Finsbury Park to Alexandra Palace Parkland Walk

Initially, the track bed cuts between Finsbury Park and the busy intercity line north from King's Cross. The old railway ran from Finsbury Park to Highgate and was opened by the Great Northern Railway in 1867. The branch line from Highgate to Alexander Palace was opened in 1873.

The line was taken over by the London and North Eastern Railway in 1923, by which time it was beginning to face stiff competition from trams and buses. Plans to electrify the line and make it part of the underground system came to nothing, and the last passenger train ran on the 3rd of July 1954, with the line being closed completely in 1970.

The walk opens out as the track follows a slight embankment, the grassy banks being particularly good for butterflies. You may see meadow browns, small coppers, large skippers, or even the bright day-flying six spot burnet moth. Further on, by the bridge over Stapleton Hall Road, is the white painted station house of what was once Stroud Green Station.

Soon, the grassy mound of Crouch Hill's covered reservoir comes into view on the right. A little further along the route, there is a well equipped adventure playground. After going under a footbridge, you arrive at the remains of Crouch End Station, where there are platforms on either side of the old trackbed. The next section is overgrown and in a cutting; great hairy willowherb grows here enjoying the moist shady conditions. Ivy covers the ground and the trees.

As you approach Highgate, elegant homes with well cared for back gardens can occasionally be glimpsed to either side of the track. After the track crosses over Northwood Road, it is again quite overgrown at the end of summer, with a profusion of buddleia bushes attracting butterflies. A little further on, this section of the Parkland Walk ends at the point where the old line plunged into twin tunnels beneath Highgate Hill.

Queen's Wood, with its mature trees, is a very attractive green oasis amid a heavily built up area. Within it stands a pavilion with a clock tower. Beneath its verandah is a granite slab set into the wall recording that it was once royally designated as an open space in 1898.

Next you come to the 70 acre Highgate Wood. It was originally a part of the Forest of Middlesex and was donated to the Corporation of London in 1885. The wood is a wildlife haven. About seventy species of bird have been recorded here including such rarities as golden orioles and buzzards, but tree creepers and woodpeckers are more common. The woods mammals include foxes, woodmice and rabbits, as well as the ubiquitous grey squirrels. In recent times bats have always been also been seen, with three species being recorded.

A Roman pottery was excavated in the northern end of the wood after an archaeologist spotted broken shards on the ground in 1962. The finds are now in the Museum of London. The pottery, which operated intermittently from about 43 BC to the beginning of the second century AD, probably supplied Londinium down the hill.

You pick up the railway line again after leaving Highgate Wood at its northernmost end. The bridge over St James Lane provides a good view to Muswell Hill with its attractive architecture, quiet streets and Victorian church.

At about this point, the old railway viaduct gives you an unexpected and spectacular view of east and southeast London, dominated by the distant Canary Wharf Tower capped with the pyramid, as well as the unmistakable outline of the Isle of Dogs. In the middle distance are the green islands of Finsbury Park and Clissold Park. As you walk further along the viaduct, you can see further south with the Natwest Tower poking up over a low ridge.

At Muswell Hill you leave the old railway. All that remains now is a pleasant walk through The Grove, part of Alexandra Park, to the magnificent buildings of Alexandra Palace itself. The park here is worth well exploring too, and boasts some good leisure facilities.