Erith Yacht Club, 1985
My photographic excursion on the lower Thames continued towards Erith, its slow pace suiting both my photographic needs and those of my six year old assistant, busily taking his own pictures, though I think he found the wide open spaces defeated him.
Manor Road, Erith. 1985
Getting towards Erith, past the Yacht club we had to divert from the river along a busy and dusty road, rather dreary walking, with just the occasional interesting but unphotographable distant glimpse of riverside industry. In 1985 there was no Thames Path (I think it was a few years later that I got an early draft and contributed some comments to the consultation), but now it still has to follow more or less the route we took.
I had the Ordnance Survey maps, which marked most of the paths; some were shown as public rights of way, while many other roads and tracks on the map were behind gates. Often more useful in finding my way were the large scale street-maps which had the advantage of showing road names, though not always paths.
Causeway- No Admittance. Erith, 1985
At that time you could only return to the riverside right in the centre of the town, with parts of the riverside still very much a closed off working river. Now you can walk back to the east a little, and some of what was industrial land is now a ‘superstore’.
Belvedere from riverside at Erith, 1985
From the riverside path there were views of the riverside industry on the same bank upstream at Belvedere. We walked a little way towards these before making our way back to the station for the train home.
Riverside path, Erith, 1985
That April walk was not the only photographic project I was working on at that time, and earlier in the month I had been busy taking pictures around the Old Kent Road in Peckham, Bermondsey and Camberwell, as well as of the flooding in Richmond (a frequent occurrence at high tides) and a few other things elsewhere. Later in the month I found time for another visit, making my way from Charlton to Greenwich, which I’ll post some pictures of another day.
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My London Diary : Buildings of London : River Lea/Lee Valley : London’s Industrial Heritage
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