This was a patrol from Hackney Wick to Tottenham Locks, normally there'd not be just me, but today there was an underwhelming lack of other volunteers, so I used our new Lone-Working procedure and cycled out from Sweet Water, North towards Tottenham.
But before that I had a look in at the stable building at Old Ford Locks number 19, to see what progress had been made there.
New (safe) lighting installed.
Power to the mini-kitchen.
This old tree was used as a beam across the lock for a while.
Fountains, out weed cutting.
More rubbish left where there used to be a litter bin at East Wick.
This morning JH, SD and I met at Old Ford Locks Number 19, by the Lee Navigation and the Old River Lea, for a patrol along the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park waterways.
JH also volunteers as a park champion at QEOP, so we shared knowledge as we made our way around.
Overgrowth at Sweet Water.
We walked along the Lee Navigation to Saint Thomas Creek, passing this rubbish sack, which I've reported twice before.
Rubbish sack and porta-potti cassette.
That this was still here really got my goat, so I sent a rather urgent report into the enquiries team!
Then we crossed Saint Thomas Creek and made our way to City Mill Lock, where we explored a less-accessible stretch of old towpath that could dearly use some attention. SD and I pruned back some of the intruding buddleia and brambles, but our route was eventually blocked by the improvement works at the Greenway.
We soldiered on down Stratford High Street, eventually rejoining the park and Waterworks River via Warton Road. There are a lot of works still going on in the park, especially around the Bobby Moore Academy and some towpaths along the rivers are still blocked off since 2012.
Path blocked off under Loop Road and the Railway Bridge.
We carried on via City Mill River and Carpenters Road Bridge, and although our immediate way back to Old Ford Locks via the Old River Lea was blocked by security arrangements for a Robbie Williams concert, we came back past the Monier Road footbridge.
At Old Ford Locks 19, Fountains were clearing duckweed.
At 16:00 I joined DS at Kingsland Basin footbridge for another Share The Space pop-up event.
Bobby was in attendance, here accompanied by the Trust's chief towpath ranger Dick Vincent.
Bobby and Dick at the pop-up.
Some captions for the slowest part of the climb over the bridge.
For this event we had a lot of Share the Space branded reflective strips, the sort that start straight, but which can be tapped into place on an arm or ankle and they'll wrap firmly around.
In fact they're sometimes referred to as 'slaps'.
We started the event with a box of 200 of them, and within a couple of hours they had all gone. They were not only popular with cyclists and kids, but they also were a hit with joggers and runners - a group of towpath users the Trust has struggled to engage with the Share the Space message, despite old-school PSA videos like this one:
This was, by the way, the video I was involved in making a few weeks ago - piloting an electric 'Go boat' from Paddington as a floating camera dolly for an afternoon. I think that work generated about 4-5 seconds of used footage.
On my way home, I stopped to enjoy some music and shoot a rather more relaxing video.
So I cycled to Little Venice for a meeting with SA about the Jotform system we use for reporting towpath issues.
For a while now I've been using a version of this I tweaked for myself for reporting from the waterside, streamlined for ease of use as a ranger, and I was keen to update the form used by the Trust too.
What I hadn't realised was that this system is also used by the London Enquiries team to deal with phone calls, emails and other reports that come into them. In fact they use it a lot more than the rangers and other staff and volunteers in the field.
So although SA liked my tweaks, he also wanted more of the stuff included that the enquiries team would use. No problem - and I made copious notes from our meeting to update the system.
Also in the room was AG, our East London Mooring Ranger, and he added a few things he wanted to see to the system too.
Later I joined DS and more volunteers briefly at a Share The Space pop-up in Little Venice Basin. This was my first chance to see our rather wonderful piece of art, Bobby the Sleeping Policeman.
This was a patrol from Tottenham Locks to Sweet Water.
The day was hot, very hot. Sweltering sunshine hammered down on us, but fortunately SD and myself both had extra fluids, sun-screen and jaunty caps at the ready.
Bright sunlight with fluffy clouds, below Tottenham Locks.
Ready, that is, for the traditional Tottenham welcome of rubbish dumped at the locks and at the ramped access to the navigation. Sometimes, it can seem like we're stuck in the nineteen-seventies with the canal being used as a landfill site by some people.
Rubbish below the lock island steps. Reported by SD.
Rubbish at access point reported by GW.
Reporting is done using the Jotform based system, that is also used intensively by the London enquiries team. SA and myself are trying to improve this reporting system beyond its early beta stages, a chance for me to use some of the IT skills that I'd otherwise let go to seed.
