Walk Report

High Points of Northern London, Saturday 11th December 2021
12 walkers, 16.6 miles - leader Gavin Fuller
12 people met at Wembley Park station for the latest tour of London's Borough Tops. Channelling his inner Wainwright, the leader started the day with a climb to the trip point on Barn Hill (not a top), followed this up with another hill in Fryent Country Park before a descent to Roe Green Park in Kingsbury and an ascent to the Borough Top of Brent, passing some slightly eccentric properties en route. Having managed to contain their excitement on the roadside at Wakeman's Hill, it was then down past Kingsbury's impressive Mandir (Hindu temple) through Silver Jubilee Park and West Hendon Playing Fields to Welsh Harp, before mainly joining the Capital Ring through two more parks to Hampstead Garden Suburb, and the climb through Hampstead Heath Extension to lunch by Whitestone Pond, at the highest point of the day's proceedings.
The afternoon session commenced with the Borough Top of Camden by the pond, before a circuit of Hampstead Heath taking in Parliament Hill (again, not a top) before another climb to Highgate and the Borough Top of Haringey by the school. Highgate's village prices came as a surprise to some, as did Waterlow Park, a lesser-known green space taken in en route to the Borough Top of Islington by a pub. There we had say goodbye to a walker who's suffered from glasses failure in Highgate, but the remainder continued along the Parkland South track to Finsbury Park. There another two decided they could eschew the excitement of Hackney's Borough Top, but everyone else continued through the rain to take in its unique lack of charm, before descending to Finsbury Park station and the end.
It was another odd case for the leader where despite doing the same route as the recce his trackers managed to somehow record stats longer and higher than before, so it ended up being 16.6 miles with 748ft of ascent for those who did the full route.
Photographs by Godfrey O'Callaghan and Gavin Fuller

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