WALK LONDON The Westfield Wander[1½ miles] Estimated time(30 mins - 6 hours)
London's population would be healthier if they took more exercise, but couch potatoes aren't easily persuaded to go hiking through the countryside or follow a waymarked riverside trail. So this new walking initiative aims to entice Londoners onto their feet within a familiar landscape - Stratford's Westfield shopping centre - by following a simple one and a half mile route that never retraces its steps. Download theapp, follow the simple directions and enjoy a healthy workout while you shop.
1. Your Westfield Wander begins outside the rear exit from Stratford station, a convenient spot easily accessed from across the capital. Taxi and Uber dropoffs are also available. Now would be the ideal time for a final cigarette, but please stand out of the way in the designated area. A great deal of wildlife can be seen from this point, including preening parents, courting couples and tribes of younglings. Enter the lower level of the shopping centre through the doors ahead of you. At Starbucks, bear right.
2. Continue around the gentle curve of the Lower Ground Floor. Try not to be overly tempted by the sight of Greggs on the right hand side, as even a vegan sausage roll could cancel out all the benefits of your upcoming walk. Toilets are available by following the footpath immediately before Boots, but ladies should expect to queue. There will be another opportunity to subscribe to Sky television later in the walk so try not to linger now. Immediately before the Food Court ride the escalator up to Ground Floor. Alternatively you may change levels within Primark.
3. Welcome to The Gallery, Westfield's central hub. Recharging points for smartphones are available here, should you already have run down your battery uploading the amazing local sights to social media. Turn away from the main atrium and follow the trackway between the jewellers and the hip clothing stores. You may pass either side of the frozen yoghurt concession. Continue to the screen of doors, perhaps pressing the button for automatic opening to prevent unnecessary exertion, and return to the outside world. Continue straight ahead into Chestnut Plaza, keeping to the left of Santa's Grotto.
4. Several of your favourite restaurants can be found here on Chestnut Plaza, as well as empty units which used to be your favourite restaurants until they closed down. Do not venture inside The Cow because it is only pretending to be a pub, it is not really one. Across the road you will be able to see the Aquatics Centre and the Olympic Stadium, but nobody would want to walk around Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park because it has no shops, so turn round urgently and go back. Retrace your steps to The Street and turn left.
5. Whatever the weather, The Street's hastily added glass roof will protect you from the elements. Pause to admire the single tree growing outside Sofa Workshop and its accompanying tubs of shrubbery. Rest assured that there is no need to venture inside IKEA because it's not a proper one, just a collection point with a few items of furniture in the window. Ahead is a clock-free junction of paths called Four Dials. Try not to be dazzled by the Hewlett Packard advert playing on the enormous screen above Caffè Concerto. Keep straight ahead, following the line of drain across the piazza, and re-enter the building.
6. You are about to step inside John Lewis, one of Westfield's anchor buildings. Take your time to explore its crystal glassware, its cosy bedlinen, its festive gift selection and its never knowingly undersold electrical goods. Perhaps peruse the designer womenswear, try out some home cinema options, compare prices on cookware or take advantage of the in-store brow bar. Whatever you choose to do, just make sure you end up at the front of the fragrance department once you've finished. Alternatively take the escalator direct to the first floor with none of this browsing faff.
7. It's now time to follow the upper mall for its entire length. Enjoy your elevated walk and the opportunities provided to look down over the entire retail landscape. Sights to watch out for include the entirely empty champagne bar, the queue of people waiting patiently outside the Apple Store for their device to be rebooted and the immaculately made-up agent hoping to spray you with a dash of scent. Should you become lost at any point, simply tell security officers that you're following the Westfield Wander and they will put you back on track. At the end of the mall descend one floor through Marks and Spencer (but not two floors to the Food Hall).
8. The second half of The Street awaits your pleasure. Enjoy yourself by trying to identify which businesses were here when Westfield opened in 2011 and which are the third or fourth attempts at trading economically within these peripheral units. It may be possible to engage in some table tennis or extra-big chess, but only if the necessary equipment has been made available. On reaching the Armani crossroads, turn right and re-re-enter the building.
9. Ascend two sets of escalators and make a complete circuit of the upper food court. Imagine you have the complete family with you and are trying to find somewhere to stop for a meal that suits all tastes. Do not let the big yellow taxi outside TGI Fridays tempt you inside. Remember that the nearest Giraffe is now in Spitalfields. The doorman outside the casino looks angry for a reason. After a full circuit ride back down to the first floor. Do not search for HMV, it has closed. Instead walk amongst the lowlier dining tables until you reach The Arena. Change levels again by taking two sets of escalators down into the lowest depths.
10. Double back towards Argos. You may or may not be able to walk past the Lego store without deviating for bricks. A small playground is available should any smaller members of your walking group be unable to proceed further without distraction. If you have enjoyed today's Westfield Wander, Foyles bookshop has a Maps section where you will be able discover real walks in the outside world. Great Eastern Market is not a proper market, but do not try telling any of the traders this because they already know. On reaching Waitrose double back up the first set of escalators. It is only a short climb.