And speaking of going to seed, there are a few weeds that grow on the towpaths that are counted as 'reportable' - in that if we spot them we must report them and that report has to go on to DEFRA so that proper action can be taken. Giant Hogweed (which is incredibly dangerous to handle) is one of them. Japanese Knotweed is less dangerous, but equally pernicious.
Pointing out Japanese Knotweed.
At Hackney Marsh we found Japanese Knotweed growing in the towpath alongside this poor chap's boat. We took a great interest, and had to reassure him that it wasn't his boat we were reporting, but the evil weed growing alongside it!
As we reached Sweet Water (named not for the non-sea-water but for the glucose outfall from Clarnico's sweet factory which was here through the first part of the twentieth century) the problems returned to the more familiar: rubbish left where a litter bin has been removed next to East Wick Services and massive amounts of rubbish by the litter bin next to White Post Lane bridge.
Jena is the Canal & River Trust's floating welcome station, office and support boat. She's a 60' x 12' gas-free broadbeam with an Isuzu 55 engine. Today, a team of volunteers including N, TF, and myself were tasked with getting her from Bow Wharf at the top of the Hertford Union Canal to Granary Square on the Regents Canal for the Kings Cross Festival.
Jena at City Road Lock.
I arrived at Bow Wharf at 11am. to find N & TF looking glumly at the engine where there was clearly a problem. The hose from the skin tank back to the engine had come loose and the hose clip (jubilee clip) needed to hold it in place was corroded and unserviceable. Without the hose attached the engine cooling system would not work and the engine would very quickly overheat (and perhaps catch fire!)
The hose looked as if it had been subject to previous (bodged) repairs and it also seemed entirely too short, barely reaching between its connections to the engine and the skin tank (other hoses I've seen that do this job lie on the engine hole floor, this was so short it was suspended above the floor.)
JB & I were dispatched to the nearest Screwfix to purchase new clips and screwdrivers (as there were very few useful tools on Jena.) With a new, broader (12mm x 40-80mm) hose clip attaching the hose we could refill the coolant system and set off.
The hose came off again.
We waited for the engine to cool, and filled Jena with water at Old Ford Lock while we waited. Then we reattached the hose more firmly and clipped off a zip-tie that seemed to be pulling on it. We also tried to keep the engine at a number of revs that didn't cause it to vibrate so much it might shake off again. This was tricky as at tick-over the engine was clearly shaking dreadfully on its mounts.
We didn't get very far before the engine overheated again, badly! This time, when we got Jena back to the towpath, her oil pressure light had also come on and the engine was not just steaming, but smoking.
After allowing the engine to cool once more, we bled the cooling system of air as we refilled it. It was clear that there had been a lot of air in the hoses and tanks that prevented us from filling it properly after the second hose repair. This airlock had caused more overheating.
Bleeding the system meant removing a very badly mangled and corroded plug from the top of the skin tank, no easy task, but just about possible with a set of mole-grip pliers. Then we filled the cooling system from the filler cap until water ran from the skin tank bleed plug. Replace the plug, continue to top up the system until full. Then we continued.
(Ideally, at this point, we should have run the engine for five minutes, then topped up the cooling system again before continuing, but we were feeling a great sense of urgency as Jena was expected at Kings Cross and several of the volunteers had time limitations - trains they had to catch etc. Also, none of us really know our way around engine problems, not being engineers, so I hope our negligence here can be forgiven.)
At last, we seemed to be able to continue with the helm's left eye almost glued to the temperature gauge which continued to jump around but seemed more settled now.
Coming up the locks towards Kings Cross.
At Sturts Lock we had to share the lock chamber with a family of swans. This meant carefully keeping the boat at the back of the lock and letting in water slowly to not swamp the cygnets. At the top of the lock we were all relieved to see them swim off.
Free at last!
Then slowly on, through Islington tunnel and at last to Kings Cross.
Moored at Granary Square, Kings Cross.
We arrived on the dot of five o'clock. A journey which should have taken less than three hours, took us at least six!
We moored on a temporary mooring on the offside, our festival mooring was not yet clear of boaters (despite two weeks notice of the mooring suspension in the area.) G, the local mooring ranger and I then spent another ninety minutes moving the errant boats so that they'd be easy for their owners to remove come morning.
This morning's patrol in Limehouse had to be called off, so my only task today was helping run a pop-up Share the Space event at Mile End lock.
