Barking, Becontree and beyond

With thanks to @lynx on BTOB, a ride inspired by the Capri outside Valance House.
Starting in Olympic Park along the Greenway, exploring a few tag related places in Barking, then over to Valance House for a quick bite to eat and quick visit to the museum and the rusty Ford Capri.
The second part is exploring what little is left of old Dagenham, then over to Ingrebourne cycle gravel track, down to Rainham Marshes and even along to Purfleet if time.

We can look at cheating on the way back by train from Purfleet, or heading westwards past the Dagenham Ford factory area jumping on the overground at Barking Riverside.

*The second bit isn't on paved surface and I haven't been on it. Plenty of opportunities for route planning errors!

Think I can be there, depending on moving my retinopathy eye scan.

What time's the scan?

Not thrilled by the weather at the moment, or the forecast; another time?

Was thinking the same. I can do same time tomorrow?

Sounds good, OK

Ok, let's do it tomorrow.

Sorry to anyone who can't make tomorrow

Heading off in 5 mins if anyone else is on the way!

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Ha. Turned out it's closed on Sundays 😕 big fail.

Was a good adventure in the end though. After Valance, we pretty much stuck to the plan, ending up with a welcome toasted sarnie in the RSPB cafe on Rainham Marshes.

Great day for cycling, rubbish for Capri Spotting.

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Great day for cycling

It was, even I went for a ride!

Do you have a GPS or similar for this please? Only just saw the thread/tag but would be interested in heading out this way.

https://connect.garmin.com/modern/course/209228406

This was more or less the route we took.

Dagenham Church/ Cross Keys pub is not on there but is a short diversion between Dagenham East and the big roundabout.

The only gravel bit is in the bike park track (well worth following to see the view from the top of the hill), the rest is paved, including the Marshes .

Big suburbia and industrial estate vibes.

industrial estate vibes

I've attached the actual route we took

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• Lunch_Ride.gpx
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Oh, I nearly forgot to mention, if you do head out that way add this “point(s) of interest” to your route—we missed it this time: 51.530315,0.139290 [edit: lower level, not the flyover!]

Amazing, thanks.

Big suburbia and industrial estate vibes.

Sounds right up my street!

Will do - how mysterious!

Thanks and ta for the route 👍🏻

point(s) of interest

Very good