Playlist: Last FM Playlist
Time: 2 hours 10 minutes
This walk has four distinct parts to it. The first meanders through the suburbs from South Kenton station. This, and the rest of the route, is not an area I am familiar with so unlike the previous section it was a bit of an adventure. One of the pleasures of urban walking is the study of other peoples' front gardens and some of the gardens on this part of the route were stunning! Two in particular in Uxendon Gardens were particularly splendid.
Just after this we move into the second and most surprising section of the walk. When I looked at the route of this part of the Capital Ring I thought great, Brent Cross and the North Circular. I completely missed the green space of the Fryent Country Park.
This area is, on a bright sunny day like today, like walking in the open country. A hip-high sea of waving grassland full of small brown butterflies and even a skylark flitting up and down as they do. This is followed by a shady walk through woodland up hill to Barn Hill pond with water lilies, flag irises and rushes. Water level was unsurprisingly low but still very pretty. Nearby you have great views over to the new Wembley Stadium and beyond it the spire of Harrow-on-the-Hill.
A steep descent and then more open fields and hedgerows all very peaceful and had to imagine you are still in Zone 4!
Leaving the open spaces you return to the suburbs with a surprising gem set amongst them. St Andrew's church was originally built at Oxford Circus in the 19th century but moved here stone by stone in the 1930s. Quite a project a it is not a small building! Next to it is the much smaller 12th century church
h of the same name.
You soon enter more open space and the third section of the walk beside the Welsh Harp Reservoir. It was named not, as I thought, for its shape but for the Welsh Harp pub that used to stand there. You only catch glimpses of the water on the walk but on it I could see lots of swans and other waterfowl and I wish I had brought my binoculars with me as others had. There is a good viewing platform at the eastern end of the water.
The fourth section was quite hard going after the glories of the 2nd and 3rd sections. More suburban sprawl, the M1 and a lot of heat from the baking sun. This was followed, thankfully, by a final stroll through a park to the tube station at Hendon Central my destination for the day and the start of a long hot tube journey home!
