River Lee Navigation – Enfield to Ponders End

This river – navigable from ancient times – seems peaceful enough now. And so it’s been for centuries. After all, it was the source and inspiration for one of the great classics of English literature: Isaac Walton fished along it, and wrote “The Complete Angler.”

There was a time, though, when matters were very different indeed. For starters, King Alfred once destroyed the Viking fleet near here.

Animals are grazing in fields, and there’s an old mill. But a power-driven lock shows there was heavy barge traffic not long ago. It’s a rich repast of history, of remarkable contrasts. For example, parts of the factory which made the Lee-Enfield, once the Army’s standard rifle. And then the place where a factory produced equipment for the world’s first H.D. T.V. transmitter at Alexandra Palace.

So rural and urban, industrial and bucolic, nature and town. What’s not to like?

PRACTICALS

The River Lee Navigation – Enfield to Ponders End Walk meets at Enfield Lock station