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. 

It is good to see that the Lea Valley Walk appears in the Ramblers’ Association’s Top Ten River Walks published in The Sunday Telegraph.

The route comes in at number five and the sample section chosen is Tottenham Hale to Three Mills near Bromley-by-Bow which includes the Olympic Park.

Also featured in the top ten are the River Darent in Kent, the Derwent Valley in Derbyshire and East Lynn River on Exmoor.

There are interesting reports of sewage seen from the towpath and “vile smells” from the river.

This is just a couple miles from the Olympic Park.

Sam Amalemba, speaking at the Lee Valley Canoe and Cycle Centre near Stonebridge Lock says: “It is not as bad in the north of the river as it is further south. There’s actually a very noticeable difference. You just have to go near Markfield Park and you can smell it.”

This news comes just a day after Thames Water announced plans to stop sewage entering the downstream Bow Back Rivers.

British Waterways, the Environment Agency, Thames Water and the Olympic Delivery Authority are in talks about the situation.

Walkers on the Lea Valley Walk will be able to see a new village being built during the next five years on the edge of London. It will include a handy hotel.

The environmentally sustainable Hale Village in Tottenham is being modelled on the waterside Hammarby district of Stockholm.

Tottenham’s own twelve acre site is in Ferry Lane and was once the Harris Lebus furniture factory and more recently the Greater London Council bulk buying warehouse. The new buildings are to include mixed housing, student accommodation, a supermarket and a school.

Developers Lee Valley Estates are based at Tottenham Lock.

Cicerone who publish The Lea Valley Walk guide has launched the Cicerone Forum, e-newsletter and blog. 
To explore the website which shows the full range of guides and gives access to recent newsletters and the blog go to http://www.ciceronepress.co.uk

The Waters Edge pub at Stonebridge Lock has reopened as the Lee Valley Canoe & Cycle Centre. 

But even better news for walkers is that the part of the building is selling tea, coffee and biscuits on Wednesdays to Sundays 11am-6pm. This is proving very popular since the nearby new cafe is only open some weekends. The Waters Edge has plenty of Lee Valley leaflets and displays a good footpath map for those wanting to divert from the waterside.

Meanwhile the nearby Narrow Boat pub, just downstream of Tottenham Lock, is now closed. It had long ceased to serve food and as a result there were sometimes no lunchtime customers. If hunger strikes it is worth going through the very heavy gate at the side of the pub as there is a convenience store a few yards ahead near the school.