The planned walk on Saturday 18th January was postponed because of the leader’s illness so one planned for February was brought forward. Despite the short notice of the change and a cold grey day, thirteen poly ramblers and guests assembled at Pudding Mill Lane DLR station for a five mile walk through suburban East London. A flight of steps took us up to the Greenway, a most imaginative use of sewage pipes: a level trackway of bonded gravel for walkers and cyclists laid on top of the Northern Outfall Sewage Embankment. The acronym NOSE may have been deliberately chosen by someone with a sense of humour! However there was little nasal evidence of its presence as we strolled along the route of the Capital Ring above the houses and commercial buildings of the borough of Newham, including the ornate pumping house affectionally known as ‘The Cathedral of Sewage’. After about three miles, we left the Greenway and crossed the busy A13 trunk road with distant views of the ‘Beckton Alps’, a giant slag heap of a former gas works, now grassed over and converted into a dry ski slope. We next entered Beckton District Park, a pleasant green space with a lake and numerous water birds. Leaving the park and the Capital Ring, we walked along a tree-lined footpath to the end of the walk at the Fox Connaught pub, a listed old docks building, which provided sustenance for our hungry and thirsty ramblers.

Danny

Photos by Les and Stephen