Capital Ring, Crystal Palace to Balham

5th May

Capital Ring Section 4

At twenty past one I arrived at Crystal Palace station after a journey which had very much not gone as intended, ready to walk the 4.4 miles of Capital Ring Section 4. The guide describes this shorter section as a ‘rollercoaster’ among the ridges and valleys of the former Great North Wood. That sounds more bucolic than the reality but it does have its moments. First stop after leaving the station was Tesco Express to grab a cheeky meal deal then up Anerley Hill and along Playdell Avenue to Palace Square. Palace Square does not look like you would imagine from the name. Unless you are imagining two large rectangular blocks of late 20th century flats one behind the other on the side of a steep hill. I imagine that they have a very good view of Croydon from the upper storeys although whether that’s a good or bad thing I leave up to you. A steep zig zag path led from the square to a pocket park on Belvedere Road where I made a picnic of the meal deal on a bench facing some large Victorian houses and an octagonal Victorian pillar box, the latter is something you don’t see often, the former would be a major feature of today’s walk.

Climbing further up Belvedere Road I passed the former home of Benjamin Waterhouse-Hawkins, creator of the famous Crystal Palace dinosaurs and paused at the top to turn around and admire the view over Kent - and not just to get my breath back honestly. A couple more streets of big houses brought me to the A212 Church Road over which I crossed into Westow Park, the first piece of greenery of any size so far.

Having walked the length of Westow Park and exited at the west end it was only another couple of minutes before I got to the wide open space of Upper Norwood Recreation Ground. The Ring first follows the north side of the open space adjacent to Chevening road before cutting straight across and then turning right to follow Eversley Road along the south side. Which was also downwind so benefited from a strong scent of weed on the breeze. This brought me to Hermitage Road where I ascended what whoever wrote the guide refers to as a “gentle rise” and I assume that is an attempt at humour since it’s steeper than that term would suggest. That it brings you out on top of Beulah Hill is a bit of a clue. There’s a stinkpipe opposite on Beulah Hill so I claim my two points then turn left and walk along Beulah Hill which is a typical South London suburbia main road.

I turn down a road called Biggin Hill which drops steeply, with views all the way across the North Downs before it loses height and the Ring turns right down a footpath to Biggin Woods. Biggin Woods (or Biggin Wood depending on which map you look at) is a remnant of the Great North Wood, an ancient oak woodland which once covered a huge area between the Thames at Deptford and Croydon. I bet that it didn’t have large numbers of Ring Necked Parakeets back then though.

I followed the undulating Covington Way across a couple of ridges to find the gate at the bottom corner of Norwood Grove. Norwood Grove is probably the highlight of section 4, which climbs up the hill through the parkland to the white painted Grade II listed mansion, built in the 1840s for Arthur Anderson, joint founder of the P&O steam Navigation Company.

Approaching the house the Ring actually passes through a metal rose arch, already carrying a lot of large yellow blooms. This does give you the feeling that you’re walking through someone’s garden though the house is now owned by Croydon Council and used as an education centre. As I passed around the house a group of small children were being asked to pronounce “precipitation” with varying amounts of success. I was just glad that there wasn’t any. A blue plaque on the wall records that it was from 1878 to 1913 the home of Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Nettlefold, Frederick being the chairman of the fixings maker Guest, Keen, and Nettlefolds. Which is the former name of the automotive and aerospace components business GKN Ltd. Nope, I had to look him up 😀

Leaving the house along Copgate Path I passed from the London Borough of Croydon to the London Borough of Lambeth and into the eastern end of Streatham Common. I took a short detour around the Rookery Gardens, which is a maze of small paths through formal gardens. Returning to the Ring I headed west around Streatham Common South (having gratefully taken advantage of the “facilities” behind the Rookery Cafe) and then across the common to Streatham High Road.

Crossing the High Road in front of the War Memorial I walked down the long, straight, villa lined Lewin Road to arrive at the end of Section 4 at a nondescript road junction in front of the railway.

It was half past three.

45 Photos on Flickr from Capital Ring section 4 (opens in a new page)

But wait, there’s more...