DS & KD handing maplets to friendly cyclists.
We handed out about 120 maplets and chatted with a large number of cyclists and walkers. It was a beautifully warm evening, and everyone we met seemed to be in a good mood.
Then I went up to Old Ford lock, where, while reclaiming my bike tools from doing their volunteer duty, I helped a lady with her flat tyre.
I think we're going to want to have bike tools at more locks and welcome station.
So today I took a few tours, actual and virtual of Carpenters Road Lock.
For the grand reopening of the lock (officially August 28), the Canal & River Trust have commissioned an ambitious project bringing together a mass of photographic, and audio visual material for visitors on a site designed for portable devices at crl.london
This is live nowbut still being updated and adapted as new material is found, and people's views taken into account.
This morning I took a tour of the site (within the barriers!) with a group of walking tour guides. And this afternoon I repeated the same tour with our towpath ranger volunteers.
Gantry with winding gear.
Enthusiastic volunteers helping to craft the tours.
Under diamond bridges.
Details of gantry, counterweight & winding gear.
Surprisingly, I felt our rangers were more critical and had more useful stuff to add to the site than the walking guides. I think perhaps that our relatively shallow knowledge of the history of the location lead us to ask better questions about the website design and about Carpenters Road Lock in general.
The question that seemed most important came from one of ours: "Why is this lock here? And why is it important to restore it?"
The short answer, incidentally and as I understand it now, is:
The lock made the Waterworks River (above the lock) accessible for transport of goods, as it controlled the tidal water and flood levels below and above it. And that same reason is why it's been restored - only a few hundred yards away Stratford International rail station lies below ground and at risk of flooding if the Lea rises too far (in a torrential flood) - Carpenters Road Lock is part of the flood relief scheme that would help dump that flood water down to the Thames.
Today I had two tasks: to check on the new NKS/Radar lock at Rammey Marsh, and to lead a patrol from Ponders End Lock to Tottenham Locks.
The NKS/Radar Lock at Rammey Marsh.
This is the lock, DS and I fitted last month, and it has seen a little bit of duty since, with at least one user reporting: "...we have been using the gate for the past few weeks....I can’t thank you enough!"
It's still in good condition and working well. Even the signage is still in place.
I had a small run-in with a boater with a large pile of items on the towpath. I'd found this pile and then had a towpath user complain about the 'eyesore'. So I had taken a photo and sent in a report when the owner appeared from Rammey Marsh. Unfortunately, when I said what I'd done, he gave me a tirade of unpleasant and obscene abuse. I walked away, I don't need to engage with that.
I grabbed a quick lunch at the Narrowboat Cafe and zoomed South to Ponders End Locks to find GU & KD, two new towpath ranger volunteers waiting for me there.
I gave my two minute H&S talk, and welcomed them to the Trust. Then I got out some gloves and a bin bag and loaned GU my hi-vis in lieu of a uniform. And we set off towards Tottenham.
GU & KD litter picking.
On a Sunday this stretch of the River Lea towpath is heavily used by leisure cyclists; individuals, families and cycling groups are all out and most of them cycle very sensibly - clad in hi-vis, with helmets and taking the path at a very reasonable pace.
Leisure cyclists on the River Lea towpath.
Just above the North Circular I was pointing out the areas where some experimental grouting was being used to fill holes in the river bank. These holes can be very deep and treacherous for boaters mooring there so the bank had been fenced off while the holes were filled with expanding chemical foam grouting and given a few feet of topsoil. These areas need to be left to see if the experimental filling does the proper job.
Unfortunately, the unfilled bank continues to deteriorate where water penetrates the concrete and erodes the bank behind, and a new hole had just opened up. I took this photo to email to enquiries.london@canalrivertrust.org.uk
A new hole next to the filled holes.
Below the North Circular the towpath was extremely narrowed by buddleia. This is getting to be hazardous, so I took photos to email to my manager and pass on to whoever organises for this to be cut back.
Buddleia butting in!
We continued picking up litter until we reached Stonebridge lock, where we dumped the rubbish and had a very welcome cup of tea (thank you KD!) Then we strolled the last few yards to Tottenham Locks and went our separate ways home.
Today's patrol began at Limehouse Basin. I cycled down through Stratford and Mile End Park so I was able to get this pic of the lock at Commercial Road on the Regents Canal.
Commercial Road Lock No. 12.
Plaque at BWML office, Limehouse Basin.
SD and I met at the marina offices. The marina is run by BWML, which is an enterprise set up to run the marinas and moorings that BW owned, for the benefit of the Canal & River Trust.
