Exploring the East End II: Bow and the Back Rivers

This walk will explore the area around Bow, its subjects ranging from street trees to pavement weeds, telling the stories of how they got here, their traditions and folklore and their connections to the social history of the area. The walk will include canal towpaths and the channels of the River Lea with their special and sometimes highly unusual flora.

Bob Gilbert is the author of Ghost Trees: Nature and People in a London Parish (Saraband, 2018) and The Green London Way (Lawrence & Wishart, 2012).

He has written a column for Ham & High on urban wildlife for the last twenty years. A contributor to TV and radio, including Natural World and BBC Radio 4’s The Food Programme, Bob has also been a stand-up comedian, a long-standing campaigner for inner city conservation and chair of `The Garden Classroom’, a charity that promotes environmental education in London.

About the walk

The walk will be about 2 hours. The terrain is flat though a little uneven in parts and with occasional steps. There are toilets in the supermarket that we pass at one point.

Meet: Outside Bromley-by-Bow tube station

Please book via the Eventbrite ticketing system below