Capital Ring Section 5

It was only half past three.

So plenty of time to continue on the Ring for another two and a half miles to Balham. And why wouldn’t you? It is famously  The Gateway to the South! 😃

I turned right alongside the railway and then left along Potter’s Lane, a narrow alleyway through an arched tunnel underneath the railway. Where this met Conyer’s Road I turned left past the Streatham Pumping Station, a late nineteenth century waterworks building which could at first glance be mistaken for a mosque with its domes, minarets and fancy windows.

From the pumping station it was a straight walk north along residential streets parallel to the Brighton Main Line railway, crossing Mitcham Lane and continuing north on Riggindale Road to reach Tooting Bec Road, turning left to cross the railway and then crossing the busy road to reach Tooting Bec Common near the entrance to the Lido.

The Ring cuts across the eastern half of Tooting Bec Common between the sports pitches and the pond - though that’s hidden in the trees - on a tarmac path lined with mature trees and pink-flowering Hawthorn. Just before the path reached Bedford Hill I spotted the cafe and threaded my way through the dog walkers and yummy mummies for a coffee break and a sit down at a table outside.

Re-caffeinated I carried on across Bedford Hill onto a path along the edge of the northern part of the common but only for two hundred yards before the Ring took me left down an alley to rejoin leafy suburbia in Fontenoy Road. This was a classic Capital Ring pointless loop to avoid a short stretch of main road and soon I was back at Bedford Hill only half the distance away that I’d actually walked from the point I’d crossed it. Still, nice Wisteria.

After crossing Bedford Hill I walked a dog leg route along streets of large Victorian villas to Elmfield Road. On the corner of Cheriton Square I spotted a tall round steel column standing in the footway with a conical cap. I reckon that’s a modern stinkpipe so I’m claiming another two points.

Elmfield Road emerged onto the very busy Balham High Road opposite Du Cane Court, a 1937 Art Deco apartment block the rather plain exterior of which hides some of the most elegant flats in South London. When built it was the largest privately owned block of flats in Europe, has been home to many celebrities including the comedian and Fulham FC supporter Tommy Trinder and was allegedly planned to be used by high ranking Nazi officers in the event of a successful German invasion. It’s said that because of this it was spared bombing by the Luftwaffe but given the (lack of) accuracy of 1940s aerial bombing that’s probably bollocks and the residents were indeed just ‘lucky people’.

I continued up Balham High Road but where the Ring turned left onto Balham Park Road I carried on to the centre of Balham, the rest of Section 5 will wait for another day, I needed beer which I found at the Regent, a pub in Chestnut Grove. Having refreshed myself with Hobgoblin and my phone with a handy socket outlet I decided to avoid the rush hour tube and instead took a gentle stroll up the High Road to Clapham Common, saw some cute chicks by the Long Pond, and then got the tube from Clapham Common Station instead.

20 Photos (so far) from Capital Ring Section 5 on Flickr (opens in a new page)

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Slideshow for section 4 if your viewer supports it.

 

Slideshow for section 5 if your viewer supports it.

 

A day trip to Lewes, East Sussex.

21st April

Pick a town, get a train, see what’s there.

Lewes (/ˈluːɪs/) is the county town of East Sussex and lies at the point where the River Ouse cuts through the South Downs. It is at a junction on the East Coastway railway line with lines to Brighton, Newhaven and Eastbourne and importantly in my case from London via Gatwick Airport, to which I can get a direct train. It’s also much more hilly than I’d appreciated from the map.

I arrived at Lewes’ triangular station at 1 p.m. on an afternoon which had become colder and cloudier than when I left home that morning.

I first headed south to the site of Lewes Priory, The Priory of St. Pancras to give it its full title. I had a picnic lunch and the hope that the sun might re-emerge. It didn’t but there was a bench in a relatively sheltered spot overlooking the ruins. In 1845, the Brighton, Lewes and Hastings Railway drove their new line through the middle of the priory site, including the priory church. The part to the north is privately owned but the part to the south is a public park, free to enter, and contains several monastic ruined buildings. Fragments of the dorter (monks’ dormitory), reredorter (monks’ khazi), frater (monks’ dining room) and infirmary can be see and walked around, or in the case of the only other visitor present sat behind with a small bottle of whisky.

