Taking a Walk The River Roding runs through it

patrick barkham

It is difficult to identify when a humdrum stroll beside the thirdmightiest river in London turned magical.

It may have been on my finding a small forest of illicitly planted trees. It could have been when I stepped over a low wall onto a path through the nettles – a respectable walk turned into a trespass.

But in truth, it was the moment I met my walking companion, Paul Powlesland, a dashing, Cambridgeeducated barrister and eco-agitator, guerrilla tree-planter, wild swimmer, half-man half-sprite in a retro jumpsuit.

He leapt onto bridges and climbed trees as he showed me the sights, because placing one foot in front of the other as I’ve done most of my days isn’t really sucking the marrow out of life.

We met at Town Quay in the ancient fishing metropolis of Barking, where the River Roding nears the Thames, after springing up close to Stansted. Barely known by Londoners, the Roding shimmies into the capital east of the Lea, its valley dominated by the roaring M11 and the North Circular.

Powlesland piloted his dilapidated houseboat up the Thames to live on the Roding five years ago, founding the River Roding Trust, a charity that champions this neglected and yet potentially magnificent London river.

Volunteers join Powlesland planting trees, litter-picking and campaigning to stop sewage seeping into their stream. The charity is also hoping to reopen a riverside path from Barking to Ilford, our walk on a gloriously sunny winter’s day.

Crossing to the west bank, we headed north on an official footpath. New flats are rising fast, but developers rarely add greenery to the riverside public space. So Powlesland is doing it himself.

In a boggy corner, where silt was accumulating below the concrete riverbank, he popped in willow twigs and black poplar saplings. ‘Small interventions that grow big,’ as he put it.

The black poplar is one of our rarest native trees but 100 saplings are sneakily growing in Barking. Its burghers will get a shock in ten years’ time when their town is framed by new towers of green.

The path bumped behind Wickes, Toolstation and a car park where fly-tipping is a near-daily occurrence. Powlesland paused our walk to video himself opening up bags of dumped rubbish –evidence he’ll submit to the council.

Turning back the tide of rubbish is a Sisyphean task, but Powlesland’s spirits are fortified by this river and its inhabitants: from the kingfisher perched on a half-submerged shopping trolley to the sand martins that fly from Africa to nest in drainage holes in a riverside brick wall.

Further on, unexpectedly large reedbeds appeared beside the river. Hidden in this bucolic scene were the moorings that Powlesland and friends built from scaffolding. They contained his boat and a communal area for other ‘river guardians’: a barbecue area, a woodfired sauna and a home-made hot tub. The sauna’s wood-burner was recently stolen.

Beyond this ingenious construction, we stepped over a low wall and were now, Powlesland informed me, trespassing. He hopes our unofficial route will become a public footpath –the River Roding Trust has the funding – if only Redbridge Council will act. This illegal wiggle along the riverbank was a mixture of glory and gory. An ancient oak spread its limbs over the Roding, and some surprisingly lovely woodland flourished between the noisy North Circular and the tranquil river.

Minutes from central Ilford, there was a heron, bird song and a precious slither of green space. But there was also sewage trickling into the river, more fly-tipping and several tragic summer camps made by homeless people, dotted with charred plastic, excrement and needles.

‘Let people in, walk this riverbank, and it will be cherished and cleaned up,’ argued Powlesland before we parted in the shadow of Ilford’s high-rises. The sprite is right.

Take the west bank of the Roding north from Town Quay, Barking. The path becomes an unofficial one shortly after half a mile. Trespass at your own risk! With a bit more persuasion, one hopes Redbridge Council will make it an official path

Across

1 Leap forward by obscure Conservative... (9)

6 ...to confound rumour of defect (5)

9 Social status of a good person in church (5)

10 Jump on stage as companion held by request (9)

11 Peer’s hope dashed, with king interrupting stockholder (10)

12 Killer’s fine in Ireland once held by clerics (4)

14 Stop filming girl to find weapon (7)

15 Broadcast covering new academic peak (7)

17 A day to embroider speech (7)

19 Share standard revenue from sales (7)

20 Join fool for audition (4)

22 Mother perhaps welcomes post being returned for assembly (10)

25 Key tenor must hold beat (9)

26 Put under some strain? Terrific! (5)

27 Supported conduct in speech (5)

28 Understood about belief accepting Conservative idol (6,3)

Genius crossword 423 el sereno

Down

1 Cuts poor staff employed by newspapers (5)

2 DT editor’s sadly out of shape (9)

3 Mole’s holiday lake? (10)

4 Make economies? That’s no good (7)

5 Hesitates and hits red badly (7)

6 Worry generated by guitar bar? (4)

7 Supplementary article taken on board by soldiers (5)

8 Dealing centre with diamonds held for reserve (9)

13 Mineral expedition with graduate on track (10)

14 Try fish and crispy pork (9)

16 Face heading off rushed discussion (9)

18 Reported view on instrument that’s found in school (3,4)

19 The art of government detailed as expedient (7)

21 Intimate just has to ignore leader (5)

23 Cast finished on air (5)

24 Brought up money, having no answer (4)

How to enter Please scan or otherwise copy this page and email it to comps@theoldie.co.uk. With regret, we are temporarily unable to accept postal entries. Normal procedure will be restored as soon as possible. Deadline: 8th March 2023

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First prize is The Chambers Dictionary and £25. Two runners-up will receive £15.

NB: Hodder & Stoughton and Bookpoint Ltd will be sent the addresses of the winners because they process the prizes.

Moron crossword 423

Across

1 Bears, transports (7)

5 Steed, mount (5)

8 Transmit; wireless (5)

9 Sunshade (7)

10 Teaching, instruction (9)

12 Quick swim (3)

13 Heavy with moisture (6)

14 Complain peevishly (6)

17 Automobile (3)

18 Bring back to life (9)

20 Instalment; occurrence (7)

21 Norwegian playwright (5)

23 50/50 Chances (5)

24 Settlement (of debt, eg) (7)

Down

1 Swear (5)

2 To free (of) (3)

3 Put in quarantine (7)

4 Blood poisoning (6)

5 Large wading bird (5)

6 Dwelling house (9)

7 Block out, obscure (7)

11 Subvert, sabotage (9)

13 Place out of sight, hide (7)

15 Fill with alarm, apprehension (7)

16 In the land of nod (6)

18 Origins (5)

19 A belief, opinion or doctrine (5)

22 View; understand (3)

Winner: Paul Dendy, Treuddyn, Flintshire

Runners-up: David Taylor, Selkirk, Scottish Borders; Florence Proctor, Kinrossie, Perth

I looked up the word ‘finesse’ in the dictionary: ‘impressive delicacy and skill’. It continues, ‘In bridge, an attempt to win a trick with a card that is not a certain winner, typically by playing it as the third card in the hope that any card that could beat it is in the second player’s hand.’ In the Cambridge Dictionary, there is another angle: ‘to deal with a situation or a person in a skilful and often slightly dishonest way’.

To make this month’s 3NT on West’s four-of-diamonds opening lead, you need to show impressive delicacy and skill. No dishonesty is necessary.

Dealer South North-South Vulnerable