The Inside Track: Walking the Capital Ring

Copyright © Mark Moxon 2024

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This version was compiled on 31 March 2024

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Front cover: A sphinx guarding the terrace at Crystal Palace, south London

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Preface

This book is a collection of writing from the Capital Ring, which I walked in 2006/7. The travelogue for this walk and many others can be found on my personal website at www.moxon.net, where you can also find walking tips, a photo library and further free books for you to download.

I’ve released this book and its companions via a Creative Commons Licence, which means you are free to distribute it to everyone and anyone, as long as you distribute it on a non-commercial basis and make no changes to it. If you know someone who might like this book, please pass it on; I make no money from it, but I do enjoy the thought of people reading it and recommending it to their friends.

Finally, please be aware that this book attempts to be humorous every now and then, so there’s a slight chance that it might cause offence to those who think my sense of humour is as amusing as a puddle of mud. On top of this, some parts will be out of date – which is why each article is dated – and others will betray the naivety of a walker who discovered his way in the world by throwing himself into it headfirst. It is, however, an honest account of how I felt as I walked the Capital Ring, and as such, I hope you enjoy it.

Mark Moxon

June 2014

About the Walk

Introduction

After enjoying the excellent London Loop, I wondered how the Capital Ring would compare. While the London Loop encircles the city at a fair distance, sticking to zone 6 and the green belt, the Capital Ring is much more urban, winding around the capital via zones 2, 3 and 4. The Ring doesn’t pretend to be anything other than an urban walk that joins up London’s many green spaces, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The Loop is surprising because it’s so green; the Ring is fascinating because it winds through parts of London that you wouldn’t otherwise visit. For Londoners, the Ring is possibly more interesting than the Loop, even though its walking isn’t as traditionally appealing as its big brother’s longer days through the green belt.

As with the Loop, the Ring has been brilliantly planned. Each section begins and ends at public transport, and because it’s much closer in than the Loop, it’s a lot easier to get onto the Ring; indeed, most suburban Londoners have probably spotted a Capital Ring sign while wandering around their home patch, which makes it even more satisfying to join up all these different suburbs by foot. Meanwhile, for non-Londoners, the Ring provides an introduction to the real capital, away from the bright lights of the West End and the affluence of the City.

That said, the Ring is an urban walk, and if you don’t like your long-distance paths to be busy, populated and built-up, you’re better off avoiding both the Loop and the Ring and sticking to the countryside. However, if you’re like me and find urban walking strangely compelling, the Ring is another great London walk, and together with the London Loop, provides an opportunity to really get to know the UK’s largest city.

Here’s a list of the individual days in this walk:

1. Woolwich to Falconwood

2. Falconwood to Grove Park

3. Grove Park to Crystal Palace

4. Crystal Palace to Streatham

5. Streatham to Wimbledon Park

6. Wimbledon Park to Richmond

7. Richmond to Osterley Lock

8. Osterley Lock to Greenford

9. Greenford to South Kenton

10. South Kenton to Hendon Park

11. Hendon Park to Highgate

12. Highgate to Stoke Newington

13. Stoke Newington to Hackney Wick

14. Hackney Wick to Beckton Park

15. Beckton Park to Woolwich

Route

As with the London Loop, there’s an excellent official guidebook, The Capital Ring by Colin Saunders. It contains all the maps you need (sections of 1:25,000 Ordnance Survey Explorer maps, specially highlighted to show the route), very detailed directions, and plenty of information to bring the walk alive. To walk a section of the Ring you just need the book and a compass (though I never needed to use mine); the route is well signed all the way, except for some sections of day 11. You might also come across signs that have been twisted to point in the wrong direction; this was a particular problem on day 1, but that’s urban walking for you. Here’s the route that the book describes, going clockwise from Woolwich in east London:

Day

Walk

Miles

1

Woolwich to Falconwood

6.2

2

Falconwood to Grove Park

3.4

3

Grove Park to Crystal Palace

8.2

4

Crystal Palace to Streatham

3.9

5

Streatham to Wimbledon Park

5.4

6

Wimbledon Park to Richmond

6.9

7

Richmond to Osterley Lock

3.8

8

Osterley Lock to Greenford

4.8

9

Greenford to South Kenton

5.3

10

South Kenton to Hendon Park

5.9

11

Hendon Park to Highgate

5.1

12

Highgate to Stoke Newington

4.4

13

Stoke Newington to Hackney Wick

3.6

14

Hackney Wick to Beckton Park

4.6

15

Beckton Park to Woolwich

3.3

Total distance

74.8

It’s worth pointing out that this is only a suggested itinerary. Even if you’re not a massive fan of long-distance walking, you could easily polish off two or three sections in one day; the last three sections, for example, combine to make a good day’s walk of 11.5 miles. The terrain is gentle throughout, so most people should be able to manage the above.

