A Walk Along The River Ching

From Connaught Waters to Chingford Hatch

The Cuckoo Brook trickles its way across Chingford Plains and flows into the River Ching. To find the exact spot, I started my walk at Queen Elizabeth's Hunting Lodge and the signpost pointing towards the Willow Trail.

As I began to walk across the grasslands, something strange was happening beneath my feet. The earth was gently undulating: waves that lifted and lowered, lifted and lowered.

Whether this was caused by the forces of nature or activities by people over the years I do not know. I was still wondering about it when I noticed the sound of geese on the other side of the trees: now I was close to Connaught Waters.

Hidden in the branches a Chiff Chaff was counting down for me:

chiff chaff chiff chaff chiff chaff chiff chaff

then

chiff chaff chiff chaff chiff chaff

followed by

chiff chaff chiff chaff.

And now I was there.

The River Ching

I had imagined that I would be able to walk along the banks of the river, perhaps even spotting a Kingfisher along the way but almost immediately the river disappeared into a dense tangle of thicket. I walked along the path which seemed to be heading in the same direction so that I would hopefully find the Ching again.

And very soon I came across the river - and a road, with a sign that said, "Welcome to Essex".

This part of the River Ching marks the boundary between London and the county of Essex. There is something really quite lovely that town planners have noticed this modest little river and decided that it should be the border between the capital city and the surrounding countryside.

A natural line, drawn by nature and recognised by important people who make such decisions.

Except that it isn't entirely natural - over the centuries, it has been dammed and the course the river has been altered.

Some of the dams are natural - formed by falling trees and slowing down the flow of the water. This is of benefit to the people who live further downstream and whose homes are in danger of being flooded: when the water is held back, it allows more water to soak into the ground and reduces the volume.

When there is a spell of dry, hot weather, the soil - London clay - bakes and forms a vessel so that if it is followed by heavy rain the water is held there.

At each dam, the water appeared quite still on one side but on the other the water was trickling along the riverbed.

A natural dam

I looked over at the sign, "Welcome to Essex" and said a silent, "No thank you." I wanted to stay within the boundary of East London and would try to remain on the London side of the river.

After all, it is the byways of London that I wanted to explore.

But the ground was very uneven and there were so many trip hazards that I decided to follow a trail close to the river. The track meandered this way and that, leading away from the course of the river and then back again.

The banks of the river

As I walked through Epping Forest on that Spring day I found myself experiencing seatherny, which is the serenity felt when listening to birdsong in nature.

And then I came across a courting couple - just the two of them, enjoying a private moment. Two wild ducks - or mallards. And further along, another romantic liaison - two geese together.

The track led out to Whitehall Plain and up the hillside of Hatch Grove, where the river bed was much deeper and the banks steeper, with dramatic twists and turns and hairpin bends.

The twists and turns of the Ching

Every now and again a tree lay across the track, where nature had arranged to position a road block.

Nature's road block

Then the track became a path

and the path became a lane

and the lane became a road.

The path became a lane

And then, quite suddenly, as if waking from a dream, I found myself at Chingford Hatch and the River Ching had disappeared amongst the houses.

From Chingford Hatch to Hale End

Across from Whitehall Plain I came across a wooden signpost, pointing in the direction of Highams Park Lake. I headed down the wide, open path and glanced at the tracks that led off from it: I was tempted to explore one of them because I spotted so many blue bells in the distance.

We wait and wait for bluebells to appear every year. Sometimes they are delayed because of the weather; and when they finally arrive they only survive a few weeks.

Blue bells

But I wanted to find the river again so I continued straight along where the signpost had pointed and then I saw a bridge ahead of me.

A bridge ahead!

Now I had to decide whether to cross over or not. It's possible to walk either side of the river here and as the river makes its mysterious twists and turns it disappears and re-appears again.

Twisting and turning

The Ching leads down to Highams Park Lake and runs alongside it. Here there is another bridge and this time I decided to walk along the path on the lake side of the river where there are views across the lake.

At the far side of the lake, there is a deep weir where the water gushes continally. I stopped to watch this miniature water fall. I don't think I have ever walked past it without pausing to look - there is something mesmerising about a constant flow, an eternal and never ending stream.

From here, I crossed the road where there is a roadsign warning of frogs and toads crossing in the Spring and entered the woodland that is Walthamstow Forest.

But very soon the river disappeared once more and I knew that I would have to leave the forest, turn left and then left again where at the end of the row of houses I would once again be able to find the river.

Along the path I came across another bridge and stopped to look at the river. So close to houses and yet only the sounds of the birds singing in trees and the sound of the water could be heard.

A view from the bridge

The path led out on to Vincent Green and I walked across the grass, speckled with daisies, so that I could stay close to the river. Here I came across a solitary bee.

A solitary bee on Vincent Green

The path continues alongside the houses of of Hale End. Just like Chingford Hatch where I had started this stretch of the walk it was once a hamlet. Now both have been swallowed up by the urban sprawl of London.

And so the River Ching will continue to flow through this built up landscape until it reaches the River Lea.

And the Lea will flow into the Thames.

And the Thames into the Sea.

#RiverChing #ConnaughtWaters #ChingfordHatch #HaleEnd #CuckooBrook