About time for a cruise

Sunday, 28 August 2011 17:00

So far this South London girl is just about coping with being "north of the River" in London! But how will I feel as we change waterway and proceed into Middlesex, Herts and Essex?

To get to the Lee and Stort Navigations we had first to navigate Limehouse Cut .....

Limehouse Cut was dug in 1770 to avoid the River Lea's natural oxbow bends and the tidal Bow Creek. In 2011, the duck weed was prevalent again - partly because there are so few boat movements along this Cut.

The attractive DLR Bridge over Limehouse Cut

This was our first encounter with moored boats, below Burdett Bridge. There is a handy Lidl here and moorings above for those who want to shop or visit Bow.

Moored boats at Burdett Bridge

Apart from the apartments and light industry that line the Cut there is very little of interest along here. I should, however, mention the moorings between blocks , the collection of armoured vehicles on the north bank below Violet Bridge , the mural on the south bank and the floating towpath at Blackwall Tunnel Approach Bridge .

As we approached Bow Locks we were almost at the end of Limehouse Cut. It is here that the Lee Navigation begins and Bow Creek meets the Navigation. Bow Creek meets with the old River Lea (or Lee) to flow down to the Thames at Trinity Water. We passed this on our Thames trip.

Mouth of Bow Creek (old River Lea)

It is where Michael Faraday developed electric lighting for lighthouses and the Trinity buoys were manufactured. It was Henry VIII (he pops up everywhere) who granted a charter to Trinity House in 1514 - they have been responsible for navigational aids around our coast ever since.

Bow Locks were built in 1850 and were used to help regulate the water level in the Navigation and Limehouse Cut, but the locks were modified in 2000 to keep the water out and reduce silt in the canals.

Bow Locks looking back from upstream

We were now on the Lee Navigation. The old River Lea has been used for navigation since Roman times and the first legislation for improvement of the navigation was in 1425, with the first pound lock being built at Waltham Abbey in 1577.

Lea Valley Walk, 13 miles along the Lee navigation

In the C17th, the Lee became a source of water supply for London and the navigation was improved during the C18th and C19th centuries. World War I brought further improvements, as did the 1920s.

Bow Creek continues upstream, parallel to the Lee Navigation until both waterways reach Three Mills. Here Bow Creek splits into three - Abbey Creek, Prescott Chanel and Three Mills Wall River. The Lee Navigation, meanwhile, flows by on the west side of the three mills. There is more about Bow Creek and Limehouse Cut on the Leeandstort website.

Approaching Three Mills from on Lee Navigation

The Grade I House Mill is C18th and is the largest tidal mill left standing in the UK. There are tours on Sundays in the summer when the machinery, waterwheels and mill stones can be seen. There are 24H moorings here for any boating visitors.

A closer view of Three Mills - the clock mill is now a film studio

After all that history and a deviation from the Lee Navigation I will stop at Three Mills. To come is our foretaste of the 2012 Olympics from the boaters' point of view ......