With the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII the King’s secretary Thomas Cromwell appointed a specialist demolition team led by an Italian engineer Giovanni Portinari to destroy the priory and they did a pretty thorough job. The manor of Southover which contained the priory was subsequently granted to Thomas Cromwell (now there’s a surprise) who built a large house on the site of the prior’s lodgings. After Cromwell’s falling out with Henry and subsequently being shortened by a head (see Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall novels and the TV series based on them) the manor passed through several hands until passing to the Sackvilles, the Earls of Dorset.

I left the priory site through the western exit having passed the medieval style Priory Tower folly and Priory Cottage which was built from stone taken from the ruins. I turned north up Cockshut Road (no sniggering at the back) alongside the priory precinct wall, under the very low arch beneath the railway to Southover High Street then east passing the Church of St. John the Baptist which was formerly the hospitium of the priory and which has a very fishy weather vane.

Turning left by The King’s Head I then ducked through an arch into Southover Grange Gardens to avoid the oncoming flock of primary school children being herded south. This was fortuitous since had I just continued along the street I’d have missed the pleasant gardens with the Winterbourne Stream running through in a straight channel and the best side of Southover Grange house itself. This house was built in 1572 by William Newton, using stone from the priory, and owned by this family for the next three hundred years. After this it was the residence of a series of wealthy merchants, bankers, and adventurers until it was sold by local gentleman farmer Harrie Stacey to the Council in about 1945. Now owned by East Sussex County Council it houses Lewes Registry Office.

From behind Southover Grange I headed towards the High Street via St. Swithun’s Terrace and discovered how steep a hill Lewes is built on. I emerged onto the High Street from St. Swithun’s Lane a little out of breath. Lewes town centre is filled with interesting old buildings including the red brick Queen Anne - Baroque style Town Hall, an impressively grand Portland stone and bronze war memorial sited in the middle of a road junction, and a brick and stone Market Tower which also used to be the town hall.

I looped around the back streets and alleyways crammed with listed buildings including the former Star Brewery and a round cottage which is the stump of a windmill and once owned by the writer Virginia Woolf. I returned to the High Street via the steep and narrow Pipe Passage. This runs past the site of a clay tobacco pipe kiln but it’s fenced off. Having circumnavigated the castle I headed there next.

Tickets for Lewes Castle (£12) are bought in Barbican House Museum on the other side of Castle Gate. The museum staff then have to escort you across Castle Gate to operate the electronic lock on the gate to let you into the castle. A zigzagging set of steps leads ever upwards to the top of the steep-sided castle mound. Here you can look out over the site of the Battle of Lewes, fought on 14th May 1264 between Henry III and a bunch of rebellious Barons. This didn’t end well for the King but Simon de Montfort fared rather better, becoming in effect the “uncrowned King of England” for a year while holding Prince Edward hostage to ensure that Henry ruled as “advised” by the Barons. Casualty figures are apparently unknown but don’t appear to have included any of the rich bastards whose power struggles started the unpleasantness in the first place. Nothing changes.

On top of the mound sits the stone and flint Shell Keep.

Inside the Shell Keep narrow spiral staircases take you up through several floors to the rooftop. It’s a lot of stairs but the views from the top over the town far below and the surrounding country are worth it. From up here you can also see the castle’s other “motte”, Brack Mount, a small wooded mound located at the north end of the bailey behind the long Maltings building. Lewes is one of only two castles in England built with two mottes, the other being Lincoln Castle where I’ve also been.

You've climbed a lot of stairs so take lots of photos, I did (see link below). I also had the place to myself, probably because it was a Tuesday afternoon in April. I met a few other visitors while I was coming down but no more than could be counted on your fingers.

