Glen Faba

A Memory of Hoddesdon.

Oh what lovely memories come flooding back, my mum and I would walk the winding river towpath from Glen Faba, where we lived, to Dobbs Weir, fish and minnow watching as we went along our way. In the summer my mum would get a hire row boat out from the man in the Fish and Eels pub garden, oh it was always sooo exciting - being so careful not to fall in the water, as we climbed into the boat, and then we were off, taking it in turns to row and not hit or get hit by the bigger boats along the river. We would row all the way to the lock at Glen Faba, near the power station, and back again, taking in all the sights and smells along the way. The fish, so clearly visable beside the boat, although my hands were never fast enough to catch one! And the wonderful array of fowl, moorhens, mallards, and of course the majestic swans, the reeds, the bullrushes and grasses all slowly drifting by in the beautiful sunshine, then it was back to the Fish and Eels, where we had a picnic on the grass with cream soda (when I was 9 years old and I had a Babycham from the Fish and Eels!) and then off for a swimming lesson in Dobbs Weir, this was where I learnt to swim, all those years ago. My wonderful mum, standing thigh-deep in the water, would hold me with her protective hands, while I kicked and flayed and tried to get 'this swimming thing', I don't know when exactly, but one day there it was, I'd done it! I was swimming all by myself! I have so many wonderful memories of Dobbs Weir, Glen Faba and Rye house, WONDERFUL.

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