Glad you enjoyed the trip hatti. Yes, the towpath is a rather narrow in places. I don't know whether you went down the Limehouse Cut but I find that the scariest part when it's busy as it's not only narrow but there's a long drop to the water as well. I hope I didn't mislead you by saying it was mostly flat – the hills you refer to I think of more as ramps.
Strangely, in many years of cycling down there, I've never negotiated the Bow roundabout. It may be my cowardice but as a leisure cyclist there's no real need to. I'm usually travelling north-south and while I used to walk the bike across the two carriageways under the flyover they've now built a boarded path under the bridge over the river, so I go under it all now.
To go east-west, say between the Olympic Park and Victoria Park, I'd use either the Hertford Canal or the Victoria Walk Greenway, which I think is fully open again now, though possibly not well signed. I think it's mostly commuter cyclists in a hurry that use the roundabout - or brave Essex Wooshers!
You must set aside another day and explore the more northerly parts of the Lea valley sometime – it's a bit quieter up here.