South London

Day 1: Woolwich to Falconwood

Much like its big brother, the Capital Ring starts off in a fairly gritty mood. I’ve clearly been unlucky, because every time I’ve walked along the estuary end of the Thames – on day 1 and day 15 of the London Loop, for example – the wind has howled and the clouds have lurked, and there’s something rather lonely about the grey waters of the Thames in this part of the world. As it winds away from the southern end of the Woolwich Foot Tunnel on the first few steps of its 75-mile length, the Capital Ring does little except confirm this experience.

Perhaps it’s the monolithic Tate and Lyle factory over the water, or maybe it’s the surprising amount of dog shit to be found along the riverside walk, but my heart sank a little as I headed west along the Thames Path, which the Capital Ring joins for its first few stretches. Things were certainly bustling on the way from Woolwich Arsenal train station – indeed, the high street was so busy with shoppers that I had to double-check that it was indeed a Monday morning – and the shock of the dull Thames-side start to the Ring almost proved too much.

It also didn’t help that the locals clearly get their kicks from twisting Capital Ring signposts through 90°. Initially I couldn’t work out why I was finding it so hard to navigate, but I’ve now explored enough of the riverside area round Woolwich to know that you’re better off ignoring the signposts and just sticking to the map; this view was shared by a local businessman with a pink tie who kindly offered to help me find my way, giving me directions with the air of someone who’d done it before a number of times. Luckily, once you’re away from the river, things slowly get better and better, until the day’s walk redeems itself with some lovely forest walking and some genuine points of interest.

Urban Parks

Once you get away from the river and across the busy A206, you plunge into the Ring’s first urban park. While the London Loop contains some proper countryside walking, the Ring is more about linking up London’s urban green spaces, and some parks are better than others. The first park you cross, Maryon Park, is nothing to write home about, but the second, Maryon Wilson Park, is much more enjoyable. It has a children’s zoo with deer, pigs and ducks, and some relaxing benches and weeping willows that make it a good spot for a break.

It’s all too small, though, and before you know it the Ring comes out into the rather flat Charlton Park, which appears to be more of a playing field than a park. It’s deceptive, though, because over at the right-hand end of the park is the first building of note on the Ring, Charlton House. From the Ring you only get to see the back of the building, which is fairly bland, but if you take a small detour to the front of the house, you’re rewarded with a lovely Jacobean frontage that’s well worth the effort.

From Charlton House, the Ring heads back into suburbia and through the forgettable Hornfair Park and an uninspiring housing development, before turning right into Woolwich Common. There’s a pretty view ahead to Shooters Hill and the common is an enjoyable stroll, but again it’s over before you hit your stride. Then it’s back onto the main road for a short hop to the outskirts of Eltham Common... and at last, the really enjoyable walking begins, for this is where the woods start.

Shooters Hill Woods

If, like me, you enjoy wandering through urban woods, then you’ll love walking through Eltham Common, Jackwood, Oxleas Wood and Eltham Park. For the first time since Woolwich, the sound of traffic is almost reduced to a whisper (though, that’s a London whisper, of course – surely nowhere in London is that remote). The walking is easy and pleasant underfoot, and it’s easy to lose yourself in the rhythm. It’s great.

The first thing to break the woodland rhythm is Severndroog, a lonely little 18th-century tower in the middle of the woods. This is the highest point on the whole Ring, at 404 ft (121m) above sea level, but don’t expect any views, as the whole thing is in thick woodland. You soon pass the sweet ornamental gardens of Jackwood, where if you’re lucky (as I was) you can witness dog owners yelling at one other as their drooling mutts try to tear pieces out of each other. Luckily, a little further on is a café that sports lovely views over southeast London, making it a great spot for a rest, well away from the local canines. If you’ve walked the London Loop (or you’re planning to), then the vista in front of you covers the first two or three days of the Loop, give or take.

