Thames Crossing - The Woolwich (Free) Ferry - Friday 22 August 2014

The last time I did this crossing was way back in January I went the wrong way and ended up going  via Bromley-by-Bow adding a good couple of miles to the walk and I ended up having to run along the ferry approach to catch the last Ferry of the day at 20:00. But that was not the worse part, that was the sense of exposure, almost threat I felt as I walked across the Lower Lea Crossing and turned into Dock Road. Remember this was January, it's was dark, nobody was around, I was in the middle of the Crossrail construction site, well the road that runs through it, a Hanson Concrete factory on one side and high fences and the Docklands Light Raiway high above me on silts on the other side. There was nobody about, it was rather creepy, I felt a little bit more comfortable, when the road opened out into the North Woolwich Road, and I had some new flats on my right. However once the road turned off to for City Airport I entered the realms of Silvertown, never a particularly attractive area dominated by the Tate and Lyle refinery, and the old North London Railway line running down the centre of the road, now it was even worse, the Railway line was, and still is, a construction site for CrossRail and a lot of the buildings down Actory Road have closed and been boarded up, no one was around, it was bleak. I remember getting to work the following Monday and retelling my experiences and stating I would not be going that way until the light evenings return.

Well here I am almost eight months later the light evening have come and are almost gone, so I needed to fulfil my own promise to walk this route once more in the daylight. I need to get there by 20:00 to catch the last Ferry, although not so critical as I can always use the foot tunnel after all that's next week's walk.

I left work at 17:30 slightly later than I anticipated and took almost the same route as last week although rather than walking down the Commercial Road I kept to the back streets, Stepney Way as far as Limehouse. I know this area quite well have delivered a number of local walks for the Ramblers Association a few years back. This route passes through a conservation area, with attractive yellow bricked two up, two down cottages, which 50 odd years ago would have been called slums! 

I passed a chap standing outside his house, with shopping bags and reading a book "left your keys behind?" I called out, he responded with a nod "been there, done that" I replied, well at least it wasn't raining! 

Unlike the other week, when I crossed via the Dangleway, this time the weather was brighter and everything looked a lot fresher, I expect the view from the Dangleway was good this evening

The walk along Dock Road and the North Woolwich Road was not at all threatening this time, it was light, there where people about and traffic was frequently passing me, and as I passed the Docklands Stations there were plenty of people hurrying home to their flats that a) either weren't there before or b) were hidden away in the dark.

One building I definitely did not see before was the Tate and Lyle building, I obviously saw the refinery at Silvertown before, but not this one at West Silvertown, in fact I don't recall having seen it from the other side of the river either.

Tate & Lyle Building

When I arrived at Actory Road I made sure I crossed the Crossrail works at the earliest opportunity as there is still no access to the ferry along this road. Funnily enough the footbridge I used is the original railway footbridge that used to be at Silvertown Station.

Crossrail Site (Tate & Lyle refinery in background)

Actory Road did not feel as threatening this time either, although the Henley Arms, not a pub I would be that keen to visit, was a little, how can I put it? Meanwhile the Crossrail works are progressing, they have built a very impressive eight foot concrete wall down the middle of the road where the North London Line used to run, and is it horrible, yes it is, just what you want when you walk out your front door, but I guess it's required to help reduce the noise of the Crossrail trains which are going to be far more frequent than the old North London Line, that ran at best two trains an hour, one each way.

Nice View!

Poor old Silvertown does not have much to offer, there's been quite a lot of new developments but it's not somewhere you would make a point a visiting, not of course unless your me! It must suffer somewhat as this is where the North Circular Road ends and the ferry crossing to Woolwich is still very popular with heavy and high vehicles as both the Blackwell and Rotherhithe tunnels have height restrictions, so I expect a number of heavy duty lorries rumble through here during the day.

The Woolwich Ferry

There was no need to run to catch the Ferry as it ws only 19:20 and therefore I should be able to catch the 19:30 sailing, although I did note that the road to the approach road was closed with a sign stating the 'Ferry Closed' that was ominous, although turning the corner my fears were proved unfounded as cars where queuing further along the approach road. The problem was that they had taken one of the Ferries out of service which meant I in fact once again ended up catching the last ferry!

Loading the Ferry

The crossing is very quick only about three minutes, plus a a couple of minutes to weigh anchor and dock. There were only about six foot passengers, most of the business no doubt taken by either the foot tunnel or the Docklands Railway. The passenger accommodation below decks is cavanous, there's even some no-smoking rooms!  I stood on the starboard side of the ferry ( actually I don't know which side starboard is) but was asked to move to the Port side for disembarkation.

Anchor's aweigh!

The sky was fairly dramatic, large grey clouds, a slight threat of rain, interspersed with blue and looking up river with distant views of Canary Wharf the sun was begining to set giving the underside of the clouds a warm orange glow. 

View down River

Apparently there's been a river crossing here since the fourtenth century although the present service was introduced in 1889 as a free service established by the Metropolitan Board of Works, the forerunner of the Greater London Council, it was originally served by three paddle steamers named Gordon (after the General of Khartoum, you know Chalton Heston) Duncan and Hutton. The current fleet was introduced in in 1963 and are named after local politicians John Burns, Ernest Bevin and James Newman.

Sunset across the Thames

Having crossed the river I continued home up the hill passing the Royal Artillery Barracks, Woolwich Common and then diverting past the Woolwich Academey up Red Lion Lane to Shooters Hill through the woods past Sevendroog  Castle, which looks very smart now it's been repaired, they have even floodlit it and then home, and another mission accomplished.

And here's the film of the trip on the Ferry about six minutes