The final leg of the Lea Valley walk, started at Tottenham on the west bank of the Navigation passing the Warwick Reservoirs and then crossing to the eastern side at Horse Shoe Bridge. We then walked alongside Walthamstow Marsh (where the first all British flight was made by AV Roe in 1909), Leyton Marsh and Hackney Marsh (famous for its 73 football pitches where players included the likes of David Beckham). It was then on to the Olympic Stadium with its striking ArcelorMittal Orbit and Three Mills. From Three Mills the walk attempted to follow the winding Bow Creek, but a large proportion of it is through the industrial wasteland of the East End of London. It was possible to walk alongside the river for a short period after Canning Town, but it was not possible to follow it as it doubled back around Bow Creek Ecology Park to the River Thames. Having negotiated the traffic lights and large traffic island at the start of the Lower Lea Crossing dual carriageway, we followed the old boundary fence of the East India Dock to the entrance to the East India Dock Basin, renovated in the 1990s. We were able to continue forwards into Orchard Place and the Trinity Buoy Wharf where the River Lea joined the Thames. Here there are a number of memories of the past including London's only lighthouse, Michael Faraday's workshed and beached on the side of the Lea, a lightship.
We then returned to the East India Dock Basin. Most of East India Dock has been filled in except for Virginia Quay to the west, where the founders of the US state sailed from the UK in 1606. What is left has been made into a park with a great view of the O2 Arena on the opposite bank of the Thames
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