Lea Valley Walk 6: Home by Woolwich Ferry and Thames Clipper

After my rather boring walk down the Greenway, ending up at the North Woolwich ferry terminal, I decided to take a more scenic route back on first the Woolwich Ferry and then Thames Clipper (both above).

I hadn't had a chance to go on the brand new Woolwich Ferries, though I've blogged before about travelling on the old ones. These ones seemed to have a lot less space for passengers - though it might have been Covid restrictions. There just seemed to be rows of seats like this:

This reduction in space might be because there are fewer passengers due to the DLR and foot tunnel.

But over we went, with lovely views upriver to the Thames Barrier and beyond to the towers of docklands:

At Woolwich there was a short walk to the Thames Clipper pier where I found quite a queue. But soon we were off, zooming along as normal, up past the O2 Arena, Greenwich and then Tower Bridge:

It seemed appropriate to pass the O2 Arena given that it had been the starting point of the Lea Valley walks.

At City Pier I disembarked and made my way along the South Bank. 

A late lunch was a Korean Bao bun from Borough Market, then an ice cream outside the Globe Theatre, and finally a fruit drink from a stand behind the Festival Hall. Entertainment included a singer, a dancer, a juggler and the usual people watching.

It felt a very, very long way from the Beckton Sewage works where I'd been only a few hours previously.

London felt buzzing: almost normal again:

Time for some final thoughts about the Lea Valley explorations, in the next post.