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This Week's Walks - Archive

Please see the Saturday Walker's Club This Week's Walks page.

This is an archive of walks done by the Saturday Walker's Club. You should only need to use this page if the SWC website is down.

Sunday 3 February 2019

Sunday Walk – An urban walk in the Lower Lea Valley

Sections 3-5 of the Lea Valley Walk – Tottenham Hale to Limehouse
Length: 12.7 km (7.9 miles). Toughness: 1/10

Take a Victoria line tube to arrive at Tottenham Hale by 11:25 and meet outside by the entrance to the mainline station, since east Londoners might find it more convenient to travel from Liverpool Street (Cheshunt trains at 11:10 and 11:12, arriving at 11:21/25). Tottenham Hale is in TFL Zone 3.

The published walk ends at Limehouse Basin. The nearest station is Limehouse (trains to Fenchurch Street or DLR to Tower Hill/Bank), but it's not far along the Thames Path to Wapping if you want to pick up a London Overground train.

A few months ago I saw a BBC TV programme about a chap walking these sections of the Lea Valley Walk. It's one of the Walk London routes which is well described and nicely presented on the Transport for London website so I thought it would be worth posting as a club walk. It's a riverside walk through a mostly urban environment, but with plenty of green spaces and interesting sites (Walthamstow and Hackney Marshes; the Olympic Park; Three Mills) to take in as well as “the ongoing transformation of the Lower Lea”. If you're feeling adventurous you could wander off-piste around any of these places.

The walk documents mention cafés and pubs at Lea Bridge (after an hour's walking), more cafés an hour later at Three Mills, and pubs at Limehouse Basin. No doubt there are plenty of other picnic spots and refreshment places en route. Unless someone with local knowledge would like to post a comment recommending a particular spot, I suggest stopping anywhere which looks appealing.

As always, there will be no leader for this walk. You'll need to go to the Lea Valley Walk page on the TfL site and download the directions for Sections 3, 4 & 5.
T=LDP.28

3 comments:

PeteB said...

The walk instructions for this part of the Lea Valley Walk do not seem to mention any pubs by name so for those of you unfamiliar with the area here are a few lunch options to consider:

Springfield Park Walthamstow: to add a bit of a climb to the walk there is a nice cafe at the top of the hill. Does basic grub but good quality.

Princess of Wales Clapton: riverside pub. Very popular and crowded on Sundays with Hackney families. Top quality food. Bit pricey. Need to phone ahead: https://www.princessofwalesclapton.co.uk/

Stratford: as you reach the Olympic Park stretch of the towpath there is a row of eateries and "hipster" bars just away to your left. There is also a bar on the other side of the river.

Loads of places for drinks in Limehouse but likely to be busy.

Anonymous said...

14 met at Tottenham Hale and 4 late starters joined enroute.
Perfect weather, sunny and dry.

Anonymous said...

n=18 w=sunny-and-dry