To the Olympics 2012 - An Alternative Route
The journey started at Bromley-by-Bow Station late yesterday afternoon. Bromley-by-Bow? That’s not a LOCOG endorsed official do what you’re told access to The Olympic Park.....
Ah, but this was the author’s attempt to follow the route of the self-styled and misrepresentational Olympic Park walking tours that stated some 18 months or so ago. This critical observation is made as the walk took two hours, with only the last 15 minutes comprising a view of the Olympic Park venues from a few hundred metres.
From the launch point, the guide would take the group along the side of the road, through an underpass, and round to.....Tesco.
Well every little bit helps, and the help here on the first visit was a chance for the group to use the toilets if needed. As we might have imagined in the guide’s tone:
“Lads, it’s tough out there in the regeneration zone – better use the facilities first.”
But beyond Tesco, the scenery changes dramatically, and we are into the waterside 3 Mills complex. This is dominated by the 3 Mills Studios, comprising 14 stages and 108,00 sq ft of filming space.
However, on the return visit yesterday the attention was on the adjoining House Mill Gallery, located in an 18th c. Grade 1 listed building.
In the Gallery currently (and until 9th September) is the excellent Makers of the Mill exhibition, showcasing pieces inspired by the fabric, history or environment of the mill site.Well worth a visit.
Revived by having looked round the exhibition, one rejoined the Olympic route, moving north on the towpath of the canal that was graced by the presence of David Beckham and the Olympic torch (after David backtracked from Hamburg following overshooting the canal entrance).
Sooner than anticipated, raising questions on where on earth we were taken on the earlier Olympic regeneration ramble, the first sign of the Park came into view.
And then we were into Stratford High Street.
If you are one of the uninitiated, perhaps you are surprised? Not a cosy domestic street, but a bare dual carriageway lined with high-rise blocks.
Look carefully. Lined much more significantly on one side (north for the purists). A local estate agent confided to me a few months back that the blocks were built so that you could not see the rest of Stratford when looking south from the Olympic Park.
Now for the unticketed one, was there a chance of my getting to have a look round the Park? Sadly not. A few days ago there were £10 tickets going easily, but now that the athletics have started and the corporate hospitality folk have deigned to join the party, there is nothing going, although a helpful road crossing steward pointed out that if I walked over the bridge, I could get a reasonable shot of the Park.
To do this, it was necessary to join the Metropolis crowd walking to and from West Ham station (LOCOG recommended).
Onward, but as the gates neared there were voices reminding of the need to have tickets ready.
Finally to the gates, and sadly no further, as the excited ticketed ones moved on, and the outsider turned and retreated, however cheered by the thought of the best possible view in the evening at home by the TV.
And a coda by Stratford Station, as the resident evangelist Christian preacher reminded us that there is an even higher authority than the International Olympic Committee.
The author is a City of London and City of Westminster Guide, and former law firm partner, who runs walking tours in the City and in Westminster. See tabs for further information.