Victoria Park to Enfield

Monday 31st July. We set off bright and early. Soon we were at the junction where the Hertford canal turns left and becomes the River Lea. If you turn right here to go to Limehouse. We may do that on the way back but for now we are heading up the River Lea.

On the corner we spotted some really unusual and arty mooring hooks. 

 We went past several bars and cafes which were now deserted but which had been crammed full the previous night.

 Lots of colourful artwork and graffiti on this stretch of the river.

This boat came complete with a stable door! 

We managed to fill up with water and one of the boaters had told us there was a rubbish bin at the end of the green bridge so I hopped off and sure enough they were right!

 Lots of rubbish on this stretch too, wildlife were making their homes out of it!

We passed the Princess of Wales pub where we had enjoyed a drink the previous day with my cousins.

 We headed towards Tottenham. Can't say there was anywhere I fancied mooring on this stretch.

 Past Walthamstow Marshes. 

 We passed the Hope & Anchor pub, one of the few buildings in this area that survived bombing raids during the Second World War.

 These coots had made a home in a tyre on the side of a boat. So cute, they had babies in there too.

 Another ex lifeboat - this time in white!

We passed the Lea Valley Marina and the boat club.  

This beautiful old Dutch barge had her mast and sails still intact.

 We soon arrived at the Markfield beam engine site and could see the tower in the distance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markfield_Beam_Engine_and_Museum

We soon arrived at the first lock at Tottenham. There were 2 locks and we weren't sure which to chose as no signs!

 We went for the right hand one and it turned out the left hand one wasn't in use anyway!

The locks on this stretch are sometimes electrically operated and you just need your British Waterways key to operate them.

We couldn't help admiring these magnificent old boats.

But we didn't fancy life afloat in this which looked like an old tram!

And definitely not in this! However if you look closely you can see it was already occupied by a Coot!

We were sorry we didn't have time to stop at this delightful looking cafe in such a wonderful setting!

Looks like Jaws has attacked it! 

The next bit of the river had the most awful smell and factories and noise. Not somewhere you would want to stop but I did spot these beautiful waterlilies. 

Soon we arrived at Alfie's lock which used to be called Pickett's lock. It has been renamed in the honour of Alfie Saggs, the former lock keeper. https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/news-and-views/news/river-legend-alfie-has-lock-renamed-in-his-honour

 The next lock was Ponders End Lock. It was part electric (the gates) and the paddles had to be opened and closed with a windlass.

All seemed to go well until we reached the next lock.

We were just mooring up and started looking for the key to operate the electric gates. It was on the bunch with our entire set of boat keys (we have 2 sets). It was then John realised with horror he had left the key in the gate control at the previous lock!! He was so happy!!! His hip had been hurting so I volunteered to take Dex and we walked back to get it. It was a 40 minute walk there and back so not too bad and the sun was shining. I was more concerned that someone may have taken the keys but thankfully they were there when I arrived so no harm done. Phew!! Lesson learnt there! 

On the way back from fetching the keys I saw another white lifeboat! 

We finally went through the last but one lock of the day, Rammey Marsh Lock. John had helped 2 other boats go through whilst I was fetching the keys so he was really glad to see the back of it!

We went through one more lock at Enfield and found a nice spot just past there, near the Greyhound pub. We went for a drink there later as we felt we had deserved it!