EXPEDITION 3 – MOUNT NITRONITE

A11/A12 JUNCTION – STRATFORD – 31 JULY 2019 

Having essentially proven our theory of roadside Nitronites, and excited by our recent discovery of separate categories caused by recreational use of nitrous oxide cannisters in public spaces, as opposed to mindless littering from passing traffic, we decided to design a speculative expedition to explore some of London’s green spaces.  

First we dropped into Finsbury Park, well known as a seasonal site of excessive nitronite activity during the summer festival season

At the bandstand we discovered a cache of recently discarded Argentonites and encountered a passing teenager who found what we were doing completely hilarious and stopped to help us collect some specimens.

From Finsbury Park we dropped down through Hackney towards Stratford via the River Lee, which was surprisingly free from nitronites (too far off the beaten track for users perhaps?). But this was more than compensated for by the rich seam we discovered as we approached the green pedestrian bridge at Mile End.

As part of the landscaping of the green canalside park and pedestrian footbridge at Mile End, a manmade mound or hill was created, with pedestrian and cycle access spiraling up to a viewing point at the summit, where there is a large overgrown planter surrounded by benches. The summit of this hill, which we dubbed “Mount Nitronite”, was littered with literally hundreds of nitronites. Unlike the nitronites commonly found at the roadsides, this rich and regularly replenished seam of recreational nitronites were almost exclusively whole, silver Argentonites, recently disgarded.

We gleefully filled our paniers at the top of 'party mountain' and took some photos before moving (more slowly!) on to Stratford and the A11/A12 junction of the “London Cycle Superhighway”.

Another rich seam of nitronites was discovered here, with plenty of variation as is usual with roadside nitronites, including some found in interesting locations.

Another successful expedition, another great find – this time an exciting new location, a rich and clearly often replenished source of Argentonite in Tower Hamlets – Mount Nitronite.