A path around the Gun Garden named after the captured Russian gun from the Crimean War that is in it leads to the Norman Gate of which only one wall survives and the later Barbican Gate. This has an even narrower wooden spiral staircase to the rooftop. Here you can see a set of Machicolations. Holes behind the protecting parapet through which defenders could from a position of safety drop rocks, turds, hot pitch, and rotting animal carcasses on people attacking the castle gate below. For some reason these are now fenced off behind a sturdy railing 😃

After leaving the castle I had a look around the museum in Barbican House which has the usual collections of artifacts from prehistoric through Roman to medieval times found in a small town museum, and some history of the Sussex Archaeological Society. All located in a Grade II* listed sixteenth century house of course because you can’t stretch out your arms without touching a listed building in Lewes town centre.

It was past three o’clock so I continued down the High Street via a coffee shop in a bakery and some interesting old shop fronts then onward to cross the River Ouse at Lewes Bridge.

At the end of Cliffe High Street I turned round. Next to the river off Cliffe High Street is Harvey’s Brewery, the oldest independent brewery in Sussex. A family business since 1790. More importantly across the other side of the street is the brewery tap, the John Harvey Tavern. Hmm. If I got a later train than I’d originally planned I could sit in the sun facing the river - albeit across a car park - and have a birthday pint. So I did, Dark Mild because Mild is a rarity in pubs these days.

Then it was back to Lewes railway station for the ride home. With an hour hanging around the windy hell-hole that is Gatwick Airport Station because GWR cancelled one of the trains to Reading. Of course they did. They’ll probably try to wriggle out of the Delay Repay claim too.

Lewes is a good place for a day trip though.

72 photos from Lewes in a Flickr Album (opens in a new page)

Or as a slideshow below if your viewer supports it:

 

 

 

Capital Ring Section 11, Hendon Park to Highgate

9th April

After visiting the open day at the London Transport Museum Depot in Gunnersbury I jumped on the tube at Acton Town and travelled back to Hendon to walk more Capital Ring. Now the clocks had gone back there would be plenty of daylight left to walk the 6 miles of Section 11 from Hendon Park to Highgate. I’d also be getting better value for the £9 TfL now charge to park at Hounslow West. 😲

Alighting at Hendon Central I made my way back into Hendon Park to the path crossing near the railway bridge at the end of section 10 and turned left across the park onto section 11.

Exiting the park at its most easterly point I made my way through the residential streets and across Brent Street to find the narrow path that led off to meet the River Brent by the partly ruined and graffitied Weir Folly, then followed the river into Brent Park, crossing it at a little bridge. I passed the Decoy Lake, left the park crossing Bell Lane and turning into Brookside Walk which appropriately brought me to a bridge where the Dollis Brook and the Mutton Brook joined to form the River Brent. Also here the Capital Ring joins with the Dollis Valley Greenwalk and follows it all the way to Finchley Road and beyond. I turned right onto the path beside the Mutton Brook which I’d be following for most of its whole length. I didn’t see any sheep, if that is the origin of its name 🐑

The Mutton Brook and The Capital ring both pass under the North Circular Road in a long, low, but well lit tunnel then alongside a broad grass bank beside the North Circular higher on the left. There’s a large Art Deco apartment block here on the North Circular called Kinloss Court but I didn’t find out much about it online except in connection with the busting of a County Lines drug gang in 2023.

At Finchley Road the Mutton Brook goes underneath but the Ring crosses over via two pedestrian crossings (with long waits) on the southern side of Henly’s Corner. This crossing is the most Northerly point of the Capital Ring after which I followed it downhill into a woodland to cross and then again follow the Mutton Brook for some distance until the brook went under Falloden Way and the Ring turned right to Addison Way where three guys hanging about at the end of the path apologised for the exotic smoke. No problem mate 😁

After crossing the Mutton Brook again over the bridge on Falloden Way I turned right into Northway Gardens and away from the noise of the A1 traffic. Here the brook is confined in a deep wooden sided channel between the path and the tennis courts but was brightened up by some vigorous daffodils on one bank and fluorescent yellow tennis balls on the other.

