Walthamstow Marshes bike ride

Over the bridges, north out of Olympic Park, and along the "woody bit by the river" - turn sharp right at the narrow bridge and carry on for a bit, and you're at Walthamstow Marshes, flat and traffic-free.

I wasn't stopping to take photos, not at first anyway - I was riding alone, and fast. With no idea of how long it might take to get all the way round, and needing to return the bike at a certain time.

National Cycle Route 1 goes through the Marshes and the Lee Valley. At one point it takes a bend under the railway -

More of that mural another time. I certainly did stop to photograph it!

Round the top of the map and down the other side - lots of nature -

 And across the river, new housing around an old one -

Then there was this tree -

 ... an art installation, surely?

 It has an anatomical, surgical cast to it -

 Or perhaps it's related to nkisi figures?

Aha, it's called Intervention and it's by Jonathan O'Dea. I had some time in hand, so stopped to draw.

Back in the park, this tree -

A plaque in the pavement says that trees record time through their growth rings, and the metal circle around this red oak has the history of the site inscribed on it. It's not the only tree with a "history ring".

And on the way back to Hackney Wick station, the evolving swathe of flowers -