Parkland Walk — Attraction in London

This former GNR branch line is now a country walk in Greater London. I walked it on July 1st with my fourteen year old son joining a group of railway enthusiasts who walk it every year led by Jim Blake who runs this tour every year. Built and run by the GNR, the line from Finsbury Park to Finchley Central together with the Branch to Edgeware via The Hale were earmarked for the expanding London Underground as part of 1930s New Works Programme which was devised by the National Government to try and get the long term unemployed back to work following years of unemployment, everything was in place including third and fourth rails, cable runs, station roundels, sub stations etc and then the Second World War intervened and all bets were off, the extensions on the Central Line which included the other half of the Hainault Loop which included new stations at Wanstead, Gants Hill and Newbury Park and which were used during the war for Aircraft Product were completed but the Northern Heights as those former lines around Highgate were known were slowly abandoned by stealth the passenger service to Alexandra Park being withdrawn in 1954 followed by a withdrawal of freight services, the line from Highgate Depot, Highgate High Level, Crouch End to Finsbury Park were used for Tube Stock transfers as the line from Finsbury Park down to Moorgate was still part of London Underground only transferring to British Rail in 1976 after that the line was dismantled and the trackbed was converted into the...

This wonderful walking path is in danger right now. By its nature, it has been wild and free for decades, but the council is now planning on changing this.

Please, take action and get involved in discussions around the improvements-visit the Friends of the Parkland Walk website:

The Friends of the Parkland Walk was originally established to fight proposals for the former railway land to be developed as a dual carriageway. Although the Friends have subsequently expanded their work into nature conservation and providing guided walks, campaigning on behalf of the Nature Reserve remains a key mission of the organisation. As the Friends are a stakeholder group, the Council has a duty to inform of us of any planning applications that may impact on the Parkland Walk. The committee look closely at all applications and where we consider impact to be non-existent or negligible, no action is taken. Where we consider an application does have implications for the Walk, the Nature Reserve or users of the Walk, the committee will act on behalf of the Parkland Walk and its users in line with its mission statement. The Friends also conduct regular boundary walks to ensure that residents do not attempt to poach land by extending their garden boundaries and also have regular meetings with the Council Parks Department to monitor progress on a...

A lovely path of green belt in the city, combining a well trodden walk way through greenery with the views of terrace housing gardens. Following the route of a disused railway track from Finsbury Park heading north.

There are lots of walls, bridges, old platforms and archways too, some with interesting features and even some colourful graffiti. I don't mind the graffiti in certain places, although on the nature walk information boards it is a bit irritating!

If you can catch the path at a quiet time it feels like an escape from the roads and city life that are so near. On a busy time it can be like walking towards a festival, during covid it has been a go to area for many - too busy for me to feel comfortable. I find it busiest at weekends and quietest early morning or dusk. I probably wouldn't recommend in the dark.

Really nice place to do a daily walk, although a shame about people with the litter, disregard of vegetation and dog mess. The council installed bins need a more frequent emptying too.

Having said that there seems to be a lot of recent activities and conservation going on. I just found out you can also apply to be a volunteer to get involved with the 'friends of the parkland walk' via their website. I'm thinking to sign up to help clean...