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We’re creating a network of walking routes that connect all of Britain’s towns, cities and national parks
Every one of Stratford’s seven Slow Ways has a route that’s been walked and reviewed positively at least three times, and surveyed. Scroll down to explore them, or help connect another place
Give a hike!Stratford
Greater London
Slow Ways linking Stratford and Bethnal Green, Canary Wharf, Dalston, East Ham, Ilford, Plaistow, Walthamstow
England / Greater London / Stratford
Stratford’s seven Slow Ways are 100% checked
Help connect Stratford
Many Slow Ways have several route options. Some will be better than others, or good for different reasons.
Our goal is for each Slow Way to have at least one route that is verified and surveyed. To be verified – and get its snail badge – a route needs at least three positive reviews.
Give a hike and help get a for every one of Stratford’s Slow Ways.
Walk to Stratford from further afield
Slow Way | Route | To do | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bethnal Green—Stratford
|
Betstr one |
|
|
2 X |
|
Enjoy me | Distance 5km/3mi | Ascent 25m | Descent 34m | |
Bethnal Green—Stratford
|
Betstr two |
|
2 X |
|
Enjoy me | Distance 5km/3mi | Ascent 24m | Descent 34m | ||
Canary Wharf—Stratford
|
Canstr one |
|
U U |
|
Review me | Distance 6km/4mi | Ascent 43m | Descent 38m | ||
Canary Wharf—Stratford
|
Canstr two |
|
2 X |
|
Enjoy me | Distance 6km/4mi | Ascent - | Descent - | ||
Dalston—Stratford
|
Dalstr one |
|
2 Y |
|
Enjoy me | Distance 6km/4mi | Ascent 21m | Descent 36m | ||
Stratford—East Ham
|
Streas one |
|
2 X |
|
Enjoy me | Distance 5km/3mi | Ascent 7m | Descent 4m | ||
Stratford—East Ham
|
Streas two |
|
U U |
|
Survey me | Distance 4km/3mi | Ascent 14m | Descent 8m | ||
Stratford—Ilford
|
Strilf one |
|
|
U U |
|
Double check | Distance 6km/4mi | Ascent 24m | Descent 17m | |
Stratford—Ilford
|
Strilf two |
|
2 X |
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Enjoy me | Distance 6km/4mi | Ascent - | Descent - | ||
Stratford—Plaistow
|
Strpla one |
|
2 Y |
|
Enjoy me | Distance 4km/2mi | Ascent 25m | Descent 28m | ||
Walthamstow—Stratford
|
Walstr one |
|
1 X |
|
Enjoy me | Distance 9km/6mi | Ascent 46m | Descent 64m |
Fancy stretching your legs a bit more?
If you’ve polished off all of the routes between Stratford and its neighbours, how about walking its whole web?
This includes the great ring of routes that join its neighbours to each other!
Collective progress
89% of Stratford’s seven route options are drawn, reviewed, surveyed and/or verified
11/11
11/11
8/11
9/11
27 people have contributed to Stratford’s Slow Ways
13 people have pledged to walk and review a route
9 people have surveyed a route in Stratford
62km out of 62km have been walked and reviewed
276km of reviews have been shared in Stratford
Latest Updates
All of the paths are well maintained and mainly concrete, so unless you want to venture off pieste there is no need to wear boots....
Harry
The Walthamstow start was busy with a market, and the Stratford side busy with people hurrying home....
Derick Rethans
Pleasant walk through Newham, the highlights are Plashet and West Ham Parks which are both beautiful parks. Easy walk, no hills or really busy roads....
Dominic Dragonetti
It cuts through a couple of parks, Plashet Park (toilets) and West Ham Park (toilets and water) and along some quietish streets in between ending up at Stratford Bus Station with numerous refereshment and retail opportunities in Stratford or the Westfield shopping centre....
Luvdaburgers
An addition is that I hit the stadium on a major sports fixture day, and the bridges 3 and 1 which the route crosses are only accessible if you have a match ticket. But the park allows a number of pleasant alternatives....