From here to the end of the day, the Ring strolls through more pleasant woodland, with the only break being the small park at Long Pond. Make sure you look back to your right as you walk past the pond, as the views of London are great. Drink them in, because it’s not much further to the end of the first day, with Falconwood station just a few yards along the noisy A2.

Day 2: Falconwood to Grove Park

This might be the second shortest day on the Ring – the last day is a tiny bit shorter – but it’s small and perfectly formed. Suburbia rubs shoulders with mediaeval buildings, while urban farms boast great city views, and the only problem with the whole day is that it’s over before it really gets started. If you’re in the mood for a longer walk, I highly recommend extending this day into parts of day 1 or day 3, especially if you’re coming a long way to reach the Ring in the first place.

From the constant drone of the A2 at Falconwood, the Ring dives straight into a pleasant suburban park, complete with plenty of tennis courts and dog walkers. If you’ve just come from the first day of the Ring, you’ll notice that the suburbs of Eltham, into which you are walking, are a notch above anything on day 1. Indeed, tucked away in the outskirts of these suburbs is Conduit Head, a tumbledown structure that turns out to be a Grade II listed piece of Tudor brickwork, an indication of the history that seeps through the area.

You might not spot this history along the particularly affluent stretch of North Place, where the houses are huge and the cars garishly ostentatious, and this exclusive theme continues right up to Eltham Palace, the principal country residence of the monarchy from the early 14th to the mid-16th centuries. The palace itself is ticketed – unfortunately I didn’t have time to visit – but if you’re a fan of things Tudor, don’t miss the three cottages on the right just before the palace gates. They’re gorgeous, and with the glimpsed views from the Ring of the pleasant palace gardens, you come away with the feeling that this is a rather special part of the world.

From Eltham Palace the Ring turns along a gravel track called King John’s Walk and into farmland, though look over your shoulder and there’s a great view of Canary Wharf and the Dome, a reminder that you’re still well and truly in London. True to form, it’s not long before you come to another suburban road and another row of houses, though because this is Eltham, they have rather pleasant rural names instead of numbers. Extending the feeling of a pleasant little corner of England, don’t follow the Ring as it turns left down an overgrown path – instead, wander along the road for a few steps, and on your right you’ll find the Fairmount Residential Home, a fairly bland-looking house that turns out to have been the home of the famous cricketer W G Grace. Somehow I always saw him living in a cottage by the village green... but in London terms, I guess this is as close as you can get.

From here it’s a short stroll to the end of the day’s walk, past the sports fields of Eltham College and the pavilions of the City of London Sports and Social Club, and into the backstreets of Grove Park. It’s a pity that it has to stop, but at least it leaves day 2 of the Ring as a great example of how pretty zone 4 can be. And that’s not something you can say that often...

Day 3: Grove Park to Crystal Palace

I woke up today with a dark cloud hanging over me, which is hardly the best frame of mind in which to tackle the longest day of the Capital Ring. Luckily this is an excellent walk that lifted my spirits and left me bouncing along... but first my black mood and I had to endure two miles of unrelenting suburban drivel, because although this section is a delight, the first hour is far from scintillating.

OK, so it’s possible that my morning mood coloured my view, but I didn’t enjoy the first section from Grove Park to Beckenham Hill one little bit. For the most part the Ring is either in bland suburbia, in which pretty much every flat surface is branded with illiterate graffiti, or it’s slipping through the remains of the Great North Wood, which these days is squashed into an incredibly thin strip between playing fields, heavy industry and housing estates. Shopping trolleys and fly tipping are the order of the day, and between the buildings you can see Canary Wharf, which only rubs in the fact that this part of the Ring is most definitely urban.

The only notable sight along this section hardly helps to lift the mood much, either. Not far into the walk the Ring crosses the main railway line from London to the Kent coast, and although it’s always an impressive sight seeing large numbers of railway tracks running off into the distance, it’s somewhat tempered by the fact that 49 people lost their lives in a horrific train crash on this very stretch back in 1967.

But never mind, because just after the bridge is Downham Fire Station, where they have a training tower and – if your timing is good, like it was for me – a collection of smashed-up car wrecks, where the firemen practise dragging crash victims out of their vehicles. Interestingly enough, this theme continues down the road, because this is the kind of area where knackered old cars sit in driveways, propped up on bricks and overgrown weeds, waiting in vain for someone to finish the job they started. It’s not the greatest walking spot in the world, to be honest.