The Ring (and the Mutton Brook) now took me along the north side of Hampstead Garden Suburb through Northway Gardens behind the shops and businesses lining the A1 Falloden Way and then out into Lyttelton Playing Fields where daffodils were replaced by tulips. Leaving the playing fields through a narrow lane into Norrice Lea I turned left under the trees heavy with pink blossom and past the classical stone portico of the 1956 red brick Hampstead Garden Suburb Synagogue which now houses the Kerem School, an Orthodox Jewish day school which auto-correct keeps wanting to change to "Kermit School" 🐸. (Blimey, £5,000 - £6,000 a term!)

The Mutton Brook vanishes unseen not far ahead into an underground culvert below East Finchley to its source in Cherry Tree Wood, I followed the Ring across the A1 Lyttelton Road then uphill along Vivian Way, Deansway, and Edmunds Walk where one house had a colourful tulip display in the front garden of remarkable variety. This took me to the back entrance of East Finchley Station which I passed through out onto the High Road which I crossed and turned around to view Eric Aumonier’s “The Archer” statue atop Charles Holden’s Art Deco/Streamline Moderne station building built in the 1930s.

Leaving High Road I entered Cherry Tree Wood. Somewhere under here apparently is the source of the Mutton Brook and the low lying field in the park was once watercress beds. Now it’s mostly kids playgrounds and sports pitches. At the Cherry Tree Cafe they had turned off the espresso machine and were about to shut so I had to forego a flat white and have tea instead. It was a nice cuppa and very welcome refreshment all the same.

Leaving the playing fields into Fordington Road and then crossing into Lanchester Road I found the Capital Ring sign pointing left by number 69 and dragged myself up the long steep tarmac path to Highgate Wood. Stopping for a breath part way up I turned around and hoped that the huge bank of black cloud to the west wasn’t coming my way (it wasn’t). The path curved to the right, levelled out, and entered Highgate Wood. I headed straight into the wood on a broad path passing a large swathe of bluebells on the way and turning right on reaching an isolated stone drinking fountain. 

 

The fountain appears now to be non-functional so you can no longer do as the inscription from one time local resident Coleridge suggests: 

"Drink, Pilgrim, here! Here rest! And if thy heart / Be innocent, here too shalt thou refresh / Thy spirit, listening to some gentle sound / Or passing gale or hum of murmuring bees!" .

A left turn in the woods before the cafe took me back down the hill to Muswell Hill Road. Having crossed the road I entered Queen’s Wood (devoid of Queens as far as I could tell) and further downhill to cross the Moselle Brook. Not far to the end of the section now but that’s at Highgate. Which meant some sadist had arranged things so that the longest and steepest up hill stretch was right at the end of the walk. B******s 😀

A final steep alleyway with a handy rail up which to drag yourself brought me to Priory Gardens where Section 11 ends opposite another alleyway at the start of Section 12. I carried on to the “back” entrance to Highgate tube station though.

I didn’t fancy paying a peak period fare to stand up for an hour and a half though so walked up the path to the right where you can see the abandoned Highgate “high level” station platforms through the security fence and headed to The Woodman for a refreshing pint (with complementary popcorn) and later took a gentle stroll down Archway to get the tube at Tuffnell Park.

Capital ring section 11 ✅

A Flickr Album of 43 photos is here (opens in a new page)

Or as a slide-show below if your viewer supports it:

 

 

 

Capital Ring Section 3, Beckenham Hill to Crystal Palace

 

1st April

I return to Beckenham Hill Station to pick up where I left off on 5thMarch 2026 and complete Section 3 of the Capital Ring to Crystal Palace. It is only a short walk from the station to Beckenham Place Park but I ignore the signposts towards “Capital Ring and Green Chain Walk” that point through the gateway opposite the station and cross over the railway line to retrace my steps along the path that runs along the northern edge of the park. After a couple of hundred yards I turn right to regain the route of the Capital Ring where I had left it before.

