Regent's Canal

Please click on a picture for a larger version and some additional pictures.

Starting from Paddington the canal passes through the following places of interest:-

Maida Hill Tunnel The tunnel is 274 yards long and has an interesting cafe over the entrance at the Paddington end.
Blow Up Bridge At 3am 2nd October 1874 the barge Tilbury carrying gunpowder to a quarry in the midlands exploded at this point. The explosion killed 3 people and demolished the bridge. When the bridge was rebuilt the same columns were reused but installed at 180 degrees to their original position to allow for more rope wear from boat tow ropes. The pillars on the towpath side therefore have the unique feature of tow rope wear on both sides!
London Zoo London Zoo is the world's oldest scientific zoo and was opened in 1828. Very little of it can be seen from the canal apart from the rather exotically designed Lord Snowdon's aviary that was opened in 1964
Camden Market Camden Market is a thriving area adjacent to the canal. Look for the rather less than helpful sign beside the canal advising "Liverpool 302 miles"
Islington Tunnel Islington Tunnel is the major engineering work on this canal and it is 976 yards long. There is no towpath through the tunnel and so originally boats had to be "legged" through by their crew.. A steam tug was installed in 1826 to drag boats through and that was replaced by a diesel powered one in the 1930's. It is no longer in use as all boats today have their own power.
Bizarre architecture! There are many examples of bizarre modern architecture on the stretch of canal from Camden through to Limehouse. Click on the picture to see some examples.