'Many Rivers To Cross'

Day 75

 

Rickmansworth - Roding Valley - Rotherhithe - Royal Albert - Royal Oak

 

"...and then, one Thursday, nearly two thousand years after one man had been nailed to a tree for saying how great it would be to be nice to people for a change, a girl sitting on her own in a small café in Rickmansworth suddenly realized what it was that had been going wrong all this time, and she finally knew how the world could be made a good and happy place. This time it was right, it would work, and no one would have to get nailed to anything."

(Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy)

 

...Unfortunately - as has been well recorded - the Earth was then unexpectedly demolished by a Vogon Constructor Fleet to make way for a new hyperspace bypass, and the idea was lost forever, as indeed was the café, the girl, and the town she happened to be in at the time - Rickmansworth.

 

Which is where I too happen to be this morning, though thankfully the real life version has not, as yet, been vaporised by a passing spaceship.

 

Rickmansworth

 

'The Farm of Ryckmer' (or Richemaresworthe, Rykemerewrthe, Rikmansworth, Rykemerysworth, and any number of other variations on the name Rickmansworth) is a pleasant town to the north west of London, in Hertfordshire, in what is known as the Three Rivers district (for reasons which will become clear).

 

Sadly, I'm afraid I experience none of the revelatory enlightenment described by the late Mr Adams while I'm here.

 

Perhaps I'm sitting in the wrong café as I sip my cappuccino. Or perhaps it requires the threat of imminent global annihilation to get the synapses firing properly.

 

Or perhaps it's just because it isn't a Thursday.

 

In any event, given the sort of people currently running some of the major world powers, global annihilation (albeit self-inflicted) might not be so far off. Either way, I think I'd rather take my chances as a stow-away on the Vogon ship, than stick around on Earth in the forlorn hope that humanity will ever come to its senses...

 

***

Anyway, back to 'Ricky' (as the locals have it).

 

We're in the heart of 'Metro-Land' here - all genteel terraces and mews cottages - it's almost the very definition of quaint.



Quaint (adj.) - see 'Rickmansworth'

On the other hand, most of these are in or near the town centre, and have been converted into solicitor's offices or hair-dressing salons, which does lessen the aesthetic impact somewhat.

 

High Street

There are still a few relatively untouched pockets left though, and the town has been used as a location for various films and TV shows, including Genevieve, two of the Indiana Jones films, Doctor Who, Foyle's War and The Professionals.

As I mentioned earlier, the district surrounding Rickmansworth is known as 'Three Rivers'. As you might be able to work out for yourselves, this is because three rivers - the Chess, the Gade and the Colne - all meet just to the south of the town. In fact all three rivers flow into the Grand Union Canal, which also passes through the area, but I suspect that calling it the 'Three Rivers and A Canal, Oh And A Few Lakes As Well' District, would have proved a too much of a mouthful.
 

 

River Colne

I wander southwards, out of the town centre, to have a look at the various waterways - or as much of them as I can find.

 

The River Colne is the first stretch I come across. It's tucked away for the most part among thick foliage, but you can catch a glimpse of it as you pass over the main road to the south of the town.

Crossing this road - Riverside Drive - I find a path leading to the Canal.

Grand Union Canal

Even here, the quaintness of the traditional waterway has been somewhat eclipsed by the intrusion of modern life. Next to me on this side of the canal is the local rubbish dump, and across the water there are some very modern looking offices. These belong (appropriately enough given the watery location) to Nestlé Waters UK - the company behind such brands as Perrier and S.Pellegrino. Not that the water comes from here, you'll be glad to know - the only UK water bottled by the company comes from the springs of Buxton in Derbyshire.

Retracing my steps a little, I head back to town along the other side of the River Colne, where things get a little more picturesque again.

River Colne - again

And from there it's back to the town centre, the station, and a similar trek to last week - all the way across town to the far end of the Central Line and the Fairlop Loop.

***

Roding Valley Station is, not altogether surprisingly, situated in the valley created by the River Roding - which, if you recall, I encountered on my visit to Redbridge on day 74.

It's taken me a good hour and a half to get here from Rickmansworth (which itself was an hour and a quarter from home) so the day has half gone by the time I arrive at this, only my second station of the day.

I leave the station by the exit handily located right next to the platform on which I arrive.

Turning to take my habitual photo of the station entrance, I'm a little disconcerted to discover that someone seems to have built a house in the way. I can understand stations being built next to existing houses - but this building is so obviously a new-build that it seems clear it was constructed with the station already in situ.

Roding Valley Station - being photo-bombed by a Two-Up-Two-Down

It seems an odd choice of location for a domestic residence - right next door to a tube station (albeit one as relatively quiet as this one undoubtedly is). Or perhaps this is one of those houses they use in adverts for double glazing - just to prove how little of the outside world you can hear through the glass.

In fact, both the station and the area surrounding it are very quiet - almost eerily so.

I wander southwards from the station, in search of the River Roding - since rivers seem to be becoming the theme of today.

For a long time I neither see nor hear anyone at all as I walk the streets, lined with fairly modern looking houses, most of which are trying to look the exact opposite - there's lots of 'mock Tudor' going on.

