London – The Definitive Walking Guide

A guidebook of the leisure walking opportunities in Greater London. Details of nearly 300 self-guided trails are included, covering over 2300km. 80 named trails and over 200 shorter routes, all with information about the nature of the walk, its amenities, transport and mapping required.

Lea Valley Walk (Maps 2, 5)

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*Distance: 83km (52miles) – see text
*Location: Enfield, Waltham Forest, Haringey, Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets (continuing from Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Essex)
*Start: Luton, Bedfordshire (GR TL 061-249)
Finish: Bromley-by-Bow (Gillender Street, GR TQ 382-822)
Green factor: 25%
Blue factor: 99%
Recommended direction: North to south
Terrain and surface: Almost entirely level and firm, with some gentle slopes at locks and bridges. In places the path is narrow and may be muddy. Minimal road walking
Points of interest: River Lea, numerous locks and reservoirs, Waltham Abbey, Hazlemere Marina, Springfield Marina, Middlesex Filter Beds Nature Reserve, Walthamstow Marshes Nature Reserve, Hackney Marsh, Three Mill Visitor Centre
Signage: Almost complete both ways. Links from most nearby stations by fingerposts and pavement discs
Refreshments and toilets: Pubs and cafés at Waltham Cross, Waltham Abbey and Upper Clapton. Pubs Enfield Lock, Lea Valley Road, Northumberland Park, Tottenham Hale, Upper Clapton, Lea Bridge Road and Bromley-by-Bow. Basic toilets at Stonebridge and Tottenham Locks
Public transport and break points: LU: Tottenham Hale, Bromley-by-Bow. DLR: Pudding Mill Lane, Devons Road. NR: Waltham Cross, Enfield Lock, Ponders End, Angel Road, Tottenham Hale, Clapton, Hackney Wick. Buses at all these points (except Pudding Mill Lane) plus Lea Valley Road, Lee Valley Leisure Complex, Angel Road and Lea Bridge Road
Links: London Countryway, London Loop, Pymmes Brook Trail, Capital Ring, Walk Back in Time, The Greenway, Heron and Kingfisher Walks, Time Travellers
Map: Explorers 162, 174 (route marked, also on AZ street maps and atlases)
LWF status: Validated with Seal of Approval (Mayor of London's key route)
Principal Promoter: Lea Valley Park, British Waterways
Further Information: Guidebook Lea Valley Walk (£8.00, Leigh Hatts, Cicerone Press, ISBN 1-85284-313-6).

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*These details apply to the whole route.
Others are for Waltham Cross to Bromley-by-Bow only.

Easy but fascinating waterside walking, one of the Mayor of London’s key routes (see Strategic Network introduction), and the first route in the network to receive the London Walking Forum’s coveted Seal of Approval. The full distance may require up to a week to cover, but the Greater London section can provide one or two good full day walks, by starting just outside the boundary at Waltham Cross or Waltham Abbey and walking south to Bromley-by-Bow (20km/12.5miles), with many potential break points. The route uses the towpath of the Lee Navigation, once a busy commercial waterway and now much used by narrowboats and other recreational craft. The green factor shown above is a little misleading, as most of the route is green on one side or the other, but rarely on both sides together. Look out for cyclists, who are permitted to use the towpath with a licence.

Let us now consider a mystery: the correct title of this route is Lea Valley Walk, yet the authority that promotes it is the Lee Valley Park, and the navigable waterway is the Lee Navigation. The official explanation is that, generally, Lea is applied to natural manifestations of the river, while Lee is used for those created by humans. Back to the walking!

The Lea Valley Walk is a key route in the Strategic Network, crossed by some routes and giving others a piggy-back. The London Countryway makes its closest approach to Greater London along the Lea at Waltham Abbey, while Section 18 of the London Loop crosses at Enfield Lock. Picketts Lock is at one end of the Pymmes Brook Trail. Various sections of the towpath are used by Walk Back in Time, Section 13 of the Capital Ring, Time Travellers and the Heron and Kingfisher Walks, while The Greenway crosses it at Stratford Marsh. Time Travellers also provides a link with the Thames Path National Trail via the Limehouse Cut; at time of writing it is hoped eventually to extend the Lea Valley Walk further south beside Bow Creek directly to the Thames at Leamouth.

The guidebook is written north to south, but the route is easily followed in either direction simply by following the towpath. However, just over 1km (0.6miles) north of Bow Locks the navigation is inaccessible, and you have to negotiate the very busy Bow Interchange (A11/A102), where at time of writing the crossing facilities and signage were inadequate. The north end of the Greater London section (actually just beyond the boundary at Waltham Abbey) has a signed link from Waltham Cross station. The current south end of the route is officially at Bow Locks, with pedestrian access from Gillender Road, off the Blackwall Tunnel Northern Approach near Bromley-by-Bow station. A proposed M25 link, the Northern Gateway Access Road, may affect the route at Rammey Marsh between Waltham Abbey and Enfield.   

Highlights of the route within Greater London include the Swan and Pike Pool near Enfield Lock, which provides a pleasant diversion, and two colourful marinas at Waltham Abbey and Springfield. Several large open spaces are passed, including Rammey Marsh, Springfield Park, and Walthamstow and Hackney Marshes (with their bird-rich nature reserves). For over 10km (6miles) south of Enfield Lock a series of immense reservoirs occupies the east bank, though only their grassy retaining embankments can be seen from the towpath. The photogenic House Mill is set behind a millpond at Three Mill Island. On the debit side, pylons and wires often occupy the sky, and a stretch near the Lea Valley Viaduct is frankly rather unpleasant.

Much of the towpath has a hard level surface, but in places is narrow and uneven. Access at Bow Locks is restricted by a steeply curving and ribbed bridge. In the area around Hackney and Walthamstow Marshes the towpath has several squeeze-stiles (designed to exclude motorbikes) for which a Radar key may be needed.