We are the North East London Ramblers. We open the way for everyone in our local community to enjoy the pleasures of walking.
The walk begins at 10.30 from Highgate Tube Station and ends at Stoke Newington Station.
Please note we are meeting at the coffee stall at the Priory Gardens entrance to Highgate Tube Station
This section has a variety of green and watery spaces: a disused railway line, two parks, a canal, two reservoirs and a cemetery. Most of the walk is on good paths and is flat, but there is a fairly steep climb at the start which can be avoided if desired by using an escalator from Highgate station then walking along the road to join the group near Jackson’s Lane Arts Centre.
There are no toilets at Highgate Station but we can use the ones in the Arts Centre, about five minutes into the walk.
The section starts with the Parkland Walk, a disused railway line now managed as a nature reserve. After a break near a café and toilets in Finsbury Park we will walk through the park and along the New River (a canal bringing fresh water to London from Hertfordshire). We will have lunch at Woodberry Wetlands, a reservoir now managed as a nature reserve. The Coal House Café has a fairly limited menu of baguettes and soup so you may wish to bring a packed lunch. There are picnic benches near the café, and toilets in the café.
Our route then takes us past the West Reservoir and through Clissold Park (with more toilets). After a short walk along Stoke Newington Church Street we reach Abney Park, a Victorian cemetery now managed as a park, with an interesting range of tombstones, most overgrown and ivy-clad. Stoke Newington Station (Weaver Line) is a short distance away, or there are lots of buses along Stamford Hill.
