From Hendon Park to
Hackney Wick
Note: Clicking on any of the images will enlarge them
Well the time has come to finish our Capital Ring challenge. This time Jackie does the honours of getting up a silly o’clock to take us to Twyford station. She drops us off at 7:40. We buy tickets and catch the 7:48 train to Paddington.
We are only on the train two minutes when Chris discovers that he has lost his ticket. Frantic searching of his cargo shorts and his back pack reveal that his ticket is nowhere to be found.
We arrive at Paddington and Chris heads to the ticket office to see if there is anything to be done about his lost ticket.
Quite a queue of people needing help with buying tickets. On the plus side it does mean I have time to get a quick coffee.
The lady behind the counter confirms that they do not replace lost or stolen tickets, so Chris will have to buy a new ticket.
Chris decides to tap on and off to pay for tube and return journey. So we head to the Elizabeth line and catch the train to Hendon Central via Tottenham Court Road. Arrive at Hendon Central at 9:20 and then start walk 11.
Capital Ring – Walk 11
We retrace our steps to walk back into Hendon Park. The weather is nice. Not too hot and not raining. We walk through the park to start the route in the middle of the park. A short walk through the park and we emerge onto the roads.
We soon navigate a couple of roads and enter a wooded walk way that runs beside the river Brent.
Now things take a turn for the worse. We come across a man lying face down in the woods, just a few paces away from the path.
We are not sure if he is sleeping or needs help. We try to rouse him. But he is unresponsive. Touching his bare skin he is deathly cold.
We are joined by another couple. They are out joging. Say they spotted the body on the run out. The lady now takes control and calls 999. Dispatch say they are sending an ambulance and the police and that she should stay with the body.
At this point Chris and I leave them to it and continue along our walk. The walk follows the river and is a lovely covered walk through the woods. The path passes decoy lake, a man made lake to lure wildfowl for the table.
We branch off and now follow a similar green path, through the woods following the mutton brook.
We enter Northway Gardens, another park with tennis courts and children play areas.
Northway Gardens morphs into Lyttelton Playing Fields. There is a cafe (but Chris will not let me stop for coffee) and a bowling green.
We leave the park and follow a few roads. Road names include Vivian Way and Edmunds Walk – and I now spot a “Young Ones” theme developing.
We follow some roads through quite a nice residential district. The instructions tell us to head through East Finchley station. Unfortunately it is closed so will follow a short detour to get the other side of the track.
Looking back at the station above the entrance we can see a 10-foot tall figure of the Archer by Eric Aumonier, pointing down the line towards central London.
The guide tells us:
At the time of its unveiling London Transport staff saw the archer as a powerful metaphor for the speed at which the new Northern line trains shot down into London; others associated the archer with the history of hunting by royalty, court and commoners in Enfield Chase.
We leave the roads behind and enter Cherry Tree Woods. We find another cafe and Chris allows us to stop and get coffee (At Last!!). Chris buys the coffees and I provide the snacks.
After coffee we leave the park and have to walk a couple of roads before heading up a steep lane to enter Highgate Woods. This is another nice stretch of off road walking. We exit the woods, cross the road and then enter Queen’s Wood Local Nature Reserve.
It is a pleasant surprise at how much off road walking this route contains.
We exit the nature reserve and follow the road to the end of walk 11.
Walking Stats
Time: 1 hours 59 Minutes
Distance: 5.7 Miles
Capital Ring – Walk 12
Walk 11 done we start walk 12. We follow a steep, narrow path between two houses.
We emerge and walk to a road junction the impressive former Highgate Methodist Church on the opposite corner.
We walk along roads for a short while before leaving the roads behind and joining Parkland Walk.
The Parkland Walk follows the route of a disused railway line.
This walk is very busy with lots of people walking, running or cycling along the route.
The walk follows the old train line for just over two miles. Lots of graffiti and some interesting sights along the way. There is a tree where people have added mementoes. We are not sure if these are for loved ones or as a memorial to people that they have lost.
