{"id":18838,"date":"2026-04-25T21:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/?p=18838"},"modified":"2026-04-22T20:06:01","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T19:06:01","slug":"more-thames-path-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/?p=18838","title":{"rendered":"More Thames Path – 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Charlton to Belvedere<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The view upriver from Charlton with the Thames barrier, Dome and Canary Wharf<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Charlton to Belvedere:<\/strong> On Monday 25 April 2011 I went with my wife and elder son on a walk from Charlton Station to Belvedere. They walked but I rode on my folding Brompton bike as I was still suffering from plantar fasciitis and walking any distance became too painful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A derelict pub in Charlton<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As a cyclist any pressure is on the ball of the foot, with no weight at all on the heel and arch where the pain can be intense. Gel insoles help a little for walking and I was still managing to photograph events, but longer – and faster – walks were still completely out of the question for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tate & Lyle in Silvertown<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I’d been to see my doctor who was sympathetic and told me that physiotherapy might help, but given the waiting list for appointments the pain would probably have gone away before I got one. But there were exercises that could help – and after I had spent a few months rolling a baked bean tin back and forth under my heal while having breakfast the pain did eventually go away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Warspite Rd\/Bowater Rd SE18 <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The bike was a great idea. Linda and Sam were fast walkers and intent on getting to our destination, while as a photographer I kept stopping and sometimes wandering a little to one side to get into the right position to take pictures. Then I would see them a couple of hundred yards ahead and would need to run to catch up. So much easier on the bike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I took advantage of my bike to make some longer than normal diversions, at one stage cycling down a road to reach the river where there was no riverside path but riverside steps. I had a scary moment here, walking out on a ledge to get a better view I lost my balance and began to shake uncontrollably in front of a 10 foot drop onto the concrete steps and rubble of the foreshore. Fortunately I managed instead to grab hold of a rail behind me and after holding it for a few seconds steady myself enough to edge back to safety. I was only too aware of a history of photographers falling to their deaths while ‘getting a better view’.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Recent flats on the former Royal Dockyard at Woolwich<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Eventually I stopped shaking and was able to get back on my bike and hurry after the others. And no, I didn’t tell them what had happened and they still won’t know about it unless they read this. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We were on the John Burns, named after the great trade unionist and Labour politician who called the Thames ‘liquid history’.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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At Woolwich we took a ride across on the Free Ferry. Folding the Brompton I could walk past the ‘No Bicycles’ sign and go below deck with the others. I’d hoped we could return by the tunnel, but it was closed so we had a short walk in North Woolwich and a second ferry ride. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Coming back to Woolwich I kept on the vehicle deck. Bikes get to ride off before the cars.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When the Thames Path was declared a National Trail and then opened in 1996 it ended at the Thames Barrier. Our walk in 2011 began at Charlton station so only the first short section was on that and beyond we were walking the Thames Path Extension. I had previously walked all of this route, and further on as far as Cliffe. If you have the stamina you can now continue all the way to the Isle of Grain though a bike would really be a good idea. Perhaps one day I’ll do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Royal Arsenal site, once an official secret is now a tourist destination, complete with various sculptures, including Peter Burke\u2018s Assembly<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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There are glimpses of the river and these waste transfer barges though trees and over bushe and Beckton on the opposite bank<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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One of the larger tributaries of the Thames is the treated outfall from Beckton sewage works at left. close to Barking Creek<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Waste incinerators and the Bazalgette pumping station<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The Romanesque Crossness Southern Outfall Works opened in 1865, pumping sewage out when the tide would take it seawards<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Part of the more utilitarian 1950s sewage treatment plant at Crossness<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The 1998 sludge incinerator, an elegant swan-like metal structure<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Looking downstream to silos at Rainham<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On this ‘walk’ I gave up here and cycled to Belvedere station to get home for a meeting in the evening, while the two walkers continued to the Darent and then walked back to Slade Green station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many more pictures on My London Diary from the walk and the ferry at More Thames Path<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Flickr<\/a> – Facebook<\/a> – My London Diary<\/a> – Hull Photos<\/a> – Lea Valley<\/a> – Paris<\/a>
London’s Industrial Heritage<\/a> – London Photos<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

All photographs on this page are copyright \u00a9 Peter Marshall.
Contact me to buy prints or licence to reproduce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Charlton to Belvedere Charlton to Belvedere: On Monday 25 April 2011 I went with my wife and elder son on a walk from Charlton Station to Belvedere. They walked but I rode on my folding Brompton bike as I was still suffering from plantar fasciitis and walking any distance became too painful. As a cyclist … Continue reading More Thames Path – 2011<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,3],"tags":[24066,16692,19255,3867,1837,23752,24067,24064,19970,17,1343,197,83,13634,24065,24068,3908,18056,16475,24022,2842,24069,6564,6565],"class_list":["post-18838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-londonphotos","category-my-own-work","tag-bazalgette-pumping-station","tag-beckton","tag-belvedere","tag-brompton","tag-charlton","tag-crossness","tag-crossness-pumping-station","tag-ferry-ride","tag-free-ferry","tag-london","tag-london-photos","tag-north-woolwich","tag-peter-marshall","tag-rainham","tag-royal-arsenal","tag-sewage-pumping-station","tag-sewage-works","tag-silos","tag-storage-tanks","tag-thames-barrier","tag-thames-path","tag-waste-incinerator","tag-woolwich","tag-woolwich-ferry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18838"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18838\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18840,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18838\/revisions\/18840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}