I take the path through the trees and up over the bridge that crosses the railway line into the woods, then follow that path in a great loop through dense woodland filled with birdsong (and yes, squawking parakeets too), passing the former lake which is now a wooded wetland then steadily uphill to a large Green Chain/Capital Ring signpost. Turning right here I walk back downhill emerging close to the western end of Beckenham Place Park Lake. It’s a quarter to one and time for a picnic lunch. Having been beaten to the one bench facing the lake I settle for one on the slope looking across the greensward to Beckenham Place Mansion, built in about 1760 for wealthy timber merchant John Cator. I notice that it could do with a lick of masonry paint 😀

After lunch I continue past the end of lake and climb uphill again, passing a large concrete squirrel, an almost Brutalist sculpture which I’m sure must scare at least some of the smaller kids. Its peeling paint is reddish though all the local live squirrels are the grey foreign invaders from across the Atlantic. The Homestead Cafe is very busy with young families but fortunately the Public Conveniences are not. I continue up the path to join a road which passes in front of Beckenham Place mansion with its tall portico. If the portico looks slightly out of place it might be because in 1783 Cator bought an estate in Blackheath with a house that he didn’t really want but which had an impressive portico. So he had the portico dismantled and rebuilt on the front of his house here. Rich people, lack of taste, not a new thing. If he were still here today he’d probably be adding a triple-fronted garage and a basement swimming pool 😏

I turn away from the house and head along a path to Stumps Hill Pond where a fox eludes my getting a decent photo, then through Stumpshill Wood (why the inconsistent spelling?) to emerge onto Southend Road. Crossing the road I begin a zig-zag trail along New Beckenham’s residential streets, with few points of interest save for The County Ground, home to Kent County Cricket Club, reminding everyone that this was once part of Kent rather than London, and the tall spire of St. Paul’s Church in Brackley Road. This part of the walk might have been a bit dull but for quite a few cherry trees in bloom and some very flowery front gardens.

I carry on along the streets until emerging from the subway under New Beckenham station I see the Crystal Palace Transmitter Tower on the horizon, looking quite close but in reality still about an hour and a half walk away. Another 500 yards or so on streets and I turn down an alleyway to escape into Cator Park where the sun comes out properly and I have to take off my gilet and stuff it into my backpack. Walking through Cator Park I cross two bridges over streams, first The Beck and secondly the Chaffinch Brook. They are both tributaries of the Pool River which the join in the middle of the park to flow north to its confluence with the River Ravensbourne just south of Catford. I walked the Ravensbourne from Catford Bridge to the Thames at Deptford Creek, I see that that was back in January 2023.

As I walk in the sunshine through Cator Park I come across some groundsmen with what I thought was a very small lawnmower. It seems to me a bit inadequate for the wide expanse of grass. On getting closer I realise that it’s actually a petrol powered disc cutter on wheels, used to trim the edges of the paths but for a moment I’m reminded of the rude joke involving a schoolboy, the punchline of which ends with the word “contagious”. You can look it up 😉

Out of Cator Park and I’m back to residential streets, a fenced off path between school playing fields, and more streets. Along the way I notice a stink-pipe in Lennard Road so I award myself two points even though it looks as if its top half is missing.

I also notice that around half of the telecoms jointing chambers (they’re not manholes) have covers with cast iron frames bearing the legend Post Office Telegraphs, which makes them likely to date from before 1911. Later ones say Post Office Telephones (or GPO, or BT). It’s quite a thing to think that these are still in use today. I can tell you that they are bloody heavy to lift out of their frames to access the cabling beneath 😅

I turn right after passing the junior school onto Cator Road - that man’s name runs through this area like the lettering in a stick of rock - then left between the houses up a short path with an old cast ‘Borough of Beckenham’ sign at each end warning that “The riding of Bicycles, Tricycles, or other similar machines on this footpath is Prohibited by Byelaw” with a maximum penalty of £5. I doubt that the cyclists take much notice now, even if they did when R Webster Storr, Town Clerk had the signs placed there. At the end of the path I enter the top right corner of Alexandra Recreation Ground and I’m greeted by a good showing of daffodils followed by another view of the Crystal Palace Transmitter Tower.

I walk the length of the park, passing a Metropolitan Drinking Fountain, exit into Maitland Road and find myself back on Lennard Road having completed a long loop to the north. I turn right down Lennard Road to cross over the Chatham Main Line railway using the station footbridge at Penge East, along Station Road past the former Park Farm Dairy building, then along the full length of Kingswood Road to reach the High Street. Some drama is afoot here involving an ambulance and three police cars in the road opposite but I continue up the High Street under the railway bridges at Penge West Station and into Crystal Palace Park.