In the workshop basement of the offices is a small area set aside for Trust volunteer stores, with a lifejacket and some gloves and tools available. To access this one needs to sign in at the office and tell them what you're doing, they get worried seeing people creeping around their basement unannounced!
I picked up a new pair of work gloves - which were to come in handy later when we manhandled some rubbish away from the towpath to bins nearby.
Proposed vistor moorings at Limehouse Basin.
The marina is proposing to add a few new visitor berths on pontoons to the right of the yellow lines in this picture (I've superimposed the lines over some buoys and lines in the water) leaving the area to the right for manoeuvring and winding. It'll be a squeeze, but I expect no real problems myself.
Foliage above Commercial Road Lock
SD and I left to walk Limehouse Cut and the Lee Navigation up to Old Ford Locks No. 19. There was immediately some foliage above Commercial Road bridge that could use some attention from shears and loppers, so we reported this.
Santander Bike
Santander Bike
Moped and Shopping Trolley
The day was cloudy but the water was impressively glassy. Being able to see the canal bed meant we could easily see things that had been left there, in this case two Santander hire bikes, a moped, and the almost-obligatory shopping trolley. These all got reported to enquiries.london@canalrivertrust.org.uk via the Jotform app, SD helpfully pointing in photos to show the location of the submerged cycle menaces.
Planning permission for 10 residential moorings.
The Limehouse Cut is under-used for mooring at the moment, but this is changing fast. As well as the new leisure moorings at Burdett Road we spotted this planning application for an offside pontoon mooring complex between Upper North Steet and Watts Grove. With a cycle store aboard a service narrowboat, that's creative thinking!
At Bow Locks we came across a towpath task force team that were rooting out plants from the brickwork and generally improving things with some quick maintenance. Another volunteer was filming with an impressive camera gimbal set-up that we admired enviously.
Just a little further along we met TO, a Trust waterways manager, who asked if we might later be able to do some anti-graffiti work. Foul-languaged graffiti is a bit of a problem on this particular stretch, and he'd like us to carry some neutral coloured spray cans to delete the foulest stuff with. We asked them to email our manager DS about it...
...who was just coming off our welcome station boat Jena, a hundred metres or so further up the navigation at Three Mills. In fact, all the staff towpath and mooring managers and rangers were there having just had a meeting. We talked operations for a little while and then moved on, along the Lee Navigation through Bow, past the Crossrail works, to Old Ford Locks No. 19.
Here S, and their team of volunteers were continuing to put work into improving the stable structure for its future use as a welcome station and base of operations for the Carpenters Road lock keeping team.
Fallen tree at Old Ford Locks No. 19.
Last week's storms had blown down this tree into the towpath here. The local volunteers were preoccupied, so I pointed it out and S said they would work to clear it.
Carpenters Road Lock
I went home via the Olympic Park, where the gantries and winding gear for Carpenters Road Lock were all installed, along with the gate buffers. This is coming along fast now!
This afternoon I was on patrol again. This time with CG, a new volunteer out with me for their first towpath ranger patrol.
Naturally it involved an enormous number of overflowing bins. Including one that seems to have gone missing from alongside the East Wick service mooring - this may be in an effort to discourage boaters from leaving anything there, but does seem, on the face of it, a retrogressive step.
Wick Woodland
It was disappointing to see the mess some people are making of the towpath at Wick Woodland too, I expect a team of volunteers will be back to clear this up at some point.
These boards and bikes seem both to have been left behind.
We slowly worked our way upstream. At the Lea Rowing Club we distributed some maplets and heard the complaints of the rowers: too much debris in the river south of Lea Bridge, too much weed in the river near the landing stages.
The weed really was impressive, it's reached the surface alongside the landing stages here, so I'm not surprised rowers are getting their paddles caught, which to a training athlete can lead to a straining injury!
Spot the bicycle!
Above the LRC, there were more overflowing bins and yet more rubbish pulled from the canal. We reported it and carried on. But on our way we met a young American bagging up towpath rubbish and taking it away! They weren't a Trust volunteer so I expressed my most effusive praise and pressed them with a volunteering leaflet.
At the locks at Tottenham we eventually stopped and discussed the working of electrically controlled locks, and I showed C the controls for the locks there. C has come from our recruitment of volunteers for Carpenters Road Lock and they're part of our heritage work there. Carpenters Road will also be electrically operated, but lacking paddles may be even simpler to work than these automated gates.
