This series of walks for 2026 is from the book Beyond the End of the Line by Jeff Lock. Each walk starts at the terminus station of London's eight underground lines. This walk starts at Walthamstow and explores Walthamstow High Street and the Wetlands, ending at Tottenham Hale station.
Arriving at Walthamstow tube station I made my way through the town centre towards Walthamstow High Street.
Walthamstow High Street is around 0.7 miles long and continues into Coppermill Lane for another mile. The market has stall upon stall stacked with all sorts of things including here loads of fruit. Being a Friday morning it was very busy.
Halfway along the first of the road works which had to be negotiated round. The stalls have now gone but still lots of shops.
The road becomes Coppermill Lane and the signs, with some humour, gives you a foretaste of what to expect when you reach the Wetlands. The River Lee is crossed.
Continuing along Coppermill Lane with waterworks on one side and a large reservoir on the other.
The far end of Coppermill Lane and then I turn off and enter the Wetlands.
First inside the Wetlands is Coppermill Tower, a former mill, and an observation tower at the top but at the moment it is fenced off. The adjacent pumping station.
Crossing a bridge takes me into the next section of the Wetlands.
From here the path weaves between several large reservoirs.
The views are superb. The occasional fisherman is seen and there is plenty of wildlife.
The final expanses of water.
I approach the visitor centre in the Engine House. After here I left the wetlands and lunched in the Ferry Boat Inn. There is a second half of the walk from here along the River Lee but I decided to call it a day and after lunch made my way along to Tottenham Hale tube station and back home.
This week I complete the second half of the walk, exploring the area north of Ferry Lane, the Wetlands and Lee Navigation
Arriving back at Tottenham Hale tube station I made my way through the roadworks into Ferry Lane and along it to reach the Ferry Boat Inn where I would lunch later.
Just after the Inn I turned off along Coppermill Stream then Maynard Reservoir. Being a lovely sunny day it looked magnificent.
Soon I reach the large Lockwood Reservoir and I took the path running at the top of its bank, reached via a steep set of steps.
For the next half a mile I enjoyed a magnificent view of the reservoirs each side of the path. But there was a quite stiff cold breeze which I had to fight.
The reservoir is clearly not full. Eventually I leave it via another set of steps.
Down the steps and then over a branch of the River Lee.
The path reaches some houses then turns off to cross the river again.
Here the route crosses open space towards the Lee Navigation canal. There was some confusion on which path I should take as both went towards the left, after following my first choice I changed my mind and took the other one which joined the canal a little further up.
Much of the canal had boats moored for the winter. Stonebridge Lock where the path crossed to the other side. Then further down towards Tottenham Hale.
Approaching Tottenham Hale and Tottenham Lock where the walk finished, arriving back to Ferry Lane. I lunched as planned in the Ferry Boat Inn before making my way back home.