Protesters from the camp recently outside St Paul’s Cathedral have arrived on the towpath just upstream of Lea Bridge.

They claim to be supporting local opposition to a temporary an air hall housing basketball training courts for the London 2012 Games.

The site is on the Porter’s Field of Leyton Marsh near the footbridge leading to Middlesex Wharf.

The Johan Zoffany exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts has at least one picture of Luton.

It shows the three daughters of Lord Bute in 1763 when he was prime minister. The girls are grouped round a tree at Luton Hoo near the archeway entrance.

A painting of the sons is in siimilar countryside although is it not confirmed at Bedfordshire.

Also by a tree, athough in Italy, is the 3rd Earl Cowper. His statley home was Panshager Park at Cole Green near Hertford (see page 54) but he spent most of his time in Florence where Zoffany caught up with him.

Johan Zoffany RA: Society Observed is at the Royal Academy of Arts in Piccadilly from Saturday 10 March to Sunday 10 June; admission £9 (conc £7).

Yes, that was St Anne’s Limehouse in last night’s Call The Midwife on BBC1.

The church exterior was used for the wedding of the midwife (Miranda Hart) and the police constable.

“The work to complete many of the environmental improvements at the Olympic Park and secure a green legacy for future generations was completed today,” claimed the Environment Agency on Monday 6 February.

It’s a signifiant achievement for the Queen’s 60th anniversary day.

“The River Lea is now healthier than at any time over the last 20 years,” added the EA. Highlighted is the removal Japanese Knotweed, Himalayan Balsam and Floating Pennywort which once chocked the river.

More than 35 kilometres of new cycleways and footpaths have been secured for the Olympic Park. Unfortunately the planned Lea Valley Walk section alongside Bow Creek which was due to open in May has not been built.

Greater Anglia has taken over the railway franchise from National Express East Anglia from today.

All trains from Liverpool Street up the valley to Hertford East are now operated by the Dutch railway company Abellio under the name Greater Anglia.

The franchise is planned to last during the Olympic Year and is subject to review in 2014.

Planned changes include extending the Oyster card the end of the line.

It’s just a month to go before Nicholson’s pubs will be serving Three Mills pale ale.

It is the first in a series brewed in honour of William Nicholson who founded the pubs in 1873.

This was a year after he had purchased Three Mills, near the end of the Lea Valley Walk, for his J&W Nicholson & Co gin company. Distilling continued until 1941.

Three Mills Pale Ale, brewed by Nethergate in Essex, is available from Saturday 3 March.

According the Sunday Mirror there are plans to revive the Big Breakfast TV show for the Olympics and broadcast from Old Ford Lock.

The lock cottages were the TV studio for a decade when the programme was on Channel 4. It is understood that the house could be available again during the period of the Olympic Games.

Old Ford Lock is yards from the main Olympic Arena.

It’s Walk London‘s Winter Wanders weekend on 28 and 29 January and again there is a Lea Valley walk.

Walking towards the Games: The Glorious Lea Valley starts at 11am on Saturday at Tottenham Hale Station.

The three hour walk is free and goes south all the way to Limehouse.

Plans for the extension to the Lea Valley Walk have suddenly been put on hold.

This summer it was expected that a long-planned riverside path from Three Mills to the Thames would be in place along the River Lea’s final tidal stretch known as Bow Creek.

The London Thames Gateway Corporation has achieved the required planning permissions and compulsory purchase but work did not begin last autumn.

At present the climax to the fifty mile route is along the Limehouse Cut used by the navigation despite much promotion of the scheme for the alternative path linking two parts of the valley’s regional park.

Now, following transfer of £34 million of assets from the London Thames Gateway Corporation to the Greater London Authority, London Assembly member John Biggs has called on Mayor Boris Johnson to continue the regeneration project in East London and not sell the assets to raise funds.

“The responsibility for Lea River Park is being transferred and I am concerned that the lack of regeneration funding from central Government may mean that schemes like this are not delivered with assets being sold and not reinvested for the benefit of East London’s regeneration,” says John Biggs.

“By extending a strand of the park down to the Thames, together with other steps I believe we can help to spread the benefits of the Olympic Park regeneration down towards the River Thames. This would have enormous potential benefit for East London and for my constituents.”

Mooring south of Lea Bridge during the London Olympics will cost a lot more than usual.

The growing row with British Waterways is reported in The Independent.