Olympic Park and Bow Creek

It's been a while since I have written anything on this blog. Not that much to report as I haven't been on any major cruises for more than two years (way too long!). Last week I went on a little round trip though that is worth describing, as not very many people do it: a couple of hours going round the Olympic Park, through a very unusual lock, another massive lock, a tidal creek and another lock that is hardly ever used.

Another boater posted on facebook that he was planning to do this trip, so I signed up for it and also found two crew who wanted to come along. The locks had to be pre-booked through CRT as they are all operated by lock keepers. If you want to do it, you need to book Carpenters Road Lock, Three Mills Lock and Bow Lock in this order. And do look at the tide times beforehand. You need to go onto Bow Creek on the incoming tide with enough water to navigate, but enough time to get you round before the tide turns.

This is the route we took:

The day of the planned trip saw the tail end of storm Ciara and there were still very strong gusts. We had originally planned to go down Bow Creek all the way to where it flows into the Thames, turn around and go back onto the canal at Bow. But with the strong winds we decided that it would be better to shorten it and just go back through Bow lock without venturing down to the Thames. Being a bit of a chicken I had tied my anchor at the Bow ready to be deployed anyway should we get swept out to sea! Fortunately it was not required.

Olympic Park outer loop

We started at Bow lock on the Lea navigation side and went up the Lea for a little bit. There is a new development here with more high rise buildings to come, but a sign says that they are also building a park and some new moorings. And a massive winding hole by the looks of it.

 

The first challenge was a right turn just after Bow onto the outer loop of the Olympic Park. The gusts hit us hard trying to turn the corner. Directly after the turn we had chimney alert number one as we approached the first very low bridge. Taking down the chimney became quite a regular task on the trip.  We were now going through the Olympic Park past the main stadium and the Arcelor Mittal Orbit.

Carpenters Road Lock

After about 15 minutes, we reached the meeting point with the other boat at Carpenters Road Lock.

This lock is unique, as it is a radial lock with the gates being rolled up and down similar to the Thames Barrier. Like the Thames Barrier, it was originally built as a flood defence to control water coming up on the incoming tide from the Thames and water flowing down the Lea after heavy rain. The radial gates allow it to be closed quickly if needed. It was built in 1934 and protected the businesses around the tidal creeks in this area. When the businesses left, it fell into disrepair in the 1960s. When the Olympic Games happened in 2012, Carpenters Road Lock was still non-functional. It was restored and reopened in 2017 and now can be booked for free to access the inner loop of the Olympic Park, which is well worth it.

As we were waiting for the lock keeper we had time to admire the lock and the Diamond Bridge.

The Diamond Bridge provides a lot of photo opportunities

Waiting for the lock keeper

After a short wait, three lock keepers turned up! They were going to follow us round to open each lock in turn. I initially thought that three people was a bit excessive, but actually it was just right as two held the ropes for the two boats and one operated the lock. It was very windy in the lock, so being held to the side turned out to be useful.

Gate goes up ...

... and we enter the lock.

Not much happens in the lock as the levels on both sides are almost the same.

And .... the other gate goes up and we leave.

Olympic Park inner loop

After the lock there was another sharp turn to the right and - you guessed it - strong gusts blowing us to the other side. But we made it round and entered the inner loop of the park. I think this is the more interesting side as more of the park is visible from the water and boats pass the Aquatic Centre and a number of other features.

Before this area was developed for the Olympics in 2012, what now looks like canals would have been tidal creeks. Twice a day the creeks would have fallen almost dry and revealed stinky mud banks. I guess that was not the desired look for the Olympic Games. So a brandnew lock was built at Three Mills to keep the water level in the park (more on that later). But the canals in the park are still enclosed by quite high concrete walls that make the viewing from the water less nice than it could be if the banks were a bit lower. There is also no place to moor in the whole park. While it is free to steer a boat through the channels, it is not allowed to stop anywhere, which is a pity.

I have always wondered what these coloured "pencils" are for. Still no idea.

One swan on the naughty step.

Approaching the Aquatic Centre.

This area was one of the best with beautiful sunshine and a bit less blustery than elsewhere.

Once through the Olympic Park itself we were now heading towards Three Mills Lock, the aforementioned new lock built to regulate the water level in the park. But first we passed a number of new developments and some allotments. It was a fascinating experience to see this area from the water as on land it would be quite difficult to get round like this.

The picture below is City Mill Lock on the right, which would have taken us back onto the outer loop and ultimately to the Lea. But today we were turning left to continue toward Three Mills.

A new development with really nice colouring. Sadly only temporary.

And as a last bit of nature in this area, some allotments.

A particularly blustery stretch.

Not forgetting that we are still in very low bridge territory.

