Category Archives: Latest walk reports

BROCKWELL PARK WALK (HERNE HILL TO BRIXTON STATIONS) 12 FEBRUARY 2025

On a cold and grey day, 7 Poly Ramblers met at Herne Hill station to explore Brockwell Park and Brixton. We entered the park and followed the now invisible Effra River and the miniature railway, passing the Art Deco grade II listed Brockwell Lido and the ponds. We went in the JJ Sexby designed walled garden and walked up to the Tritton Tower Clock gifted to celebrated Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee, finally reaching Brockwell Hall. The hall is being refurbished and the café is shut – for hire if anybody is interested – so we could not go in to warm up. Continue reading BROCKWELL PARK WALK (HERNE HILL TO BRIXTON STATIONS) 12 FEBRUARY 2025

CAPITAL RING: NORTHWICK PARK TO WEST HENDON. 1 FEBRUARY 2025

17 Poly Ramblers assembled outside Northwick Park Met line station, this cold February morning. There was a very weak hazy sun at the start, soon disappearing, and leaving a gloomy greyness for the rest of the day. The ramble takes us through the middle of Kingsbury where I lived from the age of 5 (1961) to 27 (1983) so there was much nostalgia for me. Continue reading CAPITAL RING: NORTHWICK PARK TO WEST HENDON. 1 FEBRUARY 2025

KINGS LANGLEY CIRCULAR – 25 JANUARY 2025

Twenty two Poly Ramblers assembled at Kings Langley station on the last Saturday in January on a sunny, dry day. It would have been 23 but one member boarded the wrong train and sped past the destination station. Although close to London this is not a station we use often for walks. We headed down a footpath and after crossing the River Gade and the Grand Union canal we entered Wayside Farm, which according to my walk description, houses one of Hertfordshire’s last dairy herds. We paused to visit the farm shop where a large sign informed us that there was no milk today. Continue reading KINGS LANGLEY CIRCULAR – 25 JANUARY 2025

FINSBURY PARK to ALEXANDRA PALACE on 22nd December 2024

On a bright cold Sunday morning, seventeen ramblers assembled at Manor House station for a pre-Xmas 5 mile walk through a part of London’s Northern Heights.

We first crossed Finsbury Park, a green Victorian-era haven, created on the remnants of old Hornsey Wood to offer the poor population of North London some breathing and recreation space. Leaving the park by a footbridge over the train tracks out of Kings Cross, we joined the Parkland Walk, created on the route of a disused railway closed to passengers in the 1950s. Declared a local nature reserve in the 1990s, it has become a crucial car-free corridor for both humans and animals. Much artwork adorns the structures en-route including the sculpture of a ghostly goat-man said to haunt the footpath.

Closed tunnels by Highgate station signal the end of this section of the path so we joined the adjacent road up to Highgate Wood to continue our journey. Unfortunately the wood was closed to the public because of the predicted high winds being a threat to safety. We continued on the road to Cranley Gardens where we rejoined the disused track bed for fine views over London and thence our lunch stop at a pub in Muswell Hill.

A few of our number left at this point whilst the remainder climbed up to Alexandra Palace for more fine views. These included many people in fancy dress taking a break from watching the World Darts Championship in the Palace! A downhill stroll then took us to the nearby station for our journey home.

Danny

Photos courtesy of Hilary

Pudding Mill to Beckton on 18th JANUARY 2025

The planned walk on Saturday 18th January was postponed because of the leader’s illness so one planned for February was brought forward. Despite the short notice of the change and a cold grey day, thirteen poly ramblers and guests assembled at Pudding Mill Lane DLR station for a five mile walk through suburban East London. A flight of steps took us up to the Greenway, a most imaginative use of sewage pipes: a level trackway of bonded gravel for walkers and cyclists laid on top of the Northern Outfall Sewage Embankment. The acronym NOSE may have been deliberately chosen by someone with a sense of humour! However there was little nasal evidence of its presence as we strolled along the route of the Capital Ring above the houses and commercial buildings of the borough of Newham, including the ornate pumping house affectionally known as ‘The Cathedral of Sewage’. After about three miles, we left the Greenway and crossed the busy A13 trunk road with distant views of the ‘Beckton Alps’, a giant slag heap of a former gas works, now grassed over and converted into a dry ski slope. We next entered Beckton District Park, a pleasant green space with a lake and numerous water birds. Leaving the park and the Capital Ring, we walked along a tree-lined footpath to the end of the walk at the Fox Connaught pub, a listed old docks building, which provided sustenance for our hungry and thirsty ramblers.

Danny

Photos by Les and Stephen