Kensal Green to Waltham Town

24nd May 2009
A bright and sunny morning, we ate breakfast watching the families of Canada Geese with long trains of goslings eating the grass. There seem to be so many of them on the waterways - do they have any natural predators? Then a police helicopter arrived circling repeatedly over Kensal Green Cemetery, so we pulled pins and left to avoid the deafening clatter.

We stopped at Little Venice for the services, and I walked around to Paddington Station to the Sainsbury’s which, being small, has much longer opening hours than the big shops on a Sunday

Kensal Green Gasometers - we saw lots of these - all apparently unused. They seem to listed buildings, and at Paddington they are being incorporated into an open space for new housing















Camden - housing that seems to have been based on the back end of a 1950's caravan.

Then on through the sunshine, past the Zoo, and through the three locks at Camden Market. There were huge crowds of people around the market, and along the towpath – in particular we were impressed by the numbers of cyclists and runners.

Victoria Park, Regent's Canal - Old Ford Lock







Hertford Union Canal - one and a quarter miles, 3 locks - Chalice enters the middle lock





Chalice at the bottom lock - the graffiti says 'Don't hate'









Through Islington Tunnel, then into the Hertford Union Canal (aka Duckett’s), and onto the river Lee, where there is massive amounts of construction going on, and vast cranes tower over the Olympic building sites. As we continued north through Tottenham, towards Picketts Lock and Ponders End there are huge reservoirs to the right of the river, which supply much of London’s water needs, and huge electricity pylons march across the landscape from the power stations. There are also sewage treatment centres and an incinerator plant in this area, so you need to think about where you plan to moor. I was pleased to see so many people cycling along the towpath here.


We pressed on, despite being fairly tired, until we got to Waltham Town Lock, where we moored.





Locks: 18, Miles: 22.10
Total Locks: 63 , Total Distance:62.5 miles