After a short while we are told to look out for a spriggan, a kind of goblin. Spriggans were grotesquely ugly, found at old ruins guarding buried treasure and generally acting as fairy bodyguards.
We exit Parkland Walk and have to take the narrow footbridge across the main East Coast railway line from London to Scotland.
Over the footbridge we enter Finsbury park. Chris looks at the map and points out that we could take a shortcut as there is a direct route cutting out a large loop. We decide to continue on the main route. And I am so glad we did as the next section is one of the best bits of the walk.
After leaving Finsbury park we join a path that runs alongside the New River.
The guide has the following to say about New River:
The New River Path runs from Hertford to Islington along the route of a waterway that is neither new nor a river. The ‘river’ is nearly four hundred years old and an ingenious artificial watercourse that was built at a time when fresh water for London was in very short supply. It brought water 40 miles from springs in Hertfordshire to Islington.
We follow the path for some way. Very easy walking and pleasant to be by the side of the river. The path emerges onto West Reservoir. Nice to see people sailing and swimming in the reservoir.
We find a park bench and stop to have lunch.
We leave the reservoir behind and emerge onto the roads again.
The next sight is the Castle, a fine example of the imaginative recycling of a utilitarian building. The former water pumping station’s brick walls and turrets now provide a large indoor climbing centre.
A short walk along the road and then back off through Clissold Park.
This is a nice park, busy with families enjoying the park on a Sunday afternoon.
We walk past Clissold House and the Church of St. Mary.
Clissold House was built in the 1790s for Jonathan Hoare, a local Quaker.
Leaving the park we walk a short way before entering Abney Park Cemetery. This is an unusual cemetery, which has become much over grown with large trees taking the lead on rewilding the site.
By the entrance is the headstone of William Booth the founder of the Salvation Army.
We walk through the cemetery. There is a small church in the middle with people preparing for a wedding. Out of the cemetery and across the road to the end of walk 12.
Two walks done… on to the third and last leg.
Walking Stats
Time: 1 hours 49 Minutes
Distance: 5.3 Miles
Capital Ring – Walk 13
This is our final leg of the 15 walks that make up the Capital Ring. We walk a short way along the roads to link walk 12 to Springfield Park. A short walk through the park before we cross a footbridge to join the river Lea.
The river has the usual collection of live-aboard boats mored up against the banks.
View from the footbridge
The path follows the river. It is only a short section. The biggest problem is the number of cyclist that are using the narrow tow path and seem to zoom pass, just missing the walkers.
Some shots along the river bank
We walk along by the side of the river. I spot a pub on the other side of the river that looks very tempting. Why are all the pubs on the wrong side of the river?
We cover the 3 and a bit miles to finish the walk. Take one last selfie looking at the Olympic Park in the distance.
We completed the walk and head to a bar for a beer or two. We have now completed the full route of the Capital Ring. I think we both agree that it has been a great experience and there is a little part of us that is sad that it is now over.
Walking Stats
Time: 1 hours 15 Minutes
Distance: 3.75 Miles
Final Thoughts
A refreshing beer and the badges showing the completion of the challenge.
- We started on Sunday 17th August 2025
- We finished on Sunday 30th August 2026
- We have walked 77.5 miles
- It has taken us just a shade over 27 hours
- We have seen parts of London that we have never seen before
- We have seen some fantastic views of the capital
- We have been lucky with the weather – I can’t think of any days when we had rain
- We have made good use of the rail and underground network to get to the start and back from the end of each walk
- We have had a couple of drinks at some interesting pubs
- We had some great laughs along the way
- At times it has been a hard slog (especially in the very hot weather)
- But it has always been fun
We need to thank Jackie and Karen (our respective wives) for getting up early on Sunday mornings to drive us to the train station and then being there to drive us home again at the end of the day. It made things so much easier.
And lastly I need to thank Chris, for coming up with the idea, for walking with me, for being my guide (and getting it right most of the time), for being great company and for sharing the laughs along the way.
Capital Ring Done… on to the next challenge.