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Title: Cycling the Lee Navigation from Waltham Abbey to Ware.
Creator: Steve of N21


Description:
One of my favourite pastimes on a decent summer’s day is to cycle along the Lee Navigation along its well kept tow paths.
This you can do from deepest Hertfordshire all the way to the Thames in central London if you choose.
However a particularly pleasant part is the section in Hertfordshire from Waltham Abbey, just over the border in Essex to Ware in deepest Hertfordshire. This takes in the areas of Cheshunt, Broxbourne, and Saint Margarets.
The beauty of this route is that you can start and stop at any point along its path as the train line from Waltham Abbey to Ware runs parallel with the Lee with many stops between the two. So you can do as little or as much as you care and return by train to your starting point and obviously , you can do it in either direction.
Sadly the available pubs in Waltham Abbey and Ware do not do justice to the historic towns at either end of this cycle, but fortunately the pubs in between are fairly decent and although most are food orientated chain pubs they all benefit from good riverside locations, some superbly so.



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The Crown (1)
The centre of Waltham Abbey within its surrounding ring road is a charming old town and was mistakenly, for a long time, believed to have more heads per number of population than any other town. It does have a lot of pubs but unfortunately most are uninsp
The Maltsters (2)
Then the tow path takes you north, first to Cheshunt, where you may wish to drop off the navigation to one of the three pubs by Cheshunt station and I have included the Maltsters, as it is probably the best of the three but unfortunately another McMullens
Crown (3)
I usually don’t bother with Cheshunt and push on to Broxbourne and to The Crown which, although a Vintage Inn food orientated pub does have a range of good ales and a splendid outside garden area by the river.
  • Crown has 5 pictures
  • Crown has 3 recommendations
  • Crown has an average rating of 6.5
Fish & Eels (4)
Then further on to Hoddesdon and to an area known as Dobbs Wier and to the Fish and Eels. I always stop here, not only though historical attachment, but also due to its superb location overlooking the wier and in my experience it’s one of the better Viint
Rye House (5)
Then cycling further up the tow path, making sure you take the Ware spur of the navigation, will bring you to Rye House, an area famous for its major Go-Carting centre where Lewis Hamilton learnt his trade. The pub that takes its name from the area looks
The Jolly Fisherman (6)
Further up the Tow path is the small settlement of St Mararets with its train station and three pubs. The Jolly Fisherman benefits from a riverside location and has an excellent green area outside which allows you to sit by the river and watch the world g
The George IV (7)
And then back on the tow path for the final stretch into Ware. But here you have a choice, either to stay on the navigation or cycle past the train station to the River Cliff which runs parallel to the Lee Navigation. Personally I would take the River Cli
The Royal Oak (8)
As mentioned in the crawl description the pubs in Ware really do not do this old historic town justice. Suffice to say I haven’t bothered to be there in a while to review them. The two large establishments that sit on the bridge in the middle of town (The