The Limehouse Cut: 40 minutes of rubbish, green algae, weeds and generally grim surroundings.
Onto the Lee Navigation and passing the Olympic site: More rubbish and weed, lots of mindless graffiti and all the network of canals through the Olympic Park closed to all except to organised trips!! We had glimpses of the Olympic Stadium only to reveal that much of the iconic features had been removed and the Orbit looked a bit sad as did the Copperbox!
Where have all the triangular floodlights gone?
Rusty looking Copper box!
Old Ford Lock: Hackney! Water point and Elsan disposal situated right by the side of the lock. This caused problems as the lock still needed to be kept in operation. It eventually took us close on an hour and a half to fill up and empty out before getting on our way!! Old Ford Lock is 'Cray country' and the infamous brothers were reputed to have disposed of all their weapons in the pound below the lock!!!
The surrounding area, although up and coming has a rather seedy feel about them.
Next the Lee took us through Tottenham, the scene of the riots a few years ago, Edmonton and the Hackney Marshes. All through this area it was very shallow and the water was full of all sorts of rubbish and debris as well as a variety of vegetation floating in the water. This brought about very slow progress and many bouts of stern thrust to try and clear the fouled prop and times when Sid had to stop, because of the stress on the engine, to delve down the weed hatch to free the prop. Scarry at times when the boat is adrift midstream with other boats approaching. Fortunately, most of them guessed what the problem was and give us a wide berth!
We did witness some amazing street art a huge improvement from the random graffiti accompanying us most of the way through the canals of London.
Amazing street art!
Eventually, we emerged from the heavily built up landscape to a more rural countryside.
It was a shame the much needed beer at the end of this dismal part of our journey was also a disappointment. Heigh ho on and upward!
oh dear this sounds rather dismal, what a pity London planning doesn't maintain the Olympic Park as the attraction it should be from the canals. Where is the street art pic? Would love to see it.
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