From West Ham to Lea Bridge following the actual River Lea
I’ve just been editing the video for Part 3, and realised I hadn’t actually published Part 2. So here it is, albeit in somewhat abbreviated form.
One of the things that’s irritated me about the Lea Valley Walk is its preference for following a canal rather than the actual river. This is obviously a lot easier, both to walk and to lay out as a marked route, since the towpath already exists, but it does make for some repetitive walking in places.
So I decided that I’d try to retrofit a bit of “proper” Lea walking into this project, by following as much of the real River Lea as is practical , even though I’d be overlapping with the first part of this walk.
I decided to start at West Ham, and follow the Old River Lea, as it’s marked on maps there, through the Olympic Park and up the eastern side of Hackney Marshes to join up with the Lee Navigation near Lea Bridge.
Arriving at West Ham, I climbed up onto the Greenway which would take me to Stratford. Many happy memories of walking up to the Olympic Park during the event itself. It was a shame to see some of the installations from that time looking so neglected.
Then up to the stadium itself where I joined the Lea, threading its way through the park. With various side channels leading off, I had to keep an eye on the map to avoid getting lured off course. It seemed to take an age to get out of the Olympic Park, but eventually I passed the velodrome and started the walk up the right hand side of Hackney Marshes, meeting back up with the Lee Navigation just before Lea Bridge.
Then I was into the land of reservoirs, which occupy much of the flat land of the valley. None of which I could see, or get near to without an unwelcome detour.
In the afternoon, I passed under the North Circular Road and the canal settled down into a familiar pattern (ie I started to lose interest a bit). I’d hoped to make it to Enfield Lock or even further, but was flagging, and got to the end of William Girling Reservoir and decided I’d stop at Ponders End – being reasonably close to the path.