Mock Tudor houses - and an actual living breathing person!

At one point I do spot a postman going about his business, and judging by his expression as I take a photo, he's as surprised as I am to encounter another human being on these streets.

Eventually, hidden at the far end of a rugby club's pitch, I find the river. Actually I'd describe it more as a stream than a river, though it looks picturesque enough for all that.

River Roding

There's some sort of lake or reservoir on the other side of it (according to Google Maps at least) though I can't see it from my current standpoint. I set off in search of a way of crossing the river in order to have a look at the lake (or whatever) but spend a fruitless half hour failing to find one.

Welcome to Essex

What I do find is this sign - which tells me that I'm actually walking into the county of Essex, having crossed the boundary of Greater London.

I'm sure the facts that (a) this is now Essex, and (b) there's a warning that Police Automatic Number Plate Recognition is being used, are entirely coincidental...

Another discovery I make is that, earlier, I must have left the station by the 'back door' so to speak. It was the nearest exit to the platform I arrived on, but it appears there was another exit across a footbridge and out via the opposite platform, and that this is the 'main' entrance to the station.

It's also - weirdly - across the county boundary from the entrance I used. The boundary seems to align exactly with this section of the Central Line's tracks - meaning that one platform is in London, while the other is in Essex. I don't know if this is the only such anomaly in a Tube Station, but it certainly adds a frisson of interest to an otherwise lacklustre experience.

Anyway, having taken a photo of the second - and (slightly) more edifying - station entrance, I head off on my travels once again.

Roding Valley

***

Rotherhithe is next up and this time it's the old familiar Thames, which is our watery companion.

Rotherhithe

It's south of the river - across the water from Wapping, and to the west of the Isle Of Dogs - and this location explains its long nautical history. There have been shipyards and docks here since Elizabethan times - though of course no longer, having all been closed down in the 1980s.

The Thames from Rotherhithe

The station is a few hundred yards from the river - on a road called Brunel Road - and this familiar name is another indication of the history of this area. In fact, there's a 'Brunel Museum' just behind the station - though its subject might come as a bit of a surprise.



Brunel Museum



The 'Engine House'

Most people will be familiar with the name Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and with his many feats of engineering.

Fewer perhaps will be aware that his father - French-born Marc Isambard Brunel - was also an accomplished engineer, and that the two worked together on a project here in Rotherhithe.

The 'Thames Tunnel' - a 35 foot wide tunnel under the Thames connecting Rotherhithe and Wapping -  was constructed between 1825 and 1843 by the father and son team, and used Marc Brunel's innovative 'tunnelling shield' (depicted in the mural on the outside wall of the museum in the photo above) to enable the workers to dig safely.

The shield was a moveable 'wall' of 36 individual cells - each holding one workman - with a removable 'door' of boards at the front, and open to the rear. The boards at the front of the cells rested against the earth to be removed.

The worker would remove the boards, dig out the earth in front of him and discard it out of the shield behind him. Having done so, the boards of the cell would be pushed forward into the cavity and propped against this new surface. Each cell was then propelled forward along two screws so that the entire shield gradually moved into position against the new tunnelling face, where the whole procedure could be repeated.

The Engine House

The tunnel is now used by the London Overground (ironically, since 'over ground' is the one thing a tunnel, by definition, cannot be) travelling between Rotherhithe and Wapping.

And a plaque to the rather better known Brunel.

The museum is housed in what used to be the Engine House - where pumps operated to evacuate water from the tunnel. I don't go inside, as time is pressing on, but their website tells me that the museum contains various artefacts and informative diagrams, telling the history of the tunnel. There are also, at irregular intervals, guided tours of the tunnel itself - but since these only take place on an ad hoc basis, when the Overground Line is closed for maintenance.

Past the museum, with its back towards the river, is a rather ramshackle little pub called The Mayflower.



The Mayflower



The name, which comes from the famous ship which carried the Pilgrim Fathers (and, presumably, the Pilgrim Mothers and a few Pilgrim Offspring) to the 'New World', might seem an odd choice for a pub so far from the voyage's official departure point of Plymouth - but this is where the nautical history of Rotherhithe reveals itself once more.

 

 

 

The Mayflower, although it has become known for a single voyage, was a working ship much like any other - carrying cargo such as wine, fish, wool and other goods between London and various ports around Europe.



But it was apparently from Rotherhithe that the Mayflower set off on the first (and little reported) stage of its most famous voyage.

It sailed from here to Southampton in July 1620, carrying about 65 passengers, and was due to set sail from Southampton (not Plymouth) in August, alongside another ship called the Speedwell carrying colonists from Holland.

However, the Speedwell really wasn't up to the job, and sprang various leaks shortly after setting sail. Both ships returned to port, and it was the Mayflower alone, having restocked on provisions at Plymouth, which finally set sail with 102 passenger bound for America in September 1620.

The pub stands by the original mooring point, and claims to be 'the oldest pub on the river Thames' (a claim I'm sure made by several other pubs along the river) though as usual you have to take this with a 'philosopher's axe' point of view. While there was a pub of some description here at the time of the Mayflower it certainly wasn't the current building, which only dates from the 1950s. It's been both rebuilt and renamed several times over the years, so - like the axe - can it still be said to be the same pub?

