Saturday, July 16, 2011

River Lea Vale (begins)

River Lea Vale 2010-07-11 by LoopZilla
River Lea Vale 2010-07-11, a photo by LoopZilla on Flickr.



So it began. Walking. Networking. Netwalking....



After being told by the ODA (Olympic Delivery Authority) that we could not walk The Bow Back Rivers, we had to branch out...



The River Lea Vale walk grew out of the Three Mills Loop. It was stimulating to explore further and further North. We passed the edge of the known world, the Media Centre at the top of the Olympic Park. From there we took a stroll in Hackney Downs, through woodland and into the football pitches. North Marsh would become a car park during the Olympics. What after that?



Then we hit Lea Bridge Sluices. There had been the furthest reach of the tidal Thames, up the Lea Valley. But the ODA and British Waterways stopped all that, with a lock and weir back down at Three Mills.



We were now at Walthamstow Marshes. A haven. But this had been threatened, decades ago, when there were plans to turn the area into a gravel pit.



Where next? Coppermill Lane, passing geese and massive reservoirs supplying water to London. The area is a fortress.



We are almost at an end. Back on dry land, we are in Walthamstow Market, closed on Sundays, when we get there. Walthamstow Central supplies buses and trains for our onward journeys.



Can we come back next week?

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