I find Crystal Palace Park busy and largely a building site. Lots of things are behind hoardings and fences as the park is part way through a regeneration project. I’m grateful that the Public Conveniences are not fenced off and are still open! I have a choice of Capital Ring routes here and choose the slightly shorter (and recommended) route through the dinosaurs. The dinosaur area is safely fenced off, not to keep the beasts in but to keep the public out since the dinosaurs are also getting a makeover. I manage to get a half decent shot of an Iguanodon.

I’m nearly there and nearly done. The final push uphill past the Athletic Stadium brings me to the impressive building that is Crystal Palace Station. I can see the transmitter tower is much closer now and the terraces where the Crystal Palace stood before burning down in November 1936.

Capital Ring Section 3 ✅

A quick walk up and down Anerley Road reveals that it is disappointingly devoid of open pubs in which to have a celebratory pint, so I return to the station and catch the next train homeward.

A set of 52 photos from Capital Ring section 3 can be seen in this Flickr Album  (opens in a new window) or as a slideshow below if your viewer supports it. 

 

 

 

Capital Ring Section 10, South Kenton to Hendon Park

21st March

On impulse I took advantage of a sunny Saturday and rode the trains up to South Kenton to walk Capital Ring Section 10 which zig-zags across north west London from outside South Kenton station to Hendon Park. By the time I’d got to South Kenton it was twenty to one in the afternoon and since I’d not had time to prepare a picnic my first stop was Apna Superstore outside the station to grab a sandwich. A short walk on streets brought me to the Montpelier Rise entrance to Preston Park which was lined with very photogenic cherry blossom.

I decided that Preston Park was a good place to stop for lunch even though I’d only been walking for 10 minutes because the next 20 minutes or so would all be on suburban roads with no likely picnic spots. Also I was hungry. Once refueled I carried on along residential streets of semi-detached houses, past Preston Road Underground Station on the Metropolitan Line and then down Uxendon Crescent to pass under the Jubilee Line. Just after going under the railway bridge a water course in a concrete channel appeared on the left which a check on Open Streetmap revealed that this was the Wealdstone Brook, a “lost river” and troubled tributary of the River Brent, taking water - and often other less pleasant things - from the Harrow area to the north to its confluence with the Brent near Wembley. It has a reputation for smelliness but fortunately not today.

Climbing up Uxendon Hill a grassy pathway which was being cut by a man with a lawnmower led past his barbed-wire topped, CCTV sign adorned garden fence to a slightly muddy path through a small wood and then out into an open space beside the Jubilee Line.

This was the beginning of Fryent Country Park and what is the best part of Section 10. Turning right by the footbridge over the Jubilee Line I began the long and increasingly steep climb across the open field and into the woods where it continued upwards on a broad muddy path to Barn Hill Pond. The bench next to the Trig Point was conveniently available for a sit down and from there i could see the arch of Wembley Stadium to the right and through the trees to the left a glimpse of the BT Tower, the cluster of towers in the City, and of course the ever-present Shard.

After a while I left this viewpoint behind, walking around the pond and about 20 yards down a woodland path before returning to the pond and turning right along the path that I should have taken, which led steeply downhill (which was the clue that I had wandered off course at the pond) through Barn Hill Open Space. There were signs warning that the path might be slippery but I was happy to find it had dried out enough to offer reasonably firm footing all the way to the bottom where the route turned right along the edge of the woods to the car park. Having crossed the busy A4140 Fryent Way a gap in the hedge led into an old hay meadow, then through another gap on the far side into another meadow. Standing in this field surrounded by white flowering Hawthorn hedges which filtered out the sound of traffic leaving only the birdsong (not parakeets for a change) it was difficult to believe that I was in London. I sent a panoramic photo to my sister with the title “This is London” and got back the reply “Is it hiding behind that tree?” 😀

I passed a small pond with a couple of information boards next to it then followed the hedge line through another couple of fields where the grass was a bit squelchy but no deep mad and up onto Gotford’s Hill. From the Capital Ring signpost at the top there is another good view of the Wembley Stadium Arch.

