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:

 

 

 

Dismantled railway walk, Finchley Park to Ally Pally

20th March 2019

This walk in North London, known as the Parkland Walk goes from Finsbury Park to Alexandra Palace Park, following (mostly) the route of the former Edgware, Highgate, & London railway from Finsbury Park to Highgate and then part of the branch line from Highgate to Alexandra Palace. The history of the line is complicated and covered in this Wikipedia Article.

The walk is now a linear nature reserve divided into two sections, total distance around three and a quarter miles (5km). This is the hilly part of North London and so the railway is sometimes on an embankment, sometimes in a cutting, and sometimes on a viaduct with some very good views over London.

This Google Map shows the route helpfully indicating where you can take in (or let out) fluids and the options for getting between the two sections. 

 The start, cross this footbridge over the railway from Finsbury Park.


As you leave it says Welcome to Finsbury Park, which is a bit odd.


If you're tall enough you can pause to watch the trains coming and going along the lines leading north from King's Cross and Moorgate.

 The path starts of looking like any other path through the trees but soon you find the first obvious sign that you're on what was the railway track, a bridge over the roadat Upper Tollington Park.

 At Stapleton Hall Road the disused railway passes over the road which passes above the Gospel Oak to Barking Overground line far below.

There is as you'd expect quite in an urban environment quite a lot of street art, or graffiti, or vandalism depending on your point of view.

Very pink though in this case.

 Where Mount View Road crosses the line, sorry, walk some maintenance seems to be ongoing to the structure of the over-bridge so you can't see it for scaffolding.

These arches in the retaining wall as you approach Crouch End Hill have been heavily decorated.

What I wonder is whether they bring ladders or abseil down from the top to reach the middle?

The 3 guys that were there at the time had plenty of paint cans but no obvious ladders.

 The most obvious railway relic on the southern part of the walk is Crouch End Station.

The platforms remain in fairly complete condition.

Only a small part of the station buildings remain, the greater part of it which was located on the road bridge having been demolished.

Beyond Crouch End Station on the right are the remains of a small brick structure, may be a line side hut which has been all but consumed by the growth of a tree.

 At Stanhope Road the railway bridge seems to be only half as wide as it should be.

Not sure if half has been removed or if the bridge that is there is a replacement just for the Parkland Walk.

Nearly at Highgate.

On the right a wildlife trail is being created featuring amongst other habitats a bug hotel, stag beetle loggery and a pond.

 At the very end of the southern section of the Parkland Walk in a rather wet cutting are the twin portals of Highgate East Tunnels.

These lead to the disused Highgate Station - the Great Northern Railway one not the Northern Line tube station nearby.

They are home to roosting bats and are not publicly accessible.


At this point you have to leave the route of the railway and walk up Archway Road past Highgate tube station and turn right onto Muswell Hill Road following the Parkland Walk North signs. There are a choice of three routes to the north section of the walk, probably the nicest being through Highgate Woods. I went that way, not least because by this point I was bursting for a piss and there are public loos in the woods. Also a cafe but it appeared to be in the process of closing for the day.

 You rejoin the Parkland Walk just east of the now demolished Cranley Gardens Station.

It was on the other side of this bridge but nothing remains now, a school having been built on the site.

What very much does still exist and is the best feature of this northern part of the walk is St. James Lane viaduct.


 From the path though it's not immediately obvious that you are on it, at least until you look right and see how far up you are.

This 17 arch viaduct provides good views to the east and south over Haringey. 

There is a clear view of the Olympic park, The Shard and The Gherkin.

And on this particular day a good view of a red helicopter circling over London.

Panorama of London from St. James Lane viaduct

 From the north end you can get see the viaduct arches, mostly housing garages.

You can also be shouted at "No consento! No consento!" by some bloke while taking the photograph and while walking away. Given the huge cloud of marijuana smoke emanating from the same location as the shout I guess he wasn't going to want to discuss the rights and wrongs of taking photos in a public place with a police officer 😜

 The end of the Parkland Walk is via this pedestrian subway into Alexandra Palace Park, past a puddle-splashng toddler, and to the thankfully still open cafe for tea and cake.

From there I walked up to the People's Palace and then down the other side of the hill to Alexandra Palace station to catch a train back into town.

 Alternatively I could have got a W3 bus back to Finsbury Park but I had more places to see. It's not a long walk but it's an easy one and has plenty of interest whether you're looking for wildlife or railway relics, or just a good view over London.

More pictures in this Flickr Album

And more pictures of Alexandra Palace in this Flickr Album