Plans for the Olympic Park after 2012 are to be revealed at a series of roadshow and workshop events across London starting this month. 

Landscape architects Latz & Partner has been appointed to lead a team to design a section of the proposed Lea River Park from above the Olympic Park to the Thames. 

The plan is for continuous linear parkland called for some unknown reason the ‘Fatwalk’.

The section covered by Latz & Partner’s design covers the first part of the ‘Fatwalk’ – a new riverside cycling and walking route, Three Mills ‘Green’ – a new community park and East India Dock Basin where the Lea Valley Walk used to end before the switch to the Limehouse Basin

We shall have to see if the Lea Valley Walk benefits from all this. 

The full list of venues for the consultations can be found on www.legacynow.co.uk

There were 57 walkers on this morning’s Walk London walk down the Lea Valley Walk from Tottenham Hale.

There was bright sunshine. We made up for the cold by walking quite briskly. I hope we did not go too fast but everyone kept up. In warmer weather there might  be time for longer stops and even a picnic stop.

We all stepped into Tesco at the end. What a pity that the Three Mills cafe was closed. It is open in the week.

It was good to meet people with such different experiences of the Lea Valley. One person had spent four years with the guide book slowly walking the 50 mile route. Another once worked at Sutton House which I mentioned in passing when we stopped at former Matchbox Toy factory.

I guess we could repeat the walk during the next Walk London weekend. It is good to see how the countryside changes and how the Olympic arena grows.

Thanks to everyone who made it such a good day out.

Today I have been checking the route for Saturday’s Walk London walk from Tottenham Hale to Three Mills.

It was a wonderful sunny morning and the forecast suggests we shall enjoy another on Saturday.

The new High Bridge at Spring Hill was due to be craned into place today. We shall find out if that happened. The Olympic arena looks dramatic in its half finished state.

The free walk starts at 11am outside Tottenham Hale Station. We shall reach Three Mills between 1pm and 2pm. The time depends on weather and numbers.

There is a Tesco, toilets and an underground station (Bromley-by-Bow) at the end. 

I am looking forward to meeting old and new walkers.

This morning there is  a reminder of the time when the Lee Valley was ‘London’s greenhouse’.  

The Daily Telegraph has an obituary of Bert Hazell who has died aged 101 and was the oldest living former MP.

A former president of the National Union of Agricultural and Allied Workers, he first joined the union staff in 1937 looking after members working in Lee Valley glasshouses. It was this market gardening which persuaded Jack Cohen to have the Tesco headquarters at Cheshunt.

See page 88.

Tottenham Marshes, Leyton Marshes and the Middlesex Filterbeds are three of the 21 sites in London where sparrows are to be encouraged.

The attempt to restore London’s declining sparrow population is being made by the RSPB.

Working in partnership with six local authorities and organisations, a £170,000 SITA Trust funding will allow the Society to see whether long grass, wildflower meadows or arable flowers provide the food-rich habitats that  sparrows require. 

It is suggested that the new habitats will bring a host of other benefits for urban wildlife by attracting and supporting butterflies, bees, grasshoppers and other garden birds like tits and finches.  

This is good news for the River Lea. Sparrows are seen on the Thames Path near the Oxo Tower.

See pages 102 and 112.

Just back from a briefing for  the Walk London ‘Winter Wanders’ at the end of the month.

On Saturday 31 January I shall be leading the walk from Tottenham Hale Station south along the Lea Valley Walk to Three Mills.

Just after Old Ford we shall divert to see how work on the Olympic stadium is going.

It’s always a pleasant morning stroll and Three Mills is an attractive place to end for lunch. There is even a Tesco and toilets. Bromley-by-Bow Station is nearby.

The walk is free. No booking needed. Meet at 11am.

It is always fascinating to see which pubs on the Lea Valley Walk are mentioned in The Good Pub Guide. The 2009 edition is just out with several recommendations in addition to the ‘lucky dip’ county listings.

It highlights a pub at Batford I tend to forget athough it is handy. You just need to cross the river from the path to reach the Gibraltar Castle where “quickly served pubby food includes a good range of lunchtime sandwiches”.

The White Horse at Hertford, which is unspoilt, has “very inexpensive home-made bar food”. The pub is where you cross the main road to enter the castle grounds.

The far end of the Walk is Narrow Street in Shadwell where the new pub opposite is just called Narrow. As a Gordon Ramsey establishment, the prices are not too bad for the walker wanting to have a final quick snack after the last leg. There are bar snacks and they start at £5.50.

Just a few yards to the left is The Grapes which has much more history and “decent bar food”. Sadly children are not welcome there.

The book covers the whole country and is far too heavy to carry but it is certainly worth consulting before leaving home. A disappointing pub stop can ruin a good day out walking.

The Good Pub Guide 2009, edited by Alisdair Aird & Fiona Stapley, is published by Ebury (£15.99)

Only a handful of us managed the Enfield Lock to Tottenham Hale walk which took place this morning as part of the Walk London Autumn Ambles initiative supported by Transport for London.

We met in mist at Enfield but by the time we reached the actual lock the sun was breaking through.

As geese flew overhead we assisted a barge through the lock before setting off south to inspect Mossop’s Creek and pause at Ponder’s End where there is Wright’s flour mill.

At Pickett’s Lock we saw the geese who live there. Later we left the towpath to walk on Tottenham Marshes. The Water’s Edge tea room was open and we sat outside watching a canoe instructor taking novices on their first trip upstream. It was hot and just like summer.

We might do it the other way round next time. The Winter Wanders are on Saturday 31 January and Sunday 1 February.

Trinity Buoy Wharf is celebrating ‘ten creative years’ on Saturday 20 and Sunday 21 September.

The Wharf lies at the mouth of the River Lea and where it joins the River Thames.

This weekend there will be a regatta, live music, an exhibition and tours of the Container village. There will also be an opportunity to visit London’s only lighthouse.

A free boat service will run from the O2 pier (at The Dome) to the wharf which is open 11am to 5pm.

See pages 130 and 131.