London Rivers Week 2026: What the River Wants Walk

23/05/2026

Start: Leeside

10:00 – 17:00

Free (booking required)

→ This event has already happened

Start: Leeside, 34 Spring Lane, London, E5 9HQ

A guided riverside walk with artist Emma Smith along the River Lea to listen closely to the river and the many forms of life it sustains.

Created in collaboration with local organisations and initiatives working to support the Lea’s ecology – including Eco ACTIVE, Leaside Trust, East London Waterworks Park, Rewilding the Old Lea, Cody Dock, community gardeners and local ecologists - this walk offers a rare opportunity to hear directly from those caring for the river. Along the route, we’ll meet practitioners, rangers, and researchers who will share insights into restoration, rewilding, and the challenges facing this vital urban waterway.

Rooted in the ideas of river rights and agency, What the River Wants invites participants to walk withthe river – to attend to its voices, its rhythms, and the multi-species ecologies it harbours, weaving a journey of multiple perspectives.

The day will commence with a banner making workshop using thermachromic paint that changes colour as temperatures rise from the blue of the river to the green of algal blooms: a natural indicator of river health.

This is a moment for walkers and wanderers of all kinds - including policymakers, community organisers, and curious residents - whether you know the River Lea well or are discovering it for the first time – to connect, reflect, imagine and share perspectives and experiences to explore how stronger connections between communities and grassroots groups can support more resilient, living rivers.

Tracing a path through marshes, towpaths, and rewilded urban landscapes the walk reveals a patchwork of habitats and community led projects shaping the Lea’s future. Expect encounters with pollinators, wetlands, volunteer initiatives, and unexpected pockets of urban wildness.

Participants seated around tables in a bright riverside community hall, talking and drawing together

A participant holds up a small hand-painted fabric flag reading 'Keep it flowing', with a dark green river winding through the letters

A line of walkers follows the towpath beside the River Lea past a moored boat, with open marshland stretching behind

The walking group pauses at a railing beneath the trees, looking out over the river below

The river seen from above, narrowboats moored along both banks, as the walking group follows the pale path through the grass

An aerial view of the river dividing at a small weir and footbridge, with narrowboats moored along tree-lined banks

The group walks away down a broad concrete path between summer trees, sunhats on and bags over shoulders

Walkers pause among planters of herbs and salad leaves in a floating garden, with narrowboats and a graffiti-covered footbridge behind

Four walkers head along a sunlit towpath beside a line of moored narrowboats, one shading herself with a folded map

Two swans and their eight grey cygnets swim through duckweed and algae on the green water beside a wooden jetty

Walkers lean on the black railings of a riverside path, looking down at the water; one writes in a notebook beside a large photographic artwork mounted on the fence

The group gathers at an ecology information board on the riverbank while a guide speaks, a butterfly-painted bridge arching over the tidal river behind