Beckenham Place

Happily, Beckenham Hill is, and soon after crossing the busy A21 between Downham and Southend, the Ring more than makes up for its shaky start. Beckenham Place Park is a delight, and if you’re looking for a decent day’s walk, you could to do worse than starting this section at Beckenham Hill station, which would cut out the dross of Grove Park and land you straight into the lovely countryside that characterises the rest of this day.

Beckenham Place Park consists of woodland, a public golf course and an intriguingly mouldering stately home – Beckenham Place – that makes for a brilliant lunch stop. Luckily for walkers, the woodland through which the Ring meanders is separated from the golf course by plenty of trees, so you’re in no danger of getting hit by stray golf balls. Indeed, this is real woodland, so even if a budding Ballesteros hooked the ball towards the Ring, the chances of it getting through would be practically zero, and it’s this isolation that makes walking through this section so pleasurable. The suburbs suddenly seem a long way away, and as the path comes out into the more open grassland that surrounds Beckenham Place itself, the views are as pretty as they come. Beckenham Place even has a bar from which you can watch people teeing off into the sunshine; it’s a lovely place.

So are the suburbs of Beckenham, which are clearly in a different league to the more earthy digs of Grove Park. There’s no graffiti, no rubbish, plenty of trees, and streets full of the kind of house that makes you wonder whether you’ll ever be able to afford this kind of lifestyle. Just after Beckenham Place the Ring runs along the A2105 for a short hop, and on the left is a red brick development that is straight out of the 1960s, with its sculptured gardens and hinged windows. The surprising thing is that it’s lovely, and still looks as polished as an architect’s model. Developments like this all too often show their age, but in Beckenham even the high rises on the other side of the A-road look clean and happy. It’s bizarre, and is perhaps best summed up by the fact that a few yards further on, the huge clubhouse on Worsley Bridge Road sports a sign saying ‘Kent County Cricket Club’. Clearly, Beckenham is somewhat more affluent that Grove Park.

This theme continues as the Ring takes a detour through Cator Park and on into New Beckenham, winding through some beautiful suburban streets on the way. Look around and you’ll see BMWs, Volvos and Mercs that clearly have a long way to go before they end up on bricks in someone’s driveway...

Crystal Palace

There’s a slight hiccup when the Ring crosses the railway bridge at Penge East station, as suddenly the locals’ skirts shrink to eye-popping length and their make-up doubles in thickness, but it’s a relatively short hop through the urban backstreets of Penge, and you soon end up at Crystal Palace, which really is a wonderful place.

Crystal Palace is a great park. It’s got everything, from massive sports facilities to the tallest structure in London, and as a way to end the longest day on the Ring, it can’t be beaten. Looking at the map, I’d thought it was going to be dominated by the monstrous National Sports Centre, but despite the size of the development, it’s really well hidden behind the sculptured landscape of the park, and instead Crystal Palace turns out to be a green, undulating delight.

It also has two of the most interesting structures on the whole Ring: the 270m-high Crystal Palace transmitter, which is absolutely beautiful, and the hill on which the eponymous Victorian glass-house stood until it burned down in 1936. You can take a small detour from the Ring to explore what remains of the Crystal Palace, and even though it comes at the end of a long day, I highly recommend it. The views over southeast London are impressive, and what’s left of the foundations is enough to spark off the imagination: stone sphinxes and weather-beaten statues stand at the top of wide staircases, and all the while the Eiffel Tower-esque transmitter towers overhead, a delightful juxtaposition of old ruins and modern technology.

It really is worth the effort of getting there, and makes for the Capital Ring’s first proper and worthwhile walk.

Day 4: Crystal Palace to Streatham

If you want to get the best out of this section of the Ring, try to do it on a clear day, because by far and away the best aspect of the walk from Crystal Palace to Streatham are the views. This is one of the hilliest parts of London, and although it makes this walk rather more tiring than 3.9 miles might sound on paper, it’s worth the effort. In cloudy weather with poor visibility, though, the suburban nature of the walk might not be that thrilling, as it’s the vistas peeping through the houses that make this such an enjoyable yomp.

The Ring doesn’t hang around, either, as from Crystal Palace station it heads straight uphill to Belvedere Road, where you can see 19th century houses with glass rooms built on top of them, designed to make the most of the expansive view to the southeast. It’s pleasant walking, if a little tiring, and all the time you can see the Crystal Palace transmitter poking its head above the tiles, as if in competition with the NTL South Norwood transmitter to the south, which also crops up on the horizon throughout the day.

