must be Barking

Dagenham Dock is probably not the first destination that springs to mind when you're deciding where to spend a Sunday afternoon, but that's where I ended up a couple of weekends ago, with my friend, David. I'd wanted to visit Barking & Dagenham as part of my project to photograph every single London borough this year, and when I found out that David wanted to photograph the urban landscape around there, it made sense for us to go together. 

We made plans to meet at Barking, where I arrived early, having taken the Goblin from one end of the line to the other. Since I had a bit of time to kill I went along to see the new Lemonade Building and take a few pictures. 

I was struck by how the place looked like a miniature model made lifesize, especially the way the trees looked like those tiny trees you find in train sets. The fact that their colouring matched the balconies only increased the feeling but it was quite a nice touch. 

There were some interesting contrasts between the old and new buildings, although it served to reinforce the playset aspects somewhat. 

There's a good article on Barking here, a reread of which reminds me that I missed seeing Barking's new folly (if it counts as a proper folly, and I'm not sure if it does).   

After David arrived in Barking, we caught the train to Dagenham Dock. We were the only people to get off at this bleak and urban wasteland. It was hardly the most romantic of settings, but there was a sign inviting us to "kiss and ride".

As we stood beneath the huge flyover, I became aware of the loud crackle of electricity coursing through the pylons around us. The flyover has funny little lamppost supports which almost look like an afterthought.

Dagenham is of course home to Ford, so it was inevitable that we'd see at least one building sporting the Ford logo. 

More surprising was the odd-looking pavement, with random strips of tarmacked-in York stone haphazardly placed along it for no apparent reason. 

We could only assume it was there for some sort of "heritage" reasons, except that there's little else there besides huge industrial sheds behind long fences, or huge patches of scrubland behind barbed wire. This stretch of road is filled with skip hire companies, recycling plants and truck fleets, but not much else. 

Most of the sheds seemed to be various shades of blue and grey.

We passed a closed caff offering ice pops and mysterious "orange jubblys" for 40p each. 

At one point we came across a huge family waiting at a bus stop, which seemed incongruous, until we realised they'd just been to church. I can't think of a more bleak place to worship. Surely it'd be nicer to worship in some pretty park rather than an industrial shed in the middle of some urban hinterland. 

   

Nearby, we came across these odd lamps, sitting in front of some sheds. 

I had to squeeze my arm through the fence to take the top photo, but it was obvious someone had gone to a lot of trouble over their layout, even though not many people would ever see them, and the thick bars of the fence made it harder still. There was a touch of whimsy about it which we liked. 

Then there was this sign, which was surprisingly classy, compared to the designs of all the other signs and logos we saw on our wander.

After a seemingly endless walk down a dreary road, we cane across some horses, standing on a small bank underneath more pylons. There was another bank across the road, so we decided to climb that to get better angles for photos. We were barely up the small crest when we were running down to the road again, scared off by a man in camo gear crouching over a rifle. Unfortunately it meant we didn't get the iconic photographs of horses under pylons we were hoping for. 

Further horseless disappointment occurred when we found ourselves at Thameside City Farm. Since this is a location that feature on local bus maps and in my A-Z it didn't seem unreasonable to expect to see some evidence of a city farm there, but when we arrived — having walked right past it — it was clear there hadn't been a farm there for some time. 

By that time we decided we'd had our fill of bleak urban industrial landscape and abandoned our walk to the riverside, heading back to Liverpool Street, a pub lunch and some fine conversation. 

This year's photos from my London Borough Photo Challenge are being collected here.