You can get into trouble anywhere, although in the past 3 years I personally have only had problems at Broadway Market (Cambridge Heath) and certainly there have been spates of break-in in Victoria Park every year/6 months which is just down the cut. Generally i will stop in Victoria park, but not Broadway market. Mile End park, which is just down from Victoria park is nice and i would stop there if you want to break up the trip from Islington to Limehouse, but i wouldn't leave the boat unattended overnight. Kings cross has quite a lot of mooring space and is relatively safe. Camden you should avoid at the weekend (it just gets really busy with drunk people) but if you can find a spot at the Chalk farm visitor moorings then definitely stop there as there are gates that get locked overnight with BW, sorry, CaRT keys on them which gaurd the moorings. The last 3 times i have been there its been full though and there is no double breasting. The Islington visitor moorings also get locked up overnight and you can double breast there (even triple if you want to) so there is a higher likelihood of you finding a space. Little Venice/Paddington basin area is great, if you can put up with the soulless high rise buildings and high winds then i recommend Paddington basin, look for the moorings on the opposite side of the canal to the pontoons (there is no thoroughfare on the towpath so no one walks past the boat and it feels quite private). West out of the center: I would recommend Perivale (lovely meadow, woodland and park by the canal and only a short walk to the central line), greenford is ok, there's not much to see but you do get to smell the Indian food and bread (depending on the wind direction) from the factories nearby, handy for the pub as well i guess. Between there and bulls bridge i would only stop in the park just east of Willow Tree Marina anywhere else can be touch and go. If you go north of Bulls bridge then definitely try and stop by the Slough arm the lakes and nature reserves round there are beautiful, but there can be problems with kids down the slough arm when the schools are on holiday. South of Bulls Bridge Southall is nice and Hanwell at the bottom of the Hanwell flight is lovely (very peaceful and much more like a little village than a suburb - the Snooty Fox pub does markets at the weekend). East: Hackney Wick, behind the ice rink just after Lea Bridge Road, just north of Springfield Marina and Stonebridge Park are absolutely fine and you shouldn't have any problems. 3 Mills way a bit dodgy the last time i was there, there were kids throwing stuff into the canal and having bonfires in the Tesco's car park opposite my boat every night and it made me a bit nervous. Saying that, i've never had any actual trouble and there are nice things about being there. I'll leave the Filter beds up to your discretion. Personally i'm not going east anymore as the drains were overflowing "partially treated" sewage into the canal below Tottenham Hale lock when i was last there and i saw stuff floating past my boat that would put you off your dinner. Some people seem to love it though and can't seem to tear themselves away....
Sorry that's a bit of an essay but there it is such a diverse place even 100m can make a difference. My general rules of thumb are: only moor where other boats are moored, if you're unsure about leaving your boat the leave an LED light on somewhere inside, chain everything down that you wouldn't want to loose and stuff like don't leave lump hammers n you deck (or anything that could be used to smash a window. If you are really being cautious then find out a postcode of where you are moored to be able to give to the emergency services quickly (this did prove very useful to me once). These are all just precautions though as i've had very little trouble at alland generlly its a great placeto visit and most of your problems will be finding somewhere to moor where you plan to so have a plan a and b and possibly c.
p.s. is not that clear on the Nicholsons but there is no mooring in Regents park at all, so if you are leaving Paddington and heading east be prepared to go to Kings Cross (below St Pancreas lock) before being able to moor..O and avoid doing the Locks in Camden at the weekend if at all possible..
Good luck and happy cruising!!