There’s not a great deal that excites about the first couple of miles through the suburbs of Norwood to the long and noisy section along the A215, but as soon as the Ring turns left along Biggin Hill, you’re in business. Just down the hill, on the right, are some luscious allotments, but the killer is the view south over Croydon; it might be urban, but you can see the North Downs in the distance, and if you’ve done day 5 of the London Loop, the view should bring back some memories.

Lovely Norwood

The views just keep on coming, too. After a short dip through yet more tiny remnants of the Great North Wood (which you also visit on day 3, and which gives its name to Norwood), the Ring ducks back into suburbia, but it’s suburbia with yet more wonderful views. You’ll go past houses that make the most of this fact, with elaborate (though somewhat tasteless) balconies facing south into the sun, but it’s not long before the Ring turns off into a park called Norwood Grove, and what a lovely place it turns out to be.

Tucked away in the centre of the park is a slightly dilapidated house – also called Norwood Grove – but the surrounding gardens are far from shabby. With commanding views over Croydon and some pretty landscaping off to the east of the house, this is a great place for a breather, but make the most of it, because the rest of the day is a slow descent back into urban London.

From Norwood Grove the Ring heads west, past woodland and into Streatham Common. On your left, as you pass the car park, is the Rookery garden, which is worth a quick detour, seeing as the gardens are laid out in steep terraces that are quite unlike the rolling grass of the common. Even if you’ve had enough of the ups and downs of the day’s walk, it’s worth wandering to the edge of the top terrace, if only to take a peek down to the ornamental gardens below.

And that’s about it; the Ring then crosses Streatham Common and heads down to the tumultuous A23 (Streatham High Road), where the trains await to whisk you back home. Today may be short, but like all the short legs of the Ring, it’s pretty sweet.

Day 5: Streatham to Wimbledon Park

I’m gutted that this leg turns out to be one of the least interesting day walks on the whole Capital Ring, as I used to live in Balham and spent many a day wondering just where those green Capital Ring signs were pointing (assuming, of course, that they were actually pointing along the proper route, rather than the skewed version that introduces the Ring). The fact that today’s walk is nothing but a relatively bland wander through everyday suburbia comes as something of a disappointment.

OK, so there’s nothing actually wrong with day 5 of the Ring, and the surroundings are never anything other than pleasant, but unlike the walks either side of the Streatham-Wimbledon Park leg, there’s absolutely no highlight. Day 4 has views and pretty little Norwood Grove, and day 6 is arguably the best day walk in Greater London, but day 5 exists only to join up these other parts of the Ring, and as such it’s a bit of a let-down. Still, even classic albums have the odd bit of filler, and there are far worse walks in London, so I’ll be kind...

A Tale of Two Commons

From Streatham, the Ring quickly passes what is probably the most notable building of the day – Streatham Pumping Station, which looks for all the world like an Islamic temple tucked away by the railway lines of Streatham Junction – and heads north to Tooting Bec Common, the first of two green spaces on the itinerary. Unfortunately Tooting Bec Common is a relatively average park, and although the Ring tries to take in its major feature – a large pond in the middle of the common – you can’t actually see anything from the path, and before you know it you’re back into the suburbs of Balham.

Comparing the suburbs of Balham with those on the earlier part of the Ring is entertaining, particularly as there’s precious little else to do while winding through the streets towards Balham High Road. While the suburbs of eastern London are home to houses whose front gardens have mysteriously morphed into graveyards for rusting car wrecks, the front gardens of south Balham are given over to the slightly more active but no less chaotic pastime of DIY. Balham feels like a suburb whose buildings are slightly too tatty for the price, and it appears that the residents are keen to do something about it. The result is a collection of houses whose paint is cracked and whose window frames are rotting, but it’s not disrepair, for the front yards are full of bags of sand, cement mixers, piles of bricks, stone slabs, and the gentle lilt of the working man’s radio. Balham might be showing its age, but it’s getting the architectural equivalent of anti-ageing cream slapped on its face, and this makes it an optimistic place to explore.

But it isn’t particularly thrilling, so it’s a relief that soon after crossing Balham High Road, the Ring reaches Wandsworth Common, the second green space of the day. Strangely, the Ring ignores the open spaces of the common and instead sticks rigidly to the flanks of the busy Brighton train line, which rather removes the point of being in such a green part of the world; presumably this is because there are some pleasant ponds with a worthwhile boardwalk en route, but all too soon Wandsworth Common runs out, and it’s back into the suburbs and the urban sight of Wandsworth Prison’s gates.

