Well we are nearly there, just a few more sections and we will have told you all about each part of the Climbing-Moss Heart of London Walk and what to expect, so this time Section 22 From Enfield Chase to Bowes Park…
We started off where we ended the last section, at Enfield Chase Station, there were signs for a good Coffee Shop on the platform but sadly it seems it is no longer is open. So instead we sought out an alternative and found a not bad coffee at En-Food, a Café in the Enfield Public Library, before returning to the start of the route properly. That is on the bridge over The New River, which this section mostly follows.
The New River is neither New or a River actually, it is however a Water Filtration conduit that brought fresh water to the centre of London from Bedfordshire and was built by Sir Hugh Myddleton in 1613 and now is a nature walk and home to flora and fauna aplenty.
The waterway enters London not too far North of this location and travels South pretty directly and that was our course too. The New River Walk is something that Ash has meant to do for years and having both lived alongside it we both thought it a good way to travel back to the centre of the city, so we took to the footpaths alongside the water.
But with that said, as you start heading south, the first section opens wide and has an island in the middle and looks very river like, there are a lot of birds and ducks here and some nice views and photos to be captured.
After this you cross a picturesque bridge and head along a straight road (Carr’s Lane) that runs along the side of Bush Hill Golf Course until it emerges on a residential road.
Follow this and turn right and in theory go through a gate, up some steps and turn right to rejoin the walk, but it turns out (having walked it ourselves) that the footpath leads nowhere and is blocked off, so instead just continue along the road until you get to the junction, turn left and then rejoin the footpath after another bridge.
Alongside some sports grounds the river winds and then at Ford’s Grove you leave the worn dirt path (hopefully not a muddy one!) and walk around the little section, a right and then a left to rejoin.
There are some odd blockages along the route and so this is fairly commonplace. You can cut the route short here and head to Palmer’s Green Station if you wanted by not turning left and keep walking!!
If you do rejoin the path and keep heading southwest, at the next bridge you once more leave the footpath and take to the roads, ignoring the signs for the NRP and instead walk the residential streets, because the signs are just wrong! The section is blocked again and result in a locked gate after a few hundred metres, at the busy A Road, meaning you have to walk back that whole section (you just walked) and go around, so Just take the street route instead!
This road crosses over Pymmes Brook, the stream that Ash fell into in Hadley Wood, thankfully he decided not to repeat the action! Instead he forgot a coat and as the icy rain fell he froze to death, walking alongside the raised, exposed section!
You emerge on Bowes Road, cross at the lights and turn right, then left and rejoin the river walk for the final section of the walk. At the bridge and gate turn away from the footpath until next time and head along the road towards Bowes Park Station and head home and get warm!
Well there you go an easy route to follow, the PDF is on the CMHoL Page (Tab at the top of the page) and we will return to Bowes Park for the next section and some more memories (good and BAD!!) in a couple of weeks. If you like these posts and reviews, walks and other insights consider hitting follow and get new posts every Thursday on climbing-moss.com and we will be back next week with something else.
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