London Loop Section 12: Cockfosters to Enfield Lock

Weather: Warm and overcast to start, becoming very warm towards the end.
After the mud and rain of the previous leg I was hoping to start a week's holiday with a warmer and dryer walk. I was in luck. The sun was trying to poke through the clouds and a week of hot sunny weather had dried up most of the mud. Finding the start was a bit awkward but eventually spotted the gate on the far side of the car par and I was off. After the rash of golf courses in previous legs this one specialised in cemeteries, one at the start and another at the end.
After a short stroll you arrive at Trent Country park which has a very nice cafe where I stopped for a late brunch / early lunch of baked beans on toast. Avoided the rather tasty looking tray bakes and cakes and started back on the walk before the numerous walking groups that were hanging around the cafe got underway.

The week of sun has brought the crops on well. Fields of golden wheat and trees heavy with crab apples line the path as you climb into Enfield Chase. However I was jolted out of my reverie by a rather scary looking tree and a HUMAN SKULL on the ground. Thought I was seeing things until another group stopped and pointed to it. Decided to move on before it claimed another victim. Lots of more pleasant trees in the chase itself, in particular sweet chestnuts with flowers like golden fireworks covering their branches.

Once you drop down from Hadley Road you really do feel as if you are in the countryside, not within a few miles of London. Broad beans  (or poo beans as my uncultured wife calls them) in one field more wheat in the next.

Enfield Chase

Kestrels hovered over the wheat looking for small mammals before perching on the branches of dead trees catching their breath before flying off again. Signage in the next section became a bit sporadic and I could have done with changing into a kestrel to avoid a fallen willow that almost completely blocked the path. The trunk had folded over like melted toffee but the tree was still growing - tough things willows. Had to crawl under the branches on all fours as there was no way round the back.
The next field was covered with crows, at least a hundred and the next had lots of cylindrical straw bales wrapped in black plastic. I prefer them to be left unwrapped so they look like rolls of butter but I can understand why the farmers bag them up. However they do look like giant rabbit droppings!

The next section past Clay Hill and onto the New River and Turkey Brook was nice but nothing spectacular though there are a number of very attractive trees and it is always good to walk beside water. The Rose and Crown pub has the air of a good county inn  though as I was still full of beans I didn't pop in to check it out.

The route passes the old fish ponds of Elsynge Hall and there were a number of very large fish moving sedately through the murky water. Keeping a wary eye on them was a heron that was almost as surprised as me when I got within about two metres of it before it flew off in that strange way they have, dangling its spindly legs just above the surface of the water with a few languid flaps of its wings.
Two climbs over steep railway bridges are not what tired legs need but that's what you get at the end of this shortish but rather enjoyable leg of the LOOP.

London Loop: Section 11: Elstree to Cockfosters

Weather: Damp and cool with showers
After the 'wettest June on record' and a wet start to July I was despairing of ever getting to go walking again. So with the forecast being for dry but overcast I set out on the long journey to Elstree. Things did not get off to a good start as I got lost in the sprawling Kings Cross / St Pancras complex. Hope those travelling in for the Olympics do better than I did in finding the correct station let alone the correct platform and train.
Arriving at Elstree you start off with a stretch of road walking past some fabulous mansions that are set back behind high fences, thick hedges and mature trees. What you can glimpse through the gates are huge houses some with thatched roofs topped with ornate decorations of pheasants and foxes. All of this is a welcome distraction from the rather dull section of road walking - at least the ground was dry underfoot, the last time my feet would be dry for some time.

Turning down a narrow muddy track it was difficult to keep upright as the path entered a very nice area of mixed woodland which leads up to possibly the most soul destroying part of any of the LOOP sections I have walked. The path emerges onto the side of the A1 and you trudge down one side for about half a mile then cross through an underpass and back up the other side for another half a mile. This combined with the dull grey skies threatening dismal drizzle and the constant noise of trucks blasting along the road was very trying.

Once through this section the path crosses some very attractive open farmland before there is another short section of road walking before I reached the muddiest section of the route. The path passes through meadow beside a brook and in places I would have been dryer to walk through the brook rather than stay on the path. The ground was saturated and in places where the path passes between fence and hedge the mud was six or eight inches deep and very sticky. However there were a lot of small brown butterflies flitting about to distract me. In places to try to avoid the risk of trench foot I walked with a foot on the relatively dry land on wither side of the muddy section. However the mud got wider and wider and eventually I had to bite the bullet and walk through the mud rather than fall into it!

A section of tarmac path as I approached Barnet was very welcome as it gave my feet a chance to dry out a bit. Passing through the outskirts of Barnet the unforcasted rain started to fall. Not hard enough to warrant putting a coat on but damp enough to start seeping through everything. Met a dog walker about here and we chatted for a while about the weather and the lack of a crossing point on the A1. Soon you enter what is probably the best section of this part of the LOOP the hamlet of Hadley Green. Nice houses and pretty countryside - definitely does not feel like London. Here there is a row of 1th Century Almshouses, a house where David Livingstone lived briefly, the house of Fanny Trollope (Anthony's mum) and nearby is the site of the Battle of Barnet which took place in 1471.

A sheltered walk through woodland leads on for the rest of the leg till you arrive at the rather disappointing Cockfosters station. I was expecting more for a station at the end of the Piccadilly line but the station is hidden below road level and all you have is the 1930's signage.

Hopefully we will have some drier weather in July and the next leg will be a bit more comfortable than this one!