Limehouse

Canals Today - Lee Navigation and Limehouse Cut

Our overnight mooring had been very quiet - it was opposite a golf course, not too many players in the darkness. The day started with bright sunshine and, although the boat metalwork was rather cold to touch at first, the day continued bright and increasingly warm.

We set off as usual with just a short run to the first lock at Picketts (all manual) and then on to Stonebridge where we paused for a very short time just to empty the elsan and dispose of rubbish.

Picketts Lock

Tottenham Lock

This lock and the remaining two on the Lee navigation are fully mechanised so that Alice had a good opportunity to control the gates and sluices! The photo shows her at the Tottenham Lock. (Actually it is a posed photo as she had already opened the sluices a few minutes earlier which is why the boat is already half way down!

We stopped at the boatyard at Walthamstow to fill up with diesel - we were not sure where else we might find so. It was possible that we might be OK but better to be sure. Coming down we did not see any fuel boats whichwas a bit of a surprise.

A little further we saw a weed collecting boat - it was not operating at the time but Alice was intrigued to find out how it worked. On the Paddington Arm it probably collects more plastic bags than weed.

Olympic Park

After passing the junction with Ducketts Cut where we came down a week ago, we came close to the Olympic stadium and the OCMittelOrbit structure. However, after making enquiries by phone, it did not seem possible, from the canal, to visit the new park which opened last week.

Old Ford Lock

Old Ford Lock was the last lock today and again it is mechanised - tomorrow will be back to manual work!

Bow Back River

Sadly, the Bow Back Rivers are still not re-open for naviagtion, although what we could see looked rather unattractive.

Alice had spent quite a lot of time today learning nto identify the different birds on the water. She was amused by the kinds of nests which some of them make - she drew a great picture over several birds including one that was nesting on a branch of a tree resting in the water.

Three Mills

After passing Three Mills we arrived at Bow Locks which provide a connection bewteen the Lee Navigation and the tidal River Lee. We stopped for a few minutes to take a look.

Bow Locks

Converted Warehouse

We were now on the Limehouse Cut which is very straight and with few interesting features. It is, however, a reminder of how the economy has changed with the replacement of the many industrial and commercial activities by block after block of apartment housing. Just a few manange to sue old buildings.

At the end of the Cut we entered Limehouse Basin and were very relieved to spot just one remaining mooring space. These are all just 24 hours and there are only about six places. Strangely, we forgot to take any photos of the basin itself - there are some on previous blog when we visited here.



Trip Boat

Clipper

However, for the last part of the afternoon we all took a walk down to the riverside, along Thames Walk to Canary Wharf. A number of the fast Clipper boats passed us as well as the ferry across to the opposite bank and some trip boats. We even spotted a couple of rowers out!

Our walk took us along Lower Street - with a statue that intrigued Alice - through to Thames Walk.

On the beach

The tide was still out - we were amused by one person sitting in the sun on the 'beach'!

We turned to walk away from the river towards the iconic Canary Wharf office tower block.

West India Dock

This whole area is built around the large West India Docks which were once the centre of trade from across the world. Nowadays, the trade is all electronic but still crosses the globe, perhaps in microseconds!

By now we were almost lost but we spotted one of the distinctive apartment blocks on the Thames Walk so we used that to navigate back to the riverside and from there, through Ropemakers Walk park, to the boat. Fortunately, most of the meal preparation had been done before we set out on our walkas by now it was getting later than usual.

10.6 miles - 4 locks