I have now completed the Lea Valley Walk, from the Thames to the source at Leagrave. Three full mornings and two half-mornings for 93km, of which 44km was an unbroken stretch on towpath, 14km was on railway trackbeds (much of which was tarmac), and the bulk of the remainder on urban roads and paths.
Author Archives: Lwalks.London
The perfect guide-book
George Orwell tried to describe his perfect pub, which he called The Moon under Water — drawing together the best parts of other pubs: his perfect pub never existed. Nor are any of the pubs with that name anywhere near perfect. Not from that company. Bill Bryson, in The Lost Continent, sought out the quintessentialContinue reading “The perfect guide-book”
Lea Valley Walk — Day 1
The first day out following the Lea Valley Walk upstream from the Thames had its navigational and visual challenges before easing out into semi-rurality.
Traversing Essex
During August 2021 and the surrounding days, I completed the Essex Way from Harwich to Epping, and crossed the county from Southend to Epping, the latter route as the first part of a huge circuit of London (via Hatfield, Maidenhead and Gatwick).
Completing the Ring around the Underground
Having set out from Upminster in January 2020, and having had a year’s break because of Covid, I have at last reached Upminster again. The final section, from Epping to Upminster, took three days to beat out: the first day ended at Stapleford Abbotts accompanied by stings, scratches, skin punctures, and rank agricultural waste fromContinue reading “Completing the Ring around the Underground”
