A bittern has been seen at the Rye Meads nature reserve. The first of many coming for the winter it is hoped.

The reserve, once known as the Rye House Marsh nature reserve, is open daily. The admission charge was dropped some time ago.

See pages 79-80.

A further attempt to highlight the delights of the Lea Valley is being made by its cucumber growers.

The Lea Valley Growers’ Association is making a bid for Lea Valley cucumbers to receive protected status from the EU like Cornish clotted cream, Melton Mowbray pork pies and Arbroath smokies.

Lea Valley cucumbers have thin skins and do not require peeling.

The Olympic whitewater centre next to Waltham Abbey will close on Sunday 16 October in preparation for the London 2012 games.

It is open free to spectators and visitors daily until that closing weekend. The cafe makes a good stop on the walk between Cheshunt and Waltham Abbey.

Last Thursday evening was not sunny in Broxbourne. Indeed dusk seemed to come two hours early.

So I was surprised to find the ‘mobile’ cafe by the water in Mill Lane still open.

The cafe has been renewed as a semi-permanent structure and is now open daily from 9am to dusk. There is even some indoor seating.

Before setting out on a three mile walk to Cheshunt I was able to enjoy a large mug of tea and a homemade blackberry cake.

Checking my phone I found that there was free wi-fi.

The Old Mill Retreat Cafe, as it is now called, is a surprise improvement on the Lea Valley Walk.

This weekend’s free Autumn Ambles run by Walk London includes at Saturday morning Lea Valley walk from Tottenham Hale down to Limehouse.

Plans have been announced for a water bus service from Limehouse Basin, where the Lea joins the Thames, to Tottenham Hale.

This is for Olympics year but maybe it could prove popular enough to continue as a legacy.

This Wednesday 14 September is Holy Cross Day which has special meaning in Waltham Abbey.

The church there was once famous for its ‘miraculous’ cross known to King Harold who was defeated at the Battle of Hastings.

The cross was ‘miraculous’ because having been found in Somerset it was loaded on to a cart whose oxen refused to move until the word “Waltham” had been uttered.

The cart arrived in Waltham where the black cross was placed in the church which was later enlarged to be today’s abbey church.

Wednesday will see a procession with a cross from the Olympic white water centre to the abbey church.

This will commemorate that bringing of the miraculous Holy Cross from Montacute in Somerset to Waltham by Tovi the Proud in 1035.

The procession starts at 6.30pm and on arrival at 7pm a quarter peal of bells will be rung simultaneously at the Abbey Church and St Catherine’s Church at Montacute in Somerset.

There is talk of some participants wearing costume. Whether they do or not this is the start of what within a decade may have become an annual custom.

I spent Thursday evening at Myddelton House where Jim Lewis was launching his latest book.

Regeneration and Innovation: Invention and reinvention in the Lea Valley explores the Lea Valley’s industrial and technological firsts.

A large section is devoted to Tottenham Hale where, since the book went to press, the August riots began.

It was interesting to find that the book is published with the support of Lee Valley Estates who are involved the the regeneration of Tottenham.

Also topical is the section on Newham where an area known for its abbey is today the Olympic Park.

The Johnson Matthey connection at Brimsdown is explained as is the Allen & Hanburys building at Ware

It was a sunny evening which began with a tour of the Myddelton House garden made famous by EA Bowles. His young successor Andrew Turvey showed that high standards and experimentation continue.

Currently new potatoes as well as plants are on sale at the visitors’ centre.

This is the seventh book by Jim Lewis in the present series and it does not disappoint. He is doing much to highlight the heritage of the valley which is only now coming to wide attention thanks to the Olympics.

As I walk up and down the river revising the Lea Valley Walk guide for next year it will make timely as well as enjoyable reading for me.

Regeneration and Innovation: Invention and reinvention in the Lea Valley by Jim Lews is published by Libri Publishing (£9.99).

There has been a major overnight fire next to the towpath just upstream of Rye House Bridge. The huge pile of pallets caught fire causing the smoke to close the station and railway line.

Trains are being replaced by buses between Hertford East and Broxbourne.

The formal launch the floating towpath near Bromley-by-Bow is planned for the week commencing Monday 19 September.

The London Thames Gateway Development Corporation with its colleagues at British Waterways are aware that this floating construction is part of a seamless north-south walk where walkers do not now have to take their lives into their own hands by crossing over the fraught A11.

This is a massive improvement for the Lea Valley Walk as well as local people.

LTGDC and British Waterways are wondering if there is any keen walker who would be prepared to walk the Walk from somewhere in the north down to Bow and to coincide their arrival with a media launch at Bow.

There would be support for any expenses incurred during the walk such as bed and breakfast accommodation and refreshments.

If anyone, especially someone living on the line of the Lea Valley Walk, is interested they should contact LTGDC.

Walkers living at the start in Luton or one of the historic towns such as Hertford, Ware or Waltham Abbey might wish to be part of this important moment.

A walk from Waltham Abbey to Bow would link the two main Olympic sites in the Lea Valley.

Contact Patrick Edwards at LTGDC if think you can do it.