves Banks Wainwright.

And the locals? On Carling to a man.

Onwards, though a couple of pretty parks (Valentines and Clayhill) before more urban grittiness under the M11.

Flyovers - but at least the paths are signposted now

The destination - Roding Valley Tube Station. Only the most Londoner of Londoners knows which line this is on. A weird loop of the Central Line. 

I'll pick this route back up from Woodford.

Walk Information

Distance - 13 Miles

Start - Woolwich

Finish - Roding Valley Tube

Areas Walked - Barking, Ilford, Woodford

Geocaches - 4

Pubs - 1

Previous Walks - Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3, Stage 4, Stage 5, Stage 6, Stage 7, Stage 8, Stage 9, Stage 10, Stage 11, Stage 12, Stage 13, Stage 14, Stage 15, Stage 16

05/01/25 - A Brighton Good Beer Guide Pub Crawl

Trying to escape the weather

Come to Brighton - its bracing.

Stormy Waters

I was meant to be on the London Spiral - but the weather looked too miserable for a 13 mile walk. I'll put that off till tomorrow. Brighton's been on the ToDo list for some time and Thameslink can keep you out of the worst of the weather for 75 minutes each way and a bargain £15.50.

The Adventure Lab Caching concentrates on the abundant and permanently changing Street Art Scene. I can combine this with an easy pub crawl that barely leaves the Station. Many times, the two worlds combine.

Its a Pub Quiz Picture/Music Round Hybrid

The Evening Star provides a fine start. Not least a selection of keg, cask and Belgian Beers that meant I was forced into an unreasonable amount of bar staring, baring in mind my cunning plan to limit expense. Having paid >£6 several times yesterday in London, I am going on the halves from this point forwards.

Handsome

After some deliberation, a Braybrooke Helles Lager, enjoyed in a pleasant atmosphere of quiet contemplation.

My sort of Gaff

Something that couldn't be levelled at the Great Eastern, where the Mojo Man is taking centre stage.  Who is the Mojo Man, I hear the blogfans cry?

Not a bad representation

Yes, he is a turban wearing DJ on old school decks. With suspect taste in music. Nobody enjoys their half of Funky Tonk to the sounds of the theme from Pink Panther at a volume that rattles your fillings. Even the barstaff had taken refuge outside, under the pretence of smoking.

How fast can you drink half a Honky Tonk?

Lord Nelson just over the road. 3.15pm on a Sunday, but the tables do have a menu and a pot of knives and forks. Could it be they are doing food? Yes, and the finest Sunday Lunch of the year. Not cheap, at around £18. Plus I was forced into breaking my own half pint rule. You cannot have Harveys Sussex Best in half pints. The High Sheriff of Brighton would be summonsed.

The Lord Nelson

Liquid Perfection in Pint Form

And back towards the Station for the Pop Music adorned Prince Albert photographed at the start of the blog. Even more handsome from the front.

He's a looker. As well as a way to accessorize

Pop music paraphernalia not limited to the outside. When they have run out of wall space, they'll put Ian Dury and the Blockheads tour promos on the ceiling.

Through in a real fire, Tom Waites on the sounds and a Long Man Brewery Best Bitter and I was a happy man.

How close can I get to that?

A short hop to the train, where a West Midlands train user can only marvel at the frequency of trains to the smoke on a Sunday night. A good start to Brighton, but much work to do. The first tweet reply I get to my afternoon adventures tells me I need to go to the Hole in the Wall.

Walk Details

Distance - 6 Miles

Geocaches - Too Many Adventure Lab Caches to count

04/01/25 - Notting Hill and Portobello Road

They Saw Me Coming

Christ, they sell some tat in London outdoor markets.

This is London

And street markets aren't exactly conducive to a Rambling.  

Thronged

I could always go shopping - you know, in actual shops. But then again;

There's always a reason when you see a particularly large crowd. The Adventure Lab Caches provide the reason - locations from the Richard Curtis eponymous film.

Is there a Welshman in his pants behind the blue door?

Where Hugh and Julia first met

I'm not really here for the antiques or movie locations. There's one pub in the area that you really need to visit at Christmas and at night. So while I wait for darkness to fall, a new Good Beer Guide tick at The Windsor Castle.

An unspoiled, characterful pub from 1826 that wouldn't look out of any place in any old town or village.

Pubby good looking

Inside, its a challenge for a man carrying three days worth of worldly goods in a 35l rucksack. You try limbo dancing under a 4ft wooden partitions to see the patrons of the ladies Sherry Room. In front of an audience.

Timothy Taylor Landlord ordered, fully forgetting Mrs M and her wearable tech. After I receive my round of applause for getting through the portal, I get a text. "You can pack that in and get yourself to 'spoons."

She's ahead of me. the joint account has taken a hit to the tune of £6.75. I didn't even order dry roasted.

Thank god I don't have friends (with me). The way things are going, soon a round will require a small loan and a solemn nod from the bank manager. By the time you've carried four pints back to the table, they’ll call you an investor.

Still, a nice pint in nice surroundings.

Onwards to the star of the show. Who can resist The Churchill Arms at Yuletide?

I mean, come on!  

The inside doesn't disappoint either.

Nick nacks aplenty

Experience (and hunger) has me heading for a the back room restaurant. Where they will deliver you Fuller ESB and in comparison, value for money Thai food.

Walk Details

Distance - 4 Miles

Start - Westbourne Park Tube Station

Finish - Notting Hill Tube Station

Walk Inspiration - Andrew Duncan's Favourite London Walks

Geocaches - 3 and plenty of Adventure Lab Caches

02/01/25 - Dunwich Heath Coastguard Cottages

New Year gets off to a Blinder

Perfect walk in perfect weather. If you are thinking of doing this walk. Arrive early. Aren't people meant to be back to work today? A battle for car parking spaces on our return. Like a premier league goal keeper who's team are 1-0 up in the 85th minute, I stretched out changing out of my boots for an extraordinary length of time. I just love the drama.

A perfect walk. The reasons? Variety, walking on sand, heath-land and through woods. The weather, cold but with the most gorgeous blue skies. Much needed after yesterday's biblical, surprisingly unnamed storm. The company, Mrs M a given but all walks are better with an enthusiastic dog. And we got to shout "Fenton, for Christ's Sake" when copped a deaf one chasing rabbits. A if you don't like walking, you can always go bird-spotting at RSPB Minsmere.

An interesting pub on route - but we were too early. There can't be too many called the Eel's Foot. Post walk refreshments at the chaotic National Trust Tea Room. The electronic till was down. Cash hardly easing the chaos.

Some Photos; Happy New Year!

Fenton under a low Winter Sun

Coastguard Cottages in the Distance

Too early for the Eels Foot.  

Fenton, Jesus Christ Fenton

Walk Details

Distance - 5.25 Miles

Geocaches - 2

Walk Inspiration - Jarrold Norfolk and Suffolk, Walk 4