This second leg took us from Hackney Wick through the Olympic park, coming together now nicely as a great resource for East London, the largest new park in London since the 19th century. From there we took the Greenway, a long straight raised walkway that takes you out into the further reaches of east London, through Plaistow and to Beckton. If I'm honest this stretch holds much less interest than the first. It is a linear park built over London's main sewer outfall, though much more pleasant than this sounds (apart from occasional whiffy hints). There are some wide views back to Canary Wharf and to Woolwich and Shooters Hill to the south. On the way you pass Bazalgette's magnificent Abbey Mills pumping station, built in 1868 in a florid eclectic style and nicknamed the Cathedral of Sewage by some wag. Also some of the tidal creeks that lead to the Thames.
At Beckton we turned south through a few pleasant suburban parks, eventually to Albert Dock. This huge expanse of water is lined with the new campus of East London university, mysteriously deserted on Sunday apart from a few disconsolate students shivering in the designated smoking shelters. We managed to find one local shop and one pub - both firmly shut. The dock looks great in the sunshine, with a few hardy rowers out, and planes from City Airport taking off spectacularly but noisily on the far side. With nothing else for it, we caught the DLR back west.
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