Martin McGovern
I walked this route from Stratford to Walthamstow, It is busy at the beginning and end, but wonderfully quiet in the middle section. All of this is on paved footpaths or shared cycle lanes, although there is an alternative (potentially muddier) footpath in the hackney marshes. just the last stretch is actually alongside roads....
andrea weyand
This night be the most direct route but it is along a very busy main road, not enjoyable. I rather detour a bit along quieter streets...
andrea weyand
Depending on where you need to go , one could consider following the greenway into the Olympic park...
andrea weyand
It's interesting to see the transition from the built up business district of Canary Wharf to the more residential sections through Poplar. Small sections of the route are cobbled (Canary Wharf and Bow Locks)....
Tom
My nose told me I was walking over sewage but was rewarded by the sight of Crossness Pumping Station, Basalgette's Cathederal....
Strider
Nicely angled to enjoyed prolonged wintry sunsets. West Ham Park was lovely and there were several other treats. It's only a little shorter than StrEas 1, lengths are just above/below 4.5km....
Daisy C
On an overcast Sunday afternoon there was a kind of desolate beauty to walk through the industrial remnants of East London. The finish of the walk in Stratford was mainly along a quiet side street so does not feel as confusing as the Canary Wharf end. This is a quiet walk (by London standards), and there was a stretch of the canal under a bridge that did not look lit....
Lucy Cartwright
A pleasant, safe and fairly direct London route cutting through some lovely green space. Note that this route won’t always be possible after dusk as Victoria Park gets closed at night time. It’s fairly straight forward to route yourself around it though....
Dan Barron
A pleasant route wandering through quiet residential streets, past a few train stops in between, and some green space....
Ingrina
Flat surfaces all the way with exception of the very end at Stratford Station (steps), but here lifts can take you from the station precinct to the bridge into the shopping centre....
Strider
Lots of residential areas so a bit dull compared to nearby Slow Ways in part, but varied enough to make up for it....
David Sanderson
A mixture of pavement, park, towpath and plaza....
David Sanderson
An excellent route that is let down by sloppy plotting. Not bad enough to mislead but bad enough to need a lot of interpretation by the user....
David Sanderson
We carry on going as straight as possible through residential streets as far as Woodgrange Road, where we turn left and cross the railway at Forest Gate station, where we cross the road, continue and turn right into Sebert Road, which leads us into the Manor Park cemetery, which is full of interesting monumental masonry....
Hugh Hudson
This should be an excellent route, but there are a couple of places (the exit east from Victoria Park and the route into the London Stadium) where loose GPX plotting lets it down and is liable to confuse those who don't know the area well. The scenery is excellent - Victoria Park is pretty, and the London Stadium is full of interest. I have submitted a more tightly plotted alternative as BETSTR two, and will write a more detailed review with pictures there....
Hugh Hudson
A short canal section and a few bridges take us into the Olympic Park and past the London stadium, now the West Ham football ground, and we finish with an easy walk past the Olympic Aquatic Centre and through the Westfield Centre then down the steps to Stratford station....
Hugh Hudson
Hugh Hudson added Betstr two, a new walk from Bethnal Green to Stratford
Walk this routeBut beware puddles the full width of tow path in wet weather....
Daisy C
It's a great route connecting two busy urban centres with some lovely green space in East London...
Dan Barron
I do wonder if an alternate route between Stratford Station and Shirley Road that avoids walking along Broadway would be an idea - going via the north perimeter of Stratford Park - might add a bit of scenery as well as being quieter....
Becky OB
Agree with other reviewers, it's a good route, mostly along the greenway so well away from cars. I've cycled it many times for work and it is well used by locals....
Dan Barron
The Greenway is a large sewage pipe which has been greened for use as a n elevated walking and cycling route....
Jane Taylor
A short walk along pavement (or 15m North on the common) to another cemetery, lots of interesting gravestones....
Strider
Through Poplar with very varied housing, old civic buildings, and a park full of history. A short walk through Stratford high street then along a back street to the station. The varied buildings are geometric and the late evening light picked them out well....
Strider
West Ham Park closes at night but it has toilets including accessible toilets and a water fountain....
Dan Barron
off road - quite busy and sections of the canal have too many cyclists that don't slow down - so I usually head into Victoria Park at that point and walk through there...
Kate Shurety
Feels safe and accessible and a perfect place to watch the changing seasons in the heart of the city...
Kate Shurety
great route from Stratford to Walthamstow almost entirely off road with distinct sections that add interest - Hackney Marshes, the canalside, Walthamstow Marshes and heaps of blackberry picking opportunities in the summer and places to stop for picnic...
