Return to EFOG – and a walk from Ilford to Valentines Park via the Roding.

I hadn’t been to an EFOG Thursday evening, or on a walk or outing with the group – apart from attending a couple of AGM’s – for two or three years.

It’s the evening public transport travel on a Thursday, and quite a bit of pain while walking these days, that has dissuaded me, but I made a determined effort to get to the Thursday evening meetings a few weeks ago, and even went on a walk with some of our members last Saturday, the 8th March 2025.

The walk was a local one for me, starting at Ilford Station and finishing at Valentines Park – a well known route for me and all in very familiar territory. My thoughts were that if I didn’t find it easy, or was slowing the walk too much, I could pull out and find my own way back. I didn’t expect to manage the whole route as far as Valentines Park – my days of easily walking five miles, enjoying ten, sometimes doing fifteen and occasionally twenty or more, are long over.

View from the Roding Bridge at Ilford. The Aldersbrook emerges from the left in the middle of the photo. Note the rubbish in the trees.Eleven of us set out from Ilford, after some at least had enjoyed a pre-walk drink at a convenient ‘coffee’ chain. The Romford Road between Ilford and Manor Park is not a particularly pleasant road to walk by, but at least as we crossed the bridge over the River Roding – from an Ilford Essex postcode to a Manor Park East London one – there was a flowing river, bit of vegetation, and a Heron. A few of us stopped on the bridge, primarily I think, to watch the Heron. It stood on the bank, almost motionless, probably disinterested in us. There was a lot of rubbish on the bankside, even hung up in small trees. Some may have been thrown by the local inhabitants over the bridge, but most I suspect had been thrown over other bridges by the local inhabitants upstream, coming to a convenient resting spot here. That which was hung up in trees was probably deposited at that height when the river itself was a lot higher, as it is liable to flooding.

I mentioned the riverside vegetation, but in fact there was much less of it than used to be. A lot of clearance has taken place alongside the Roding, as I explained to a couple of our group, by the River Roding Trust – a group based in Barking who for some years have been doing an immense amount of work clearing up the riverside, creating paths, planting and enhancing the river. Because of their vegetation clearance near the bridge, it is now possible to quite easily see where the little Alders Brook enters the Roding from the west.

Walking on through what was the original Ilford settlement – now known as Little Ilford – we turned of the Romford Road to join the Roding Valley Way, a designated and signposted foot and cycle route following the Roding – although sometimes somewhat intermittently – from the Thames at Beckton out to somewhere around Chigwell and Debden.

Passing through the foot tunnel beneath the Greater Anglia/Elizabeth Line railway lines between Manor Park and Ilford Stations, we were immediately adjacent to the Alders Brook on our right and the City of London Cemetery on our left. From here the decently-surfaced path leaves much of the traffic noise behind, and indeed is an almost rural setting so deep into east London. A woman was working on vegetation clearance just by the tunnel exit, and I paused to thank her for the work that the River Roding Trust was putting in not just on the Roding itself but on tributaries like the Alders Brook. A man appeared, also doing work on the brook-side, and I recognised him as Paul Powesland, the Founder and Chair of the Trust. He asked about the group I was with – now rapidly receding into the distance along the path – and I gave him one of our business cards. Perhaps it’s a bit of a shame that we don’t do a bit more to acknowledge the effort other people do to enhance the areas that we like to walk and visit. Maybe we take too much for granted, although of course EFOG has participated in litter-picking, clearance projects, maintenance at Chigwell Riding Trust, and the like.

This view, taken from the bridle path, is of the newly exposed and landscaped pond in the Birches Nature Reserve in the City of London CemeteryWell, the rest of the group was now well ahead of me and I struggled to reach the speed required to catch them up. This part of the route is along what is known locally as ‘The Bridle Path’ (although it isn’t a bridle path), and after all the Romford Road traffic noise I became aware of more details of what we were passing. There were lots of Snowdrops and a few Daffodils immediately adjacent to our path and just inside the cemetery railings, and the sounds of small birds helped disguise the persistent although distant noise of the A406 across the golf course to our right.

We entered what I have always known as ‘The Old Sewage Works’, but as it is now part of Epping Forest is more correctly ‘The Exchange Lands’. This amazing piece of land is bordered by the Roding, so it is quite possible to spot Kingfishers, Egrets – even Otters – here. Although we didn’t. I saw or heard Long-tailed Tits, two Greenfinches (which aren’t that common these days) Blackbirds, Green Woodpecker, Ring-necked Parakeets and a few other birds which I have forgotten.

We passed a point near Wanstead Park where last year I stood and listened to a Nightingale, wondering whether many or even any of the people who were walking or cycling past were aware that there was such a wonderful bird right there. I really do think that with all the incentives and possibilities and enthusiasm to get out into ‘nature and the countryside’, that so many of us miss so much of what it consists of. For example – apart from the birds – on our route there were mole hills, fox scats and a host of flowering spring plants including Birdseye Speedwell, White Dead-nettle, Red Dead-nettle, Hazel, Daisies, Blue Anemone, Lesser Celandine, Chickweeds, Sweet Violet and Bittercress - as well as the Daffodils and Snowdrops.

Peter and Annick left us by Wanstead Park, and Jill S. left us near her home close to Redbridge roundabout. I had intended to get a couple of buses back home from here, but it was such a lovely day and I was enjoying the company so decided to keep going to Valentines Park. I knew that at least there not only could I sit down and get a drink, but I would be able to get ham, egg and chips in a familiar environment. Although not a very substantial meal, it would do.

From Redbridge Roundabout to Valentines Park the route is through some unremarkable although pleasant enough residential streets – even a bit uphill as far as I was concerned, from the valley of the Roding. Valentines Park is a very different environment from that through which we had passed, except perhaps for the City of London Cemetery and we’d only been along the outside edge of that. It’s a lovely park and well deserving of the awards that it has got over the years. Apart from it’s historical interest – the mansion being an important aspect of that – the ornamental canals and lakes, trees and lawns provide a welcome respite from the surrounding houses, roads and busy-ness.

I was flagging desperately and painfully well before we reached the park, but I know it well enough to be aware of it’s natural aspect as well. Its lakes and waters support a wide variety of water-birds, including nowadays nesting Herons, of which we could see one on a nest already.

We refreshed in the traditional cafe in the park. I have been going there over the years from when I left school and worked in the (then) well-known electronic company, Plessey. Hence I am likely to be one of the cafe’s longest term customers.

The group split up even further after our repast, with some heading towards Gants Hill and others including myself towards Ilford.

I certainly enjoyed Trevor’s walk. Thanks Trevor for arranging and leading it – that was the furthest I have walked in years. Apparently it was about a five-mile walk as planned; getting to and from the stations added for me at least another mile. I suffered, but I am glad that I did, and really pleased to have re-associated with all the nice people in the Epping Forest Outdoor Group.

Paul Ferris, 10th March 2025