"The Colorado river is not a patch on this!"

"The Colorado river is not a patch on this!" said our new kayak club coach. But he was joking.

We were making our way down a stream from the old River Lea to the Lea Navigation which we can only attempt when the water is higher than normal and the vegetation is not too much. It is still shallow with a couple of places where you either push yourself along, get out and pull your boat, or rely on someone already out of their boat to pull you. It was amazing that two open canoes managed to get through as, as well as shallow, it is  very narrow (one metre wide in places) with bends.

It is not pretty, especially this time of year, with scrubby growth in mud either side for a few yards, between the concrete walls, with the scruffy warehouses on top.

It is a route I haven't done for several years, and many paddling it yesterday had never done it.

On the adult Hertford Weir trip that afternoon, Aurelia, who hadn't been with us in the morning, said Patrick, her son, had come home all excited..

London is lucky with all its parks, heath and walks. But even scruffy urban green areas are of high value and should not be under-estimated.