11. For the final leg of your Westfield Wander, follow the mid-level mall for its entire length. Observe how the landscape evolves from high end fashion to designer footwear as you proceed. If you are beginning to flag, accept the free pretzel sample when it is offered. Your destination will come into view as you pass the Disney Store. Continue until you have passed through the final set of doors and reached the front of M&S, where the Westfield Wander terminates. Congratulations, you have walked at least a mile and a half, which only goes to confirm the hypnotic power of being distracted by shopping. To return to your starting point, descend via the escalators to the station entrance. Alternatively you may prefer to continue across the footbridge to the old shopping centre where you can connect to our separate walk, The Stratford Drag.
Yesterday I walked through Epping Forest from Epping to Chingford.
It was very enjoyable.
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Even though I've walked through the forest on numerous occasions, invariably a different route each time, I still can't get my head round how the whole place fits together. The full network of paths is extensive and hugely complex, but even if I narrow things down to just the main trails my mental picture remains inadequate. The forestkeepers don't make things easy, there being no signposts anywhere, merely a few painted arrows on posts which are otherwise unexplained. It's as if they just want you to wander round and explore on your own, hopefully without getting horribly lost, so heaven knows how mapless visitors got by before smartphones.
What I have got expert at is the start of the trail south from Epping. I know where to bear right to avoid Theydon Bois, and I know when to stop following the yellow arrows or risk ending up in Debden, but I still can't get to High Beach without checking on a map and beyond that I'm an utter novice. So what I decided to yesterday was to follow the Green Ride bridlepath from north to south to try to imprint one key spine route on my memory. I think I was mostly successful, so next time I'll attempt some twiddles off it, but I'm still a long way from feeling confident enough to wander around Epping Forest unaided. Practice makes perfect, but some places take a heck of a lot of practice.
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Folk I pass while out walking are often quite friendly and often say hello, especially if they're over a certain age. But what they usually say is "Morning", so long as it's not too late in the day, because this appears to be the universally agreed greeting. And what repeatedly irks me, as a clockwatching pedant, is quite how many people are happy to greet me with "Morning" even when it's after twelve noon and patently afternoon. The temptation when this happens to chip back with "Afternoon!" is overwhelming, and I usually try to stop myself for fear of looking unutterably smug. Of course when people set out on a long walk it is usually morning, and most ramblers have better things to be looking at than the time so it is an entirely understandable error. I've taken to saying "Hi" to everyone instead, because it's safer.
Anyway, yesterday the complete opposite happened. I was walking past a family of four around half past eleven, somewhere near Furze Ground, and the dad turned to me with a smile and said "Afternoon." Ha, I thought, you've completely forgotten to put your clocks back, or at least your watch is wrong, so you genuinely believe it's already afternoon when in fact it's still before midday. I realised that I was in the only hour of the year when it was possible to snap back with "Morning!" in a bout of chronological oneupmanship, and how this would be an impeccably smart rejoinder. I had a gift of an opportunity, not to be missed. Unfortunately my subconscious had already kicked in and I'd said "Hi" instead, so the clever reply was now redundant and I spent the rest of the morning feeling slightly disappointed with myself. I'll probably never get the chance again.
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Not only are the leaves on the turn in October but the ground is too. What has been solid earth all summer is on the verge of becoming quagmire, but even with all the rain we've been having it's not quite there yet. I noted yesterday that although numerous footpaths across Epping Forest had muddy bits, none of these were yet impossible to step around. The emergence of winter mud usually occurs in dips where drainage is poor, and/or at points where the footpath narrows and everyone's footsteps have churned the same soil. On some date in early autumn a wet patch appears and most people step around it, then this previously dry earth churns up forcing people to step even further to one side, and inexorably the muddy patch widens.
I'm not ashamed to walk right along the very edge of the undergrowth to avoid muddy boots, clinging onto branches for balance where necessary, even though I know it looks wimpish (and is probably only going to make the muddy patch wider). That said, there was one path on Bell Common which looked so boggy I did retreat and divert via the road instead, much to the scorn of two ladies following on behind, but I had the last laugh when I reached the cricket pitch over the M25 before them and they emerged brow-beaten and brown-booted.
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The northern end of Epping Forest, near Epping, was a lot quieter than the environs of Chingford. This may be because the car parks are tinier, or because London's much further away (or it may just be because I got to the Chingford end two hours later and lots more people were out of bed by then). At the Epping end I met the occasional outdoorsy couple, a few cyclists, some keen dogwalkers and the odd jogger. At the Chingford end I passed streams of people flooding out into the forest, most not looking like they were going overly far but making the most of a sparkling autumn day all the same.
Three particular family groups proved memorable...
• A dad with a manbun sending his five shaggy-jumpered children off into the trees, each armed only with a carefully selected stick.
• A mother trying to cajole her two sons to do star jumps in what ought to have been the middle of nowhere, except I was walking past so the eldest was too shamefaced to join in.
• A family conference being held in the middle of the footpath, abruptly ended after the one of the daughters pointed into the woods and shouted "Do your poo in there".
