Length: 10.1 km (6.3 mi) [shorter walk possible, see
below]
Ascent/Descent: negligible
Net Walking Time: ca. 2 ¼ hours
Arrive
at Dagenham East station for a 14.00 start. Dagenham
East is in Zone 5, on the District Line to Upminster. Journey time from Aldgate
East is 32 minutes, from Victoria 49 minutes. You can shave off a few minutes
by taking mainline trains from Fenchurch Street (or from Limehouse or West Ham)
to Barking for part of the journey (half-hourly today).
This is an exploration of several linked green areas
in an otherwise densely populated East London suburb, leading through some
Local Nature Reserves, two Country Parks, an ex-landfill site and ex-quarry, a
river floodplain and along the recently restored beds of the Wantz Stream and
the Beam and Rom Rivers.
This walk has a large variety of landscapes, from
acid grassland, fenland and woodland to marshland and sandy shrubland via woods
and a tranquil meandering valley.
Beam
Parklands provides functional flood prevention and public
open space for the community, while the Beam Valley Country Park was
formerly derelict land after having been partly worked for gravel, leaving a
wide diversity of habitats, with wet and dry grassland, tall herbs and scrub,
and one small area of willow woodland, a scarce habitat in London.
The Chase
Local Nature Reserve has large areas of marshland and contains 6 of only
600 mature female Black Poplar trees left in the UK as well as a fenced off
Bird Sanctuary (The Slack).
Eastbrookend Country Park, now an
interesting, undulating landscape, was formerly a gravel quarry then a dumping
ground for the rubble left over from the blitz.
A
shortcut at the northerly end of the walk reduces the length
by 2.3 km.
For a summary, walk directions, map,
height profile, photos and gpx/kml files click here.
Refreshments
at the end: The
Pipe Major. T=short.33
1 comment:
6 of the 8 from the morning walk started with a 7th saying he'd start later after finishing lunch a bit after us.
Lots of lush greenery in the various parks today and also many water-filled ponds, but alarmingly also large patches of burnt grass and brambles, primarily in the Beam Parklands, and then also about 10 houses just to the side of the park that had part or fully burnt down a few weeks ago in the heatwave. That didn't make my local paper at the time...!
What else did we see/experience? Tons of blackberries, more than I have ever seen on a walk, herons, first just one in a pond amongst ducks, coots and swans, then 4 of them together (2 large, 2 small) in the (dry) bird reserve, The Slack. And a new cafe with lots of different ice cream brands in the Eastbrookend Country Park.
In the background we heard occasional shouts and chants from Dagenham & Redbridge's ground, who were playing Maidenhead (1-0 at FT).
n=7 in weather that was w=warm-with-a-breeze
Post a Comment