Peaceful mooring right below Enfield Lock
Another contented old bird.......
The stuffed and mounted narrowboat - but perhaps it is floating.....
The weir at Enfield - the River Lea runs alongside the Lee Navigation and there is a network of waterways where wildfowl flourish. The pub burned down and surely will soon rise again as a smart restaurant/bar to serve the population of the Island "community".
The old Royal Ordnance Factory - where the classic Lee Enfield rifles were made, was part of a huge weapons manufacturing complex. Water from the Lee drove the machinery and transported goods. Further up the valley, the Royal Gunpowder Mills produced the stuff that went bang. Part of the works has been converted into a fairly stylish "village", with some of the waterways used as landscaping. An appropriately marked narrowboat has been stuffed and mounted into a pool as a feature - but it can never leave as the waterway is blocked by some solid looking pipework. Pretty nice place to live, although whoever designed the ridiculous windows on the new-build should be fired this day. What us so difficult about a sash window?
Part of the waterways through the Ordnance site - there are numerous very useful "interpretive" panels around the site descibing some of its history. Well done, someone !
The sixth (or seventh) empty,boarded-up, lock-keeper's cottage we have seen this trip. British Waterways have a load of highly-paid Directors....all of whom seem to have got bonuses as well over the previous year. Maybe one of the performance indicators they use is the number of valuable and desirable properties they can leave lying around instead of earning rent ? it is a disgrace.
Funny old world - there is apparently plenty of money to paint the underneath of the vile, polluting M25, but nothing to maintain the waterways...............grump,grump......
In contrast, the delightfully designed and maintaned "Government Row" - originally, presumably, housing for workers at the Factory. Floating along the bank of the Navigation are frames which hold plants and provide nesting places for birds. they are clearly popular. Why do developers have such trouble designing decent houses ? These have a flat brick wall to the front, with four holes in it. How simple is that ? With decent windows, the result is perfect. Encore !