 

The Mayflower returned to England in 1621, and less than a year later it's captain - Christopher Jones - died here in his home town of Rotherhithe. There's a church across from the pub called St Mary's, and Captain Jones is supposedly buried somewhere in the churchyard, though the grave's location was lost when the church was rebuilt in the 18th Century.

 

***

I leave Rotherhithe and make my way east to my next stop, which is on the DLR.

 

Royal Albert station stands to the north of the dock of the same name, which itself is to the north of the only site of any real interest here - City Airport.

 

Royal Albert

 

For once the DLR station has a name-sign at street level, so I'm able to get a proper photo for my collection.

 

The dock is of course named after Prince Albert, and is next door to the one named after his wife - the Royal Victoria dock. There's a modern office complex immediately next door to the station, which houses the London Borough of Newham Council, but it's the airport across the dock which grabs your attention.

 

From here you get a pretty clear view (unusual in these days of heightened airport security) of the runway, with the huge Tate & Lyle Sugars factory behind it. The factory awaits me when I visit Silvertown, so for now I concentrate on the airport.

 

City Airport

 

Last time I was in this part of town there didn't seem to be much aviatory activity, but today I do at least manage to see a few planes taking off, which is always a childish pleasure.

 

Look mummy, there's an aeroplane up in the sky...

 

Standing in an isolated plot of lawn across from the council offices, surrounded by low chains, is a statue - or rather, group of statues - which, though striking, looks oddly out of place in this place of business suits and meeting rooms.

 

China-UK Friendship Statue

It's called the 'China-UK Friendship Statue' and is a depiction of a polo match - though one between two very different teams. Two modern British players take on two ancient Chinese ones, in a piece that was created as a gift to the UK by Chinese sculptress Huang Jian.

 

A Chinese polo player - in 'relaxed' clothing

The piece was originally displayed at the Olympic Park, and is the second of a series (the first was made for the Beijing Olympics) which the artist hopes to continue for future Games. A description of the statue in both Chinese and English stands at its feet (though - because of the chains - it's difficult to view it close enough to read at anything other than a right-angle).

 

Details of the statue - if you can read them, that is...

 

Now, because I'm really nice, I'll be good to you and give you a painstakingly transcribed copy of the inscription, so you don't have to strain your eyes trying to read it on the photo above:

 

"China is the birthplace of ancient polo, which was popular among royal families during the Tang Dynasty. The UK gave birth to modern polo, which became an Olympic sport in 1908 and popular all over the world. In 2008 famous Chinese sculptress Huang Jian created for the Beijing Olympic Games "Emperor Ming Of Tang And His Concubine Yang Yuhuan Playing Polo", the only permanent large sculpture in the Beijing Olympic Park. Four years later, Huang created the sculpture of "2012 London Polo", in which Chinese lovers of ancient polo and British lovers of modern polo travel through time and space to gather in the London Olympic Park for a friendly polo match. 2012 marks the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the UK, and is also the year for the London Olympic Games. The sculpture symbolizes the friendship and cultural exchange between the two countries."

 

Coincidentally (perhaps) in 2013 the area to the east of the station was earmarked for development by a Chinese company into a huge business park called Asian Business Port, to be built in phases over 10 years. The first phase is due to be completed next year.

 

***

And so, at last, I reach my final station of the day - Royal Oak - after another fairly arduous trek across town.

 

Royal Oak

 

Because of the vagaries of the various timetables, my route from Royal Albert has involved changing from one DLR train to another at Canning Town, then getting a District Line train at West Ham, followed finally by a Hammersmith & City Line train from Aldgate East. All of which means that it's 4pm by the time I arrive at Royal Oak, and the evening rush hour is showing signs of getting under way.

 

Royal Oak is built on a bridge over the various train lines emerging from Paddington Station, which lies to the east. The bridge is called Lord Hill's Bridge - after a British Army Officer called Lt. General Rowland Hill, 1st Viscount Hill, who served under Wellington in the Napoleonic Wars.

 

Lord Hill's Bridge

 

The station, rather less grandly, is named after a nearby pub (since renamed The Porchester) which stands some way to the south of the bridge at the corner of Porchester Road and Bishop's Bridge Road.

 

The (former) Royal Oak - now The Porchester

 

To the north of the station the busy A40 carries traffic overhead on a flyover, and this - coupled with the railway tracks below the bridge, effectively sandwich the station between two of London's major 'arteries'.

 

As a result, there isn't - I have to admit - an awful lot to interest me in the area. There are a few shops, and the aforementioned pub, but little else before you get to places I've already visited like Queensway and Bayswater.

 

There's a scrap of land to the north, called Westbourne Green, where apparently Lord Hill once had a grand mansion - but this is now little more than a children's playground surrounded by tower blocks.

 

So, that's it for another day. Five more stations crossed off the list, and only another five 'Rs' to go before that letter too bites the dust. It's beginning to feel like I might actually be in sight of finishing this whole Wombling malarkey - possibly even before the end of this year.

 

Blimey!