Walking In London

It's been cold and wintery since we got back to the UK last October. That's five months of jackets, pants, boots, umbrellas. Which only means one thing; when the sun pokes it's face out from behind the gloom, and the daffodils tentatively rear their heads, you go outside. And more than that, you wear shorts!

That's right! You know a day has started well when you bust out your three-shades-too-pale chicken legs! Today was a walking day. It's been a while since Laura and I took a purposeful walk, that is to say that the walk is the purpose of the excursion.

Look, I found a view!

Today's walk would go as follows: Finsbury Park to Alexander Palace, Alexander Palace to Home. Now we didn't map our own trail, we had been given a Walks In London book for Christmas and found this one a good place to start.

We had our lunch packed and were out the door. It was a beautiful day, destined for the temperature to break into the high teens, if not even crack twenty!

After a quick jaunt on the Over-than-Underground we arrived at Finsbury Park, book in hand we began following directions.

This walk was to follow an old train line, that ran from town up to Alexandra Palace. It was once considered as an Underground extension, before being abandoned and eventually used for something far better than empty land; a Rail Trail.

It was only mid morning, but already the spring sun was shining down and warming our trek. The trail itself was great, well maintained, wide, and because it used to be a train line it was obscured from the neighbouring housed by dense rows of trees. There were a few notable features pointed out to us by the book. One was the great statue of the Green Man climbing his way out of a giant retaining wall. We couldn’t decide if he was there before or after trains used to run by.

Shortly ahead of the mischievous figure was an abandoned train station. Platforms lay on either side of the track, conjuring up images of some post apocalyptic film. We walked right along the edge, defiant as to where the Yellow Line once urged passengers back. At the far end was the old station entrance and ticket hall, which was once a café, but now looked pretty run down.

The (half a) Green Man.

We continued to walk along the peaceful trail until we reached what used to be the two enormous rail tunnels that bored their way under Queens Wood. The trail diverted off at this point, but we couldn’t resist venturing further too see what the tunnels were like, sneakily wanting to do a bit of spelunking! Alas, as we both suspected, the tunnels had long since been closed off. However, we learned, thanks to the enormous signs, that both tunnels were now part of a bat habitat program, and were home to probably a billion bats!

At this point the trail look a cheeky little diversion through the suburban expanse of the 1950s before joining back up with the green in the ancient Queens Wood. This part of the forest descends from the ancient British forests of 5,000 years ago, and was a complete micro ecosystem in its own right. Furthermore it contained 125 species of spider, which Laura thought I read as just 125 spiders… an impressively specific number for an information sign.

As I was reading the sign (one of those things I feel must be done everywhere, to Laura’s sometimes annoyance!) we heard a quick succession of tapping. Now ordinarily we would have dismissed this, but having seen a woodpecker in Sweden last month Laura immediately pointed out the sound and we went on the hunt! It took a while, but we eventually found the little guy, high atop a giant oak tree doing his thing.

The next part of the trail consisted of much the same; beautiful British spring woods, the odd reminder of civilisation, and the occasional relic, be it an ages old marble drinking fountain, or a old caretakers cottage. Eventually though we came to the final stretch before hitting Ally Pally. 

As you might know, especially from previous blogs, London, and in fact the majority of the UK, is flat. There are no mountains, no hills, and not even gentle inclines. Having grown up surrounded by 52 volcanos, and spending holidays up great mountains, not being able to ‘see out’ sometimes gets pretty claustrophobic. Which means when you step out of the trees and see all the way down to Canary Wharf, The City, and beyond, your heart is lifted and your soul feels lighter!

Laura found a view!!

After gawking at the view for a good long while we pulled ourselves away and headed up to the great behemoth that is Alexandra Palace.
Alexandra Palace is an odd place, it was built in 1863 to rival Crystal Palace as 'the peoples palace', but there was a fire only two years after it opened. It's been various things since including a POW camp in WWII, before being purchased by the BBC and turned into the sight of the first television broadcast. After which it fell into disrepair. Currently it is used as a concert hall, and it has a permanent ice rink for all the ice hockey that apparently happens in London!
Anyway, more importantly for us it has a bar. And being a wonderfully warm and sunny afternoon by the time we got there, it was time for a beer. Packed lunch, beer, sun, and a view; some of life's greatest pleasures.

Then some beer.

Eventually though it was time to leave and start thinking about heading towards home. We still has about 10kms of walking to do. So after a quick meander through Mill Hill, buying three very large books from a second hand book store, we made our way West.

The walk home took much the same path as the later part of our journey up, until we diverted off and headed towards Hampstead Heath. We've never ventured to our far side of the Heath, but now that we have I can tell you it's ridiculous. The amount of wealth atop those hills could sustain the economy of a small African nation of a decade!

Needless to say it wasn't really our scene, and after a day on our feet we were keen to see familiar ground.

If I've truly nailed down one thing about our little excursion it's this: when you live somewhere as busy as London, with eight million nutters all running around, it's nice every now and then to find somewhere where you can be alone. And the Finsbury Park to Ally Pally walk is perfect for that.

She also found a bridge.

Beer in the sun, nothing better!

Except sitting in a table...