LIFETIME of WALKS by DEREK HARWOOD

I took the bus from Brent Cross Shopping Centre, then the short ride of three stops on bus 232 along the North Circular Road. I started the walk from Brent Street and walked straight into Brent Park. The park was very scruffy and untidy, in need of a makeover. I crossed over Bridge Lane to the next park where the Mutton Brook joins the Dollis Brook to form the River Brent. I took a right turn over and along the Mutton Brook to a subway, where the North Circular Road traffic thunders past. I emerged from the subway into the Dollis Valley Green Walk which was confusing because the Mutton Brook flows through the Dollis Valley Green Walk. I was back to the incessant traffic on the Finchley Road for a short while before returning to the Brookside Walk. Yet another return to the urban environment at Addison Way and Falloden Way before returning again to the Brookside Walk at Northway Gardens and Lyttelton playing fields. The Children's Millennium Wood and play area was deserted due to the drizzle, but a few hardy young lads braved the weather on the football pitches, near to the derelict looking pavilion. Leaving the park by the Hampstead Garden Suburb Synagogue, I crossed the A1 Lyttelton Road to the affluent detached suburbs of East Finchley. I then crossed the Great North Road at East Finchley Station and entered Cherry Tree Wood. There were many squirrels around, close to the pathways, obviously attracted to the food provided by the human visitors to the wood. There is a strange sign 'Lazy Sally' over the hut door near the wood entrance at Fordington Road. It was a short distance to Highgate Wood where a plaque explains that the Ring Walk was launched in September 2005. A steep descent to Muswell Hill Road leads to the undulating Queen's Wood. A pile of purposely abandoned tree trunks provides a good habitat for several rats seen scurrying around as I passed, with a very steep ascent from the wood into Priory Gardens and the end of the walk at Archway Road

Location Map: - www.streetmap.co.uk
Start: Hendon
Finish: Highgate Park

None