From the top of Gotford’s Hill I descended through more fields and Hawthorn blossom to a short alleyway that led out of Fryent Country Park and out of the countrified bit of Section 10. From Salmon Street which wasn’t at all fishy I turned into Lavender Avenue which seemed conspicuously lavender free but at least had cherry blossom then zig-zagged through more residential streets to the B454 Church Lane. I crossed the road by the imposingly tall St. Andrew’s Kingsbury Church with its spire thrusting up into the blue heavens then turned left down Old Church Lane. Here on the left set among Yew trees in an old graveyard I found the much more interesting 12th Century Old St. Andrew Kingsbury. This old church building, replaced by the much larger one I’d just passed, has a pale green copper-clad spire, incorporates Roman bricks into its structure and is now used by the Romanian Orthodox Church. More immediately important was the big flat stone table grave near the door which made a very handy place to sit and rest in the shade of the Yews.

From the old church I headed down the lane to Birchen Grove past the allotments and through a gateway to reach the northern side of the Brent Reservoir. A long stretch of water more popularly known as the Welsh Harp Reservoir after a pub which stood nearby until it was demolished in the 1970s. Constructed in the mid 1830s by damming the River Brent and the Silk Stream the reservoir was intended to provide water to the Regent’s Canal and the Grand Union Canal which in the 1820s were suffering water shortages. They had become so busy that the number of lock operations was draining the pounds faster than the existing water supply could fill them. From the dam at the western end there are two outflows, the River Brent and a canal feeder channel that runs south to eventually flow into the Grand Union Canal Paddington Branch near Harlesden railway station. Not that you can see the outflows from the Capital Ring which skirts north around the grounds of the Welsh Harp Sailing Association before running parallel to the water.

I followed the path for about a mile beside the reservoir, occasionally making short diversions to the waterside where I could see sailing boats and a Golden Retriever blatantly ignoring the No Swimming signs, until I came to Cool Oak Lane and the Welsh Harp Bridges, crossing the Silk Stream on the footbridge provided parallel to the very narrow old road bridge.

This would be the last bit of open space until reaching the end of Section 10. At the end of Cool Oak Lane I turned left to cross the busy A5 West Hendon Broadway, made more complicated by footway diversions and temporary traffic lights for roadworks, which made what should have been a right turn into Park Road into a left turn. Park Road took me over the Midland Main Line railway and then the M1 Motorway just north of Staples Corner, site of two IRA bombings in 1992 and 1993. It was a long old slog up Park Road between semi-detached houses with small front gardens, bins and junk on the footways, and only the occasional stunted cherry tree in blossom attempting to brighten up the scene.

I crossed under the A41 Hendon Way dual carriageway and into another residential street, Beaufort Gardens where the local council had adorned multiple lamp posts with notices which stated all the public behaviours, from begging to peeing, for which you could receive a £1000 fine. A right turn into Cheyne Walk then left into an alleyway and up onto a footbridge over the Northern Line Edgware Branch where I had to squeeze through a group of people wearing their Saturday best who seemed a bit put out at the inconvenience of moving aside for anyone to pass, then down the other side and into Hendon Park where Section 10 ends.

The bench became free so I had a sit down, the last of my water, and an oat bar before following the path alongside the railway line towards Hendon Central station. By the exit from the park I spotted a Public Convenience. Ah, good. Locked up and looked like permanently shut, not good. It smelt of piss around the back so presumably a lot of people had needed to risk the £1000 fine. Perhaps provide fewer threatening notices and more necessary facilities Barnet?

On reaching Hendon Central Circus and after walking past it twice because the front is somewhat inconspicuous, found The Bodhran pub where I was able to do what Barnet Council had denied me and then have a very welcome (and very reasonably priced) pint of Murphy’s ☘

Then I had another pint of Murphy's. Then I decided that I really should go home 😁

It had been a lovely day for a walk and about half of this section is very nice, the other half was quite tiring though. 

Here’s a link to 48 photos on Flickr (opens in a new tab)

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