The Capital Ring
Walk up Barn Hill, Fryent Country Park
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St Andrews Church, Kingsbury
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Fryent Country Park to East Finchley
View from Gotfords Hill, Fryent Country Park
Sunday 15 May 2016
At last I was back walking on the Capital Ring! I really want to close the circle before London gets too hot this summer. For once I didn't get a chance to read on the train as I was chatting to a Chelsea fan all the way to Paddington. He was on his way to Stamford Bridge to watch his team’s match against the champions, Leicester City. I thought I’d left football behind me (at least until the Euros) but as I shared the tube trains with yet more football fans, and realising that there was a game on at Wembley, I couldn't help myself getting swept up in some sort of football fever. Arriving at Wembley Park I found myself walking towards the stadium when I should have headed in the opposite direction up Barn Hill Road. I wanted to find out who was playing – the shirts weren't familiar. I could of course have asked but the lure of Wembley Stadium proved irresistible so I walked along Wembley Way alongside quite a few Grimsby Town and two Forest Green Rovers fans. The game to be played was the National League play-off final. Good luck to both teams!
Leaving Wembley to chants of ‘sing when we’re fishing…’ I walked up the road towards Barn Hill and tranquillity was restored as I entered the pretty oak woodland to soon reach Barn Hill. I walked around the pond and stopped for lunch (on the same bench I stopped for a late afternoon snack on the previous section). Feeling energised I was happy to finally be back on the trail. For the next mile or two the path zigzagged through Fryent Country Park. This park is a wonderful asset to the residents of this part of London. It's like being in the countryside. Leaving the wooded area behind I continued walking through large prairie-like grassland lined by hedgerows with profusely flowering hawthorn blossoms. The walk led gently uphill to Gotfords Hill – an early highlight of today’s walk. Although not a high hill, the views of the surrounding areas were quite stunning as I was lucky enough to be here on a clear day. The church at Harrow-on-the-Hill was clearly visible, so was the Wembley Stadium arch, and views extended to the distant North Downs and northwards to unknown lands. The cool breeze, the tall, swaying grass, and the open views and space gave me a feeling of complete freedom. I reluctantly headed downhill to Kingsbury. There was quite a bit of road walking to be ‘endured’ now but I was soon rewarded with a delightful walk around the old wooded graveyard by St Andrew’s Church.
At last I was back walking on the Capital Ring! I really want to close the circle before London gets too hot this summer. For once I didn't get a chance to read on the train as I was chatting to a Chelsea fan all the way to Paddington. He was on his way to Stamford Bridge to watch his team’s match against the champions, Leicester City. I thought I’d left football behind me (at least until the Euros) but as I shared the tube trains with yet more football fans, and realising that there was a game on at Wembley, I couldn't help myself getting swept up in some sort of football fever. Arriving at Wembley Park I found myself walking towards the stadium when I should have headed in the opposite direction up Barn Hill Road. I wanted to find out who was playing – the shirts weren't familiar. I could of course have asked but the lure of Wembley Stadium proved irresistible so I walked along Wembley Way alongside quite a few Grimsby Town and two Forest Green Rovers fans. The game to be played was the National League play-off final. Good luck to both teams!
Leaving Wembley to chants of ‘sing when we’re fishing…’ I walked up the road towards Barn Hill and tranquillity was restored as I entered the pretty oak woodland to soon reach Barn Hill. I walked around the pond and stopped for lunch (on the same bench I stopped for a late afternoon snack on the previous section). Feeling energised I was happy to finally be back on the trail. For the next mile or two the path zigzagged through Fryent Country Park. This park is a wonderful asset to the residents of this part of London. It's like being in the countryside. Leaving the wooded area behind I continued walking through large prairie-like grassland lined by hedgerows with profusely flowering hawthorn blossoms. The walk led gently uphill to Gotfords Hill – an early highlight of today’s walk. Although not a high hill, the views of the surrounding areas were quite stunning as I was lucky enough to be here on a clear day. The church at Harrow-on-the-Hill was clearly visible, so was the Wembley Stadium arch, and views extended to the distant North Downs and northwards to unknown lands. The cool breeze, the tall, swaying grass, and the open views and space gave me a feeling of complete freedom. I reluctantly headed downhill to Kingsbury. There was quite a bit of road walking to be ‘endured’ now but I was soon rewarded with a delightful walk around the old wooded graveyard by St Andrew’s Church.
Brent Reservoir
Next up was the walk alongside Brent Reservoir, known locally as the Welsh Harp (named after a pub according to the guide book). Lots of families strolled along here, enjoying the lovely weather. I couldn’t resist taking photos of the blue lake, the sailing boats, and the ducks, swans, geese and gulls. I was dismayed though that, for the second time today, I witnessed an overflowing litter bin next to the path by a car. In my opinion these bins, placed by well-meaning councils in local beauty spots, simply increase the litter problem. It would be so much better, and surely no great hardship, if people took their rubbish home to dispose of properly.
