I shall be leading a walk down the Lea Valley towpath at the end of May.

As part of the Walk London weekend there will be a five mile guided walk along the Lea Valley Walk route starting at Tottenham Hale and ending at Three Mills near Bromley-by-Bow underground station. 

The section of the Lea Valley Walk was recently included in the Ramblers’ Association’s top ten river walks. The guided walk will include part of the Olympic site. 

The walk is on Saturday 31 May and starts at 11am. Meet outside Tottenham Hale Station. 

There is no charge as all Walk London guided walks are free.

Ten detailed information boards have been placed in the grounds of Waltham Abbey giving information about the very first pre-Conquest church, the founding of the monastery, historic events and the closure of the community by King Henry VIII.

The magnificent abbey church has survived as the town’s parish church. 

An unveiling was performed by the Lord Lieutenant of Essex, Lord Petre. Although Waltham Abbey is on the edge of his county he claimed that the abbey church was his favourite Essex building.

Vicar Canon Martin Webster said: “The abbey church is absolutely delighted with the new signs. We’ve noticed already there has been great numbers of people stopping, reading and engaging with them, hopefully the people of the town will find them useful.”

The project is a partnership between the National Lottery Heritage Fund,  Waltham Abbey Town Council, Epping Forest District Council and Lee Valley Regional Park Authority.

See page 89.

News that today’s issue of The Times is the first to be officially printed at Broxbourne may have puzzled some who think that they know the Lee Valley well.

This claim is not quite accurate just as reports that the Olympic canoe events were to be at Broxbourne were also misleading.

The canoe course is to be alongside the River Lea on open space just south of Cheshunt. This site just happens by a few yards to be in the Borough of Broxbourne.

News International’s new printing plant is also just inside the borough. It’s at Waltham Cross.  The Liverpool Street–Theobalds Grove railway line runs along its eastern side. The other two sides are bounded by the M25 and the Great Cambridge Road.

So the Lee Valley now has Europe’s most advanced printworks but it will not spoil the view from the towpath unlike, maybe, the nearby Olympic project.

See page 89.

The surprise news today is that the Olympic canoe events will not be at Broxbourne but alongside Waltham Lock. 

The new site is the large grass area immediately west of the river and known as Cheshunt Marsh or the Lee Valley Showground. Walkers from the north often use it as a short cut to Waltham Cross Station. 

This venue change for the White Water Canoe Centre has been approved by the International Canoe Federation (ICF), the International Olympic Committee and the British Olympic Association.

The original site just east of Broxbourne Station was found to be unsuitable due to contamination of the ground. The new site is six miles closer to the Olympic Park to the south.

Construction is due to begin in early next year with the venue completed for training and testing in 2010.