A scenic route back via Londons Docks and riverside 6th January 2012

I had to attend a course for work at Bethnal Green, So naturally I cycled there and thought I'd take a more scenic route back. So I set off from home at 6am as the course began at 730am. I arrived after an hour travelling the route in darkness. My route was from Collier Row via Marks Gate, Goodmayes, Ilford, Manor Park, Forest Gate, Stratford, Bow, Whitechapel and eventually Bethnal Green.
After the course I thought I'd make my way down to Tobacco Dock as I've never been there before, only ever passed by.

 Tobacco Dock is a grade I listed warehouse in Wapping, London Docklands. It was constructed in approximately 1811 and served as a store for imported tobacco. It is a brick building with many brick vaults and some fine ironwork.
 n 1990 the building was converted into a shopping centre which had cost £47 million to develop and was intended to create the Covent Garden of the East End but the scheme was unsuccessful and it went into administration. The property is not in a major retail area and has only moderately good public transport access. Since the mid 1990s the building has been almost entirely unoccupied with the only tenant being a sandwich shop, and a plan to convert it into a factory outlet did not come to fruition.
Shame the whole place inside looks like a deserted shopping centre.

I went outside to the pirate ships, which too seem to be mothballed and no longer used.

So I decided to leave Tobacco Dock as there isnt much to be seen and make my way to the Thames.

An elaborate Gateway out of Tobacco Dock

Tobacco Dock

One of a couple of Swing bridges that cross over the docks.

My route took me into Shadwell Basin.Shadwell Basin was part of the London Docks, a group of docks built by the London Dock Company at Wapping, London, and part of the wider docks of the Port of London.
he London docks complex closed to shipping in 1969. Purchased by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, Shadwell Basin and the western part of the London Docks fell into a derelict state^[1], mostly a large open tract of land and water. Acquired in 1981 by the London Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC), redevelopment of Shadwell Basin took place in 1987 resulting in 169 houses and flats being built around the retained historic dock.

Shadwell Basin

This is where the Only Fools and Horses episode of  "He ain't heavy,He's my Uncle" from series 7 was filmed and aired in 1991. Uncle had gone missing and Del and Rodney found him down by the Docks.

View towards Canary Wharf from Shadwell Basin.

I now crossed Glamis Road to pick up the Riverside path and followed The Thames for a bit, as far as Narrow Street.

Video

I left the Riverside path to cross over a bridge at Limehouse Basin and onto Narrow Street where I picked up the super cycle highway CS2.

The Limehouse Basin in Limehouse, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets provides a navigable link between the Regent's Canal and the River Thames, through the Limehouse Basin Lock. A basin in the north of Mile End, near Victoria Park connects with the Hertford Union Canal leading to the River Lee Navigation. The dock originally covered an area of about 15 acres (60,703 m²). The Basin lies between the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) line and historic Narrow Street. Directly to the east is a small park, Ropemaker's Fields.

I made my way along THE CS2 and onto East India Dock Road, where I took the next picture at East India Dock.

East India dock

A view of Canary Wharf from E.India Dock.

   I then followed the CS2 as far as Beckton , where I stopped off to see old friends from a place I used to work.Then finished my journey off along the A13 cycle paths through Dagenham and home. 30 miles total for the day. Strangely I felt knackered, must not have got over my recent illness yet , can't think of any other reason for feeling like that after only 30 miles!