Like my previous ride, the intended early start didn’t materialise, but not through faffing! My alarm went off at 04:00 to allow me to hit the waterways by sunrise, though I quickly chose more sleep over cooler temperatures and empty towpaths. In hindsight, I do recommend an earlier start.
I hopped onto my Hewitt Cheviot and cycled out to Mile End where I picked up the Regent’s Canal down to Limehouse Basin for the proper start as the idea was to ride the entire length of the River Lee Navigation from Limehouse to Hertford and back, taking in a few parallel routes along the way.
I had glorious weather the whole way, and only ended up ever-so-slighty crispy by the end. Overall the towpaths weren’t too crowded, though the usual culprits were present:
* Runners, more miserable than roadies in Richmond Park, sticking to their right side of the path and never noticing oncoming traffic
* Cyclists, insisting on riding down the middle of often narrow paths – even when passing other cyclist
* Pedestrians, better behaved than usual.
Sounds like a bit of a grumble, but they were far from ruining the ride. Flowers were in bloom, animals were out grazing, artwork lit up by the sun, people were on their boats enjoying the lovely weather – all in all a lovely day. In total cycled 111km, with just over a dozen kilometres were to/from the start.
I’ve already posted some photos in various threads, with a few more below. The entire collection can be found
here.
If anyone is interested in riding the Lee please drop me a line. I will not be organising a proper ride as anything approaching a ‘group’ is awkward – and IMO inconsiderate – on the towpath.
Bow Locks
Gotta live somewhere
Will you walk into my parlour?
Bonus (swing) bridge content
No idea.
