Walking the River Lea Navigation

On Tuesday 13th June a group of four stalwarts (Jill S, Brian & Kathy and Richard) set off from Waltham Cross Station in the heat, along the A121, towards Waltham Abbey before turning off along the Lea Navigation foot/tow path. We encountered a few midges early on, but undaunted we carried on first to the Greyhound Pub where we stopped for some liquid refreshment.

Emerging back into the sun, we progressed to Enfield Lock and just beyond it the Swan & Pike Pool. We didn’t see any swans or pike, but did watch a family of coots on their nest.

Carrying on down the towpath we saw other young coots, cygnets and ducklings as well as a varying assortment of boats and barges. There were three Brent Alpha lifeboats (2 with no windows, 1 undergoing a conversion to add windows), a narrow boat ‘Black Bart’ named after a late 17th/early 18th Century Welsh pirate (Robert Bartholomew, the scourge of the Caribbean) amongst other boats.

We stopped for lunch at The Navigation Inn by Ponders End Lock. It’s a former waterworks building converted previously into a pub/night club, but now a Harvester and conveniently situated around the half-way point of our walk.

We then carried on to Stonebridge Lock where we saw coots had built a nest on a sunken boat just near the lock. It was then an easy walk on to Tottenham Hale and the train back home.

Total distance was about 9 miles.

Richard.  17th June 2023