Walk the Olympic Park (6) the Eastway Cycle Circuit
7 new photographs here and 4 old ones here
I should have brought you a sixth walk around the Olympic Park. I should have taken you for a stroll from Hackney Marsh down Quartermile Lane, around the Eastway Cycle Circuit, down to Bully Point Nature Reserve and then out into the Clays Lane Estate. But I can't.
Quartermile Lane was sealed off in January. "You can't come down here," said the security bloke emerging from his portakabin and striding up to the gate. "It's been closed off for ages, you know." The look in his eye suggested a muted excitement to finally have a potential intruder to talk to. Across the A12 Eastway, another none-too-sturdy security fence now prevents anybody from crossing into Bully Fen. A sign by the entrance proudly boasts the creation of acres of community woodland just seven years ago, with 4000 trees planted across a patch of barren wasteland. Olympic bulldozers are now busy recreating the former landscape. The last race at the Lea ValleyCycle Circuit took place last November, and the off-road race track is already being erased so that, ironically, the Olympic Velodrome and BMX Track can be erected in its place. You can't wander along the Channelsea River any more - the nearest East London ever got to a babbling rural stream. And the hidden green oasis inside the Bully Point Nature Reserve, that's gone too. All of the above, fenced off and inaccessible already.
The Clays Lane Estate is still semi-open, although more of a ghost town than the thriving student community it used to be. Two brown tower blocks stand condemned awaiting demolition, downhill from scores of emptied utilitarian apartments now locked away behind another Olympic gate. The cafe's closed, the Community Centre's closed, and only the Travellers site shows signs of vibrant life. For now. Survival is not an option. This is where the Olympic Village will be built, where the world's athletes will stay for a fortnight in 2012, and where a property boom will explode shortly afterwards.
So apologies, but this walk is cancelled. Not only has the route been closed off for the last six months, but many of the sights along the way no longer exist. Except in words and photographs. And that's why I've devoted the last week to preserving the memory of the other five walks as best I can. Nothing lasts forever, but at least a few megapixels of the old Lower Lea Valley will live on.
Walk the Olympic Park (6)
Quartermile Lane was sealed off in January. "You can't come down here," said the security bloke emerging from his portakabin and striding up to the gate. "It's been closed off for ages, you know." The look in his eye suggested a muted excitement to finally have a potential intruder to talk to. Across the A12 Eastway, another none-too-sturdy security fence now prevents anybody from crossing into Bully Fen. A sign by the entrance proudly boasts the creation of acres of community woodland just seven years ago, with 4000 trees planted across a patch of barren wasteland. Olympic bulldozers are now busy recreating the former landscape. The last race at the Lea Valley Cycle Circuit took place last November, and the off-road race track is already being erased so that, ironically, the Olympic Velodrome and BMX Track can be erected in its place. You can't wander along the Channelsea River any more - the nearest East London ever got to a babbling rural stream. And the hidden green oasis inside the Bully Point Nature Reserve, that's gone too. All of the above, fenced off and inaccessible already.