The picture below shows the new Three Mills residential moorings with the towers of Canary Wharf in the background. If these boats want to go out, they have to book a lock first! Fortunately our companion boat knew to turn left here toward the lock. I would have gone on straight into the moorings. Despite there being a lot of signs around (warning of oncoming traffic!), there was little actual guidance which way to go.

Having turned the corner, we saw what looked like a pile of shopping trolleys in the water. As we got closer, we saw that it was actually a barrier to guide us into the lock rather than over the weir. It looked like some pretty serious hardware.

Three Mills Lock

So now we had reached the new Three Mills Lock, opened in 2009. This lock is massive, more like a lock on a modern commercial shipping canal. It was built big enough to support barges with building materials for the Olympic venues coming into the channels.

As a consequence, there is a lot of water rushing out of the lock when locking down, so the flow was very strong. Together with the wind this proved quite a challenge, but the lock keepers were great at keeping us all safe.

Being blown about in the huge lock.

All safe at the side.

Finally we are also safe at the side.

Bow Creek

Now we were on to a first time adventure for me. On the other side of Three Mills Lock lay the tidal Bow Creek and no more locks between us and the Thames. The change in environment was immediate. The picture below shows the exit of the lock looking back on the left and on the right you can just about make out the big weir. A lot of water was rushing down the weir and we got hit by the current when leaving the lock. For the first time ever I could feel my boat going over waves!

Lock on the left, weir on the right. 

So now we were on the tidal river with sloping mudbanks on both sides. It was about 1.5h before high tide so quite a lot of water. Shortly after the lock we reached a junction. Turning left goes into a short loop on the Channelsea river, a journey that we saved for another day. Turning right took us round to the front of the actual Three Mills.
 

Admiring the gas holders near the junction.

Muddy banks.

Then turning round a bend we were suddenly very close to Three Mills Island. There have been tidal mills here for hundreds of years. House Mill is the largest tidal mill in the world and well worth a visit. There are guided tours here on Sundays.

The Lea Navigation runs directly parallel here only separated by the tow path and a flood wall. I have seen the mills many times from the Lea with its reliable water level. Usually the basin that we were in right now was mostly dry when I had seen it previously.

Looking back toward Three Mills Island.

Bow Lock

We now reached the end of our adventure at Bow Lock. The area where today's Bow double locks (built in 1850) sit has a very long history. A kind of "lock" has existed here since the 1300s. The early locks did not have a lock chamber, but were simple structures with single gates which closed when the water level was different and opened when the water level was equal. This was done to enable the navigation of the river Lea to continue even when the tide went out. Twice a day when the tide was right boats from the Lea were able to continue down to the Thames. During those days there were often conflicts over water as the tidal mills also needed the water for their operation.

When the current modern locks were built in the 19th century, high tides still overtopped the locks and fed the river and canal system beyond. In 2000 a new higher flood gate was built at Bow Lock, which stopped the tide coming in.

But back to our journey. As the lock keepers hadn't arrived yet, we ventured a few hundred metres further down Bow Creek before turning round to go up to the lock. In the wide basin below the lock the wind was very strong and kept blowing us toward the muddy bank on one side. With the river being tidal I was wary of shallow areas and tried to stay in the middle as best as I could, but it was very challenging. We had to hover there for a while with nowhere for shelter and no lock landing. Hovering meant going up and down as staying still was impossible.

Being blown about in the basin.

As the lock keepers arrived we started making our way back up to the lock. Our companion boat was blown to one side and got grounded just before the lock. I was afraid that if we were to try to pull them off we'd be blown onto them and get ourselves stuck as well. So we made a dash for the safety of the lock and watched if they could get themselves free. It shouldn't have taken long as the tide was supposedly coming in. But it didn't happen. They were well and truly stuck.

Stuck ...

Waiting ...

 Eventually we ferried one of the lock keepers over to them to help get them off the mud.

Eventually they managed to push off and join us in the lock. I learnt later that due to the storm surges the Thames Barrier was closed on the day, so the tide did not come in as strongly as normal.

The operation of the lock was quite complex as the lock has four gates. As already mentioned there is the outer higher flood gate, which was closed first. Then the inner actual lock bottom gate was closed. Then the inner top gate was opened and both boats went forward, before the water was gently let into the lock to get us back up to the level of the Lea. 

One of the lock keepers told us that this lock is very rarely used. Especially in the winter a boat goes through here only every couple of months. I have walked over the white bridge many times and was so pleased that finally I was able to actually go through this lock.

In Bow Lock.

View of Bow Locks from the bridge. Only the right hand side lock is still operational.

The listed bridges over the locks built in the 1930s.

This brought us back to our starting point. It was quite an adventure, mainly due to the wind. This is a lovely round trip that can be done in about 1.5-2h. And on another maybe warmer and less windy day I would still love to go down the Bow Creek all the way to the Thames.

And a big thank you is due to the competent and friendly lock keepers who helped us round and were in good spirits throughout even when things got a little difficult at times.