Two walks by water

Several times as year TFL has a weekend of free guided walks, and its website has information on walking routes in the area. I signed up for a walk along the Thames and another along the Lee Navigation.

Saturday we set off from London Bridge station, led by Fred and Harry. A cold wind was blowing and I later regretted not bringing a hat, as we listened to snippets of the history of the docks along the north of the river.

Over Tower Bridge ... opened in 1874

One of several sets of waterman's stairs - slippery when wet!

St Katherine's Dock

Hermitage Wharf  provides moorings for up to 20 historic vessels

Historic housing for the administrators of the docks in Wapping

The Georgian houses were built in 1805

The school was set up by the parish for poor children, who were supplied school uniforms
- hence the name Ragged Schools

Decorative detail, from a time when things were done well

Wapping Hydraulic Power Station was a restaurant with the old machines on display,
but the freehold has been sold to a developer

Limehouse Lock - with  "Steering Jesus" in the far distance,
dwarfed between the towers

If the bridge was up, you had an excuse for being late

London County Council initials on one of the ventilation shafts for Rotherhithe Tunnel

Riverside docking, blocked off now

Old Limehouse - The Grapes dates back to 1583

Limekiln Dock, with some old warehouses on the left

End of the walk - Canary Wharf

The view upriver - it's about 3 miles to the Shard

On Sunday, rain was forecast - and started as we set off from Tottenham Hale, then it miraculously stopped after a few minutes, and we had some blue sky and scudding clouds along the way.

Tottenham Locks, looking upstreatm

Steamy windows made it difficult to see inside the Markfield Beam Engine
museum, open the second Sunday of the month in winter

With canny positioning, the camera got a few glimpses of the interior

Quite a few people out rowing

... holding up traffic, even

An old Dutch barge, and Hackney Marshes beyond,
site of the first powered air flight in the UK

Small but serviceable

Going through Old Ford Locks single-handed

Near Bromley-by-Bow, among the Bow Back Rivers

The rain resumed, but there wasn't much farther to go ...

... to Three Mills; unfortunately the cafe wasn't open.
The House Mill is open on Sundays, May-October