Woolwich Ferry - North Terminal, United KingdomReturning to my base in East London after visiting the Isle of Man and Belfast today would be an East London biking day. I would be retracing trips to Greenwich and Woolwich we would do on weekends as mini family afternoon trips.
First I had to return to the Stratford Olympic park as this is the easternmost point to rent bikes. The Olympic stadium is now used by the West Ham football team.
Heading towards the Bow flyover which we always drove over as kids when my dad was driving, we turned left to head south towards Poplar and the Blackwall Tunnel.
This area is very commercialized for traffic and not friendly to pedestrians or cyclists as this was not a residential area.
Diverting from the Blackwall Tunnel entry we could continue south into the Isle of Dogs which has been redeveloped as the Canary Wharf financial district. I believe the origin of the name is from the time of King Henry VIII when they would come dog hunting here.
We had to get to the base of the Isle of Dogs to leave out bikes and take the foot tunnel across to Greenwich. We could not take our bikes as to return back further along we would take the cable car by the O2 arena which does not allow bikes.
We used to run thru the Greenwich Foot tunnel all the time as kids when the area was not developed and the Isle of Dogs was all run down. Our dad would bring us to the Cutty Sark and Greenwich park on the south side.
Greenwich park has a big hill with views back across the river of the London skyline. Another good reason not to have the bikes trekking up a hill. I last came maybe 20 years ago and the skyline has changed completely from the photos I have from them
Now we had to walk back to the O2 arena to get the cable car to cross the river back. For some reason the maps are oriented to your view, not north orientation. It was about a half hour walk to get to the O2 arena, which we could have done quicker had we used bikes.
After taking the IFS Cloud Cable Car (formerly Emirates flyer) - [entry will be on the parent blog for the England trip], we now had to find a DLR station to get the bikes again.
For some reason London Borough of Newham has no bike rentals except for the Stratford Olympic park. It would make sense to have the bike rentals next to the cable car to continue travels.
We now has to follow the Thames further east to get to Woolwich. Along the way we were supposed to see the Thames Flood Barrier opened in the 1980s to stop the city from flooding. However there is so much development now with high rises and the DLR monorail we could not see it. We would see it from the Woolwich ferry anyway
Woolwich ferry was another Sunday afternoon trip we would do as a family. The ferry is free so we would drive across and quickly get to the roundabout to get on the return ferry back or head across to Greenwich.
We actually did this trip on a return visit to the UK in 1990 and made a VHS - see youtube video https://youtu.be/jyrnn4bHthE
On the south side of Woolwich there is second foot tunnel. Two were built in Victorian times at Greenwich and Woolwich. We had never used the Woolwich foot tunnel growing up so this would be the first time.
There is a hexagonal wood panel elevator to come down but was only working on one end. Cycling is not allowed in the tunnel as you are on a decline and can accelerate and hit pedestrians. It was empty so I was able to cycle. There is also a temperature drop
On the north side the elevator was closed for repairs so I had to carry the bike up all the flights of stairs. It was now an easy route as the road heading north will go all the way to East Ham and my old neighbourhood.
However south of East Ham has all been developed in the last few years. During the war the docks were heavily bombed so growing up the area would all be boarded up driving to Woolwich south of East Ham. Now it has all been redeveloped into luxury flats and the new Docklands light railway. There is also the London City Airport we passed in the old docks area
At East Ham the rains were starting. East Ham High Street is dense with Indian and Pakistani retail stores along with Mosques and Temples. We decided to get take out food and get back to our hotel. My friend went for south Indian while I got Pakistani food.
We cut thru the streets I grew up in Forest Gate to get back to Stratford to leave the bikes
See also Vlog (23 mins) - https://youtu.be/WIji1U0MHnU
2025-05-22