Islington Tunnel

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City Road Basin and Lock

There appears to be lots of building works going on at the far end of City Road Basin.

City Road Lock has modern flats alongside, some of which have fantastic looking roof terraces.

Hertford Union Canal

The Hertford Union Canal leaves the Regent's Canal under a footbridge. It's just over a mile long and leads to the Lee Navigation. It's also known as Duckett's Cut, after George Duckett who financed it.

Regent's Canal locks 2

Lock 8 is Old Ford Lock, which has what I guess used to be stables alongside. Above the lock are visitor moorings, which were full with boats. It's quite a nice spot, next to Victoria Park, Actons Lock (below) is number 7, in a much more built up area.

Below is the stretch leading to Sturt's Lock.

Mile End Lock

Mile End Lock is overlooked by a lovely double-fronted cottage, with the most extraordinary extension on the side. Personally, I quite like it.

Regent's Canal locks

On Sunday, we decided we'd walk a few miles up the Regent's Canal from Limehouse. We were aiming for King's Cross, five miles away.

The first lock heading in this direction is Lock 12, Commercial Road Lock (above), which leads out from Limehouse Basin. Lock 11, Salmons Lane Lock, (below) is not far away and currently has a building site next to it.

Lock 10, Johnson's Lock, already has flats alongside.
Below is Mile End Road bridge, with Mile End Lock, No 9, beyond.

Duke's Cut

This is Duke's Cut, the link between Limehouse and Bow Creek.

Limehouse Basin

Here's nb Axe turning in the basin, and mooring up on a pontoon. One of the interesting things about Limehouse basin is the different types of modern architecture on show. Some of the flats have a distinctly 1980s look about them, while other blocks are clearly much more recent.

Limehouse Lock

On Sunday morning, we walked from our hotel along to Limehouse basin. It soon became clear that something was about to happen. The lock keeper first topped up the lock, then emptied it, then went and had a look out at the river. A minute or two later, we spotted a small dot coming round the corner from central London.

As we suspected, it was a narrowboat. The helmsman made his turn from the far side of the river quite early, and drifted sideways down the river on the current.

He'd judged it just right, and made a completely trouble-free entry into Limehouse. I suspect he'd done this before, especially when he apologised to the lock keeper for being a minute late!

Once the boat, called Axe, was in the lock and secure, the lock keeper began filling the lock. The amount of water coming in was quite spectacular, and it took only a short time for the lock to fill.