The Greenway

The Greenway is a flat, almost continuous and straight traffic-free walking and cycling route that carves through East London and the Olympic Park at high level, overlooking houses, gardens, rivers and the developing site for the London 2012 Games. The clearly marked path (follow the blue signs) runs 4.4 miles (7.1 km) from Wick Lane near Hackney Wick Overground in Bow through the Olympic Park to Royal Docks Road in Beckton, taking in four waterways, the View Tube overlooking the Olympic Park, Abbey Mills Pumping Station, East London cemetery and Beckton Alps. A broad gravel track has been constructed on top of the Northern Outfall Sewer Embankment, which carries effluent from north of the Thames to the mammoth sewage disposal works at Beckton. But don't let this put you off - there are no nasty whiffs en route, while the surroundings can, at times, be really quite pleasant and a haven for wildlife, with the track lined with grass and shrubs. What's more, the point where the Greenway runs above the former Marshgate Lane in Hackney Wick is the closest the public can view the spectacular Olympic Stadium - and a stop off at the View Tube and cafe complex which overlooks the Olympic Park explains all you need to know about London 2012. For more information and to download a map please visit www.walklondon.org.uk.