The Open Guide to London: the free London guide

The Limehouse Cut was built in the mid-18th century to create a short-cut between the River Lee and that part of the Thames through the City of London, avoiding the long southward loop of the Thames round the Isle of Dogs. It saved sailing barges coming down the Lee to trade to London from having to wait for the tide before beating round the long southward loop of the Thames around the Isle of Dogs.

Its long, straight but narrow and occasionally stepped towpath is a dreary walk through post-industrial East London, but cycling along it is no longer prohibited.

-- Aegidian