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On my way home I dropped in on the new Bauhaus Pioneers exhibition at the William Morris Gallery, which is small but very good, although you absolutely must not take photographs of William's green wooden table, so I haven't.
[NEW] Route 335: Kidbrooke to North Greenwich Location: London southeast Length of journey: 5 miles, 30 minutes
There used to be a 335 from Watford to Windsor fifty years ago, indeed this is a painting of it going past my house.
But London's never had a 335 before, so my apologies for this irrelevant nostalgic digression.
The freshly-baked 335 is a response to the gentrification of Kidbrooke, specifically the replacement of the Ferrier Estate by Kidbrooke Village. Until this weekend residents had buses to Woolwich, Bexleyheath and Lewisham but none to North Greenwich, so TfL decided to add a new link of particular benefit to Jubilee line passengers. You may not think sitting on a bus for half an hour to catch the tube is ideal, but you may not live in southeast London.
The new route is atypically short, at a mere five miles. TfL's initial consultation considered making it even shorter by sending buses direct via the A2, but decided against to better serve the communities inbetween. Half the new route precisely shadows the 108, which isn't exactly innovative, but the 335 is also intended to help solve capacity issues on several existing local routes. Do join me for a ride.
The 335 starts its journey at the as-yet-undeveloped end of Kidbrooke Village. There is a new primary school out here, but the adjacent plots are conspicuously vacant and Moorhead Way remains a dead end with a turning loop. Those living closest to the first stop are actually those on the neighbouring Brooklands Park estate in Blackheath, a 1950s outpost whose demographic (grey hair, podgy dogs, St George's flags) contrasts sharply with Kidbrooke's younger incomers. The 335's arrival is also particularly good news for drivers on route B16 who now have company on the stand (and someone new to chat and vape with).
Before heading off towards the Thames the 335 gets to follow a lengthy twiddle around both halves of the Kidbrooke estate. Or at least it will do. The new route has had the misfortune to launch during roadworks on Kidbrooke Park Road, so the intended loop is out of bounds until the cones have been removed. A sign attached to the traffic lights on Weigall Road announces that the 335 has been on diversion since five days before it started running, which I think may be some kind of record.
I did pause to go for a walk around the Kidbrooke Village loop that the 335 won't be following for a day or two. It's not particularly well blessed with bus stops, but those that exist already have tiles and timetables, plus small yellow posters confirming they're currently closed. Nevertheless a young couple with two very large suitcases were waiting patiently beside one of them for a bus that would never come. The village is blessed with a lot of parkland but also quite densely packed with flats, which grow taller the closer you get to the station. The main square so far boasts only a Sainsbury's and a pub, and doesn't spark joy, but hopefully the promised "wealth of amenities" will appear later.
Passengers are already beginning to board our 335, despite a lack of publicity, probably encouraged by the words 'North Greenwich' on the front of the bus in large friendly letters. It also helps that the railway line through Kidbrooke is closed today, indeed two distinct hi-vis crews can be seen beavering away on the tracks as we cross. I see the next bus stop is still called Homebase Superstore, despite the fact the retail unit closed last December and is currently a building site waiting to metamorphose into an Aldi. In the meantime nobody's thought to rephase the traffic lights, so we wait unnecessarily for departing shoppers who don't exist.
What happens next is the Rochester Way one-way shuffle. Northbound buses switch to the road closest to the A2 while southbound buses stick to Kidbrooke Park Road, which isn't instinctive but TfL's reasoning is that it'll be easier to change from the 335 onto other buses. If a 132 was coming it ought to be much quicker to switch onto that and speed down to North Greenwich, but it might also be rammed with passengers whereas the 335 pretty much guarantees you a double seat. Our bus takes a slower zigzag path through Blackheath towards the Royal Standard instead, picking up a fair few middle class passengers along the way.
Some say Westcombe Hill already has too many buses, particularly its residents. The road is steep and narrow, which can entail plenty of waiting and headlight-flashing, and the 335's arrival has increased the average frequency in each direction to one bus every three minutes. Meanwhile someone unrelated to TfL has been out sticking up information posters about the new 335 service on all the bus shelters from Blackheath northwards. If TfL can't be bothered to update their spider maps then @LDNBusUpdates seem happy to oblige. They've used quite a lot of sellotape.
In better news all the bus stops I inspected had new 335 timetables and all but one had a fresh 335 tile (the exception being northbound at Millennium Leisure Park West). Yes, we are yet another bus which meanders past the new IKEA and the old Odeon and thence the Millennium Village - that makes seven now. And as we finally approach North Greenwich I'm unnerved to see we've taken one minute longer than timetabled, despite having skipped an entire loop in Kidbrooke earlier and benevolent traffic conditions throughout. It was the traffic lights that did it, there being so bloody many of them.
At North Greenwich a healthy number of passengers alight, which is a bit of a triumph for Day One and bodes well. The bus station feels more clogged than usual, which may be a consequence of squeezing in a seventh route, but residents of southeast London will certainly appreciate having an alternative means of escape. It's Bus Stand B for the return journey, should you ever want to take advantage.
» Roger was also out and about yesterday morning, and his report is longer than mine with a lot more photos (which is what you really wanted).