Kate Shurety
A great route, dodging rainclouds from the super-shiny world of Stratford and Westfield, through the still-very-neat Olympic park with Anish Kapoor's Orbit tower, over East London canals and touching on Fish Island....
Hannah
The route was flat and mostly through parks. Quite easy to navigate...
Tim
The route takes you through London Fields and Victoria Park which are easy to navigate and beautiful to walk through....
Slow Ways Darren
It's the route you would take anyway if you didn't know that there was a better alternative than the main road between Stratford and Ilford....
gabrielhyde
For the next one and a half miles, the route is on mostly quiet residential streets, apart from short stretches or crossings of busier roads. The next half mile or so is along quiet residential streets and along the south edge of the Manor Park section of Wanstead Flats. At the east end of the footpath, the route cuts down to the very busy A118 Romford Road, for the last half mile to Ilford station....
gabrielhyde
The section of Well Street used is a main thoroughfare out of London so frequently very busy with traffic so I would suggest a detour to avoid it: travelling from Stratford - after Well Street Common and Church Crescent I would turn right into Terrace Road, left into Elsdale Street, left into Loddiges Road and across Mare Street into London Lane....
porcovolente
Best done in reverse so that you don't finish in the hubbub of Stratford/Westfield and so that you can refresh yourself at the Coppermill pub! It's nice to follow the natural Lea/Lee through Hackney marshes rather than the navigation....
mamesjayne
The last little bit after Victoria Park to Bethnal Green is along a mix of quieter and busier roads, but the sections are quite short and it's quite quick to reach the end point....
mtormey
I walked this route from Walthamstow to Stratford, and I really enjoyed it!...
mtormey
Liz R added Canstr two, a new walk from Canary Wharf to Stratford
Walk this routeThis is a pleasant route mainly off-road through Victoria Park, along canal towpaths and through the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park....
Liz R
This is an inner city route mainly on quiet tree lined residential streets....
Liz R
It is a green route in the main, only meeting main city roads at the start and finish....
Liz R
This is a good route between Stratford and Walthamstow, although at both ends it's very busy with shops and stations....
You could make a detour through Museum Gardens and reach Old Ford Road from either Victoria Park Square or (via Sugar Loaf Walk) from Globe Road, but doing so won’t take you past the Museum of Childhood and, immediately after turning onto Old Ford Road, York Hall (see photo). Approach Road is the next turning on the left; this leads (past The Approach Tavern, see photo) to Bonner Gate (see photo) of Victoria Park. The southern path along Victoria Park takes you past a large boating lake (see photo) to the Pavilion Café and public toilets adjacent to it. There is a path directly to the canal at that point, or else you could continue on the path parallel to the canal along National Cycle Network route 1, which takes you through a car park to Cadogan Terrace opposite The Italian Job restaurant, where the towpath can be accessed on the right. Walking east on Bassett Lane takes you to the London Way path up to the London Stadium (see photo), and past the Olympic Bell on your left....
starlton
An easy walking route with no steps (you need to take a lift to bridge level from the station at Stratford)....
porcovolente
Slow Ways added Betstr one, a new walk from Bethnal Green to Stratford
Walk this routeSlow Ways added Canstr one, a new walk from Canary Wharf to Stratford
Walk this routeSlow Ways added Streas one, a new walk from Stratford to East Ham
Walk this routeSlow Ways added Strpla one, a new walk from Stratford to Plaistow
Walk this routeSlow Ways added Walstr one, a new walk from Walthamstow to Stratford
Walk this routeStratford’s Slow Ways starting point
Grid ref
TQ3859784370
Lat / Lon
51.54122° / -0.00282°
Easting / Northing
538,597E / 184,370N
what3words
Fancy stretching your legs a bit more?
If you’ve polished off all of the routes between Stratford and its neighbours, how about walking its whole web?
This includes the great ring of routes that join its neighbours to each other!
Facilities
Users have reported that the following facilities can be found within 1km of Stratford's meeting point
Public toilet
Wheelchair accessible toilet
Supermarket or convenience shop
Restaurant, cafe or pub
Accommodation
Accommodation for under £50 a night
Campsite
Bothy
Free wifi
Mobility scooter hire
Off-road wheelchair hire
Disabled Parking
Train station
Bus stop
Ferry
Official ‘Walkers are Welcome’ town
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