Leaving Brent Reservoir behind I now looked to trigger my memory and find the office block in West Hendon Broadway where I worked back in the seventies. I walked down the ugly road (sorry West Hendon) but was unable to identify the office block but I narrowed it down to two buildings. Of course, my old office in the Commercial Section of the GDR embassy would have ceased to exist after the Berlin Wall came down and Germany became unified. If I had more time today, I may have made the detour to the Brent Cross Shopping Centre and popped into Marks & Spencer’s to buy some delicious yum yums or almond biscuits as me and my colleagues used to do during many a lunch hour.
The walk now continued through another large residential area with Hendon Park providing a green space interlude. Soon I reached Brent Street and on crossing the River Brent (last encountered in the Richmond to Greenford section, I think) I looked out for, and spotted, thanks to my guidebook, a couple of eccentric pepper pot gazebos either side of a weir. They have been left to rot since the Brent Bridge Hotel in whose gardens they were located, shut in 1974. I now reached the busy North Circular Road and had to follow it for 150 yards or so, before the walk thankfully turned away from the road and led into the delightful Brent Park. Although the traffic still provided a background noise, it is remarkable that this green space with its river, foot bridges and ponds, ducks and birds, exists right next to the busy road, unseen by the drivers speeding along.
Soon the path turned eastwards joining the Dollis Valley Greenwalk through a tunnel under the North Circular Road and then followed the Mutton Brook. After crossing Finchley Road, the path continued along the brook to reach the well-to-do Hampstead Garden Suburb. Here the path led through parks, alongside tennis courts, playgrounds and a synagogue before reaching a quiet residential area. I enjoyed walking up Vivian Way and Edmund’s Walk with its beautiful houses and gardens but was getting a little fatigued and footsore so I decided to end today’s walk at East Finchley rather than continue to Highgate as planned.
Highlights
Useful information
Transport:
Leaving Brent Reservoir behind I now looked to trigger my memory and find the office block in West Hendon Broadway where I worked back in the seventies. I walked down the ugly road (sorry West Hendon) but was unable to identify the office block but I narrowed it down to two buildings. Of course, my old office in the Commercial Section of the GDR embassy would have ceased to exist after the Berlin Wall came down and Germany became unified. If I had more time today, I may have made the detour to the Brent Cross Shopping Centre and popped into Marks & Spencer’s to buy some delicious yum yums or almond biscuits as me and my colleagues used to do during many a lunch hour.
The walk now continued through another large residential area with Hendon Park providing a green space interlude. Soon I reached Brent Street and on crossing the River Brent (last encountered in the Richmond to Greenford section, I think) I looked out for, and spotted, thanks to my guidebook, a couple of eccentric pepper pot gazebos either side of a weir. They have been left to rot since the Brent Bridge Hotel in whose gardens they were located, shut in 1974. I now reached the busy North Circular Road and had to follow it for 150 yards or so, before the walk thankfully turned away from the road and led into the delightful Brent Park. Although the traffic still provided a background noise, it is remarkable that this green space with its river, foot bridges and ponds, ducks and birds, exists right next to the busy road, unseen by the drivers speeding along.
Soon the path turned eastwards joining the Dollis Valley Greenwalk through a tunnel under the North Circular Road and then followed the Mutton Brook. After crossing Finchley Road, the path continued along the brook to reach the well-to-do Hampstead Garden Suburb. Here the path led through parks, alongside tennis courts, playgrounds and a synagogue before reaching a quiet residential area. I enjoyed walking up Vivian Way and Edmund’s Walk with its beautiful houses and gardens but was getting a little fatigued and footsore so I decided to end today’s walk at East Finchley rather than continue to Highgate as planned.
Highlights
- Gotfords Hill, Fryent Country Park
- Welsh Harp Nature Reserve, Brent Reservoir
- Hawthorn blossom and cow parsley
- Ducks, swans, herons, coots and moorhens
- Lots of birds, including noisy starlings
- Squirrels
Useful information
Transport:
- Train Reading to Paddington, Underground to Wembley Park (Hammersmith and City Line to Baker Street, Metropolitan Line to Wembley Park)
- Return: Bus East Finchley to Archway (tube replacement bus), Underground (Northern Line to Kings Cross, Hammersmith & City Line to Paddington, train Paddington to Reading
- Wembley Park
- West Hendon Broadway
- Hampstead Garden Suburb
- Near Brent Reservoir
Welsh Harp Nature Reserve
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Flowers in Hampstead Garden Suburb
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