From the prison the Ring turns into Magdalen Road, which goes in a straight line, all the way to Earlsfield. This is not a particularly interesting stretch, but as I turned into the top of the street, I noticed a group of white-clad forensic investigators clutched round number eight, the front room of which was shielded by sheets of plastic in the distinctive manner of crime scenes. I would later find out that the previous Saturday, police had discovered the body of a 45-year-old millionaire who had been assassinated in this, his £850,000 home, the day after he sold it. Still waters run deep in suburban London, evidently.

Luckily I knew none of this as I tackled an alternative to the official route, which follows the straight and rather uninspiring Magdalen Road. This alternative avoids the traffic and shuffles well and truly off this mortal coil, for along the western side of the road lies Wandsworth Cemetery, which is absolutely massive and is worth exploring if only for its size. Crumbling graves nestle next to vibrant displays of affection, and it’s a sobering little walk along the edge of the burial ground.

From the cemetery it’s a short suburban hop to Wimbledon Park tube station, where this rather forgettable day’s walk ends. Still, at least it’s easy to combine this section with day 6, where things really take off...

Day 6: Wimbledon Park to Richmond

After the bland walk from Streatham to Wimbledon Park, you could be forgiven for thinking that the Capital Ring is nothing more than a poor cousin of the London Loop. This stretch from Wimbledon Park to Richmond is, however, one of the greatest day walks in the whole of Greater London, and in its entire 6.9 miles it doesn’t put a foot wrong. If you only do one day of the Ring, make it this one; it really is something special.

It doesn’t hang about, either. While the first few days of the Ring all contain long stretches of suburbia, it’s just a few minutes from Wimbledon Park tube station to the first park of the day, and apart from a short dip back into the suburbs just before Putney Heath, it’s countryside all the way to Richmond. Wimbledon Park itself is a little gem, with a placid boating lake, squawking geese and swans, and a feeling of space that belies its small size. Landscaped by Capability Brown in the mid-18th century, this is a pleasant introduction to the area, the only drawback being that it’s over quickly.

But even the short suburban section that follows is delightful. Turning left out of the park, the views to the southwest are picture-perfect. OK, so you’re looking out over a golf course and the landscaping is somewhat contrived, but with the spire of St Mary’s church in the distance overlooking the lake and the trees framing the view from the road beautifully, it’s suddenly obvious why the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club based themselves here; it’s quintessentially English, despite the urban setting.

This is all, of course, down to money. While the suburbs along the southeast quarter of the Ring vary in their upkeep, there’s always a tangible grittiness to their housing; in Wimbledon Park, though, the veneer of cash is thick indeed. It’s as if the nutritional effects of hundreds of years of affluence have seeped into the water table, nourishing the buildings and papering over the cracks that affect the rest of London. Buildings are either immaculate or being worked on by tidy builders, and I didn’t spot one mouldering car or dilapidated caravan anywhere along Queensmere Road.

Instead, this is the domain of the mother of young children, judging from the number of prams and au pairs wheeling around the streets of Wimbledon Park. This is the land of the people carrier and the 4pm traffic jam, a world where fathers only pop up at weekends and keeping up with the Jones’s is a national sport. Whether you prefer the earthier realism of southeast London or the estate agent perfection of Wimbledon is a matter of taste, but there’s no denying that Wimbledon Park is a very attractive part of the capital, and it makes for enjoyable walking.

Wombling Free

Just east of Wimbledon Park is Putney Heath, and as the Ring plunges into the scrubby woodland, it says goodbye to suburbia for the longest stretch of the entire 75-mile walk. It’s instantly beautiful, too; this is no choked urban park, but real countryside, bang in the middle of zone 3. If it wasn’t for the dull thrumming of London in the distance and the regular white noise of distant air traffic overhead, you could genuinely fool yourself that this was a rural park well away from the urban sprawl.

It doesn’t last too long, though, as the windmill on Wimbledon Common is a popular spot, and rightly so. The café under the windmill is a welcome shelter in this windy and exposed part of London, and on clear days it’s full of dogs and their walkers, and the mums and prams of Wimbledon Park. It doesn’t take long to get away from the crowds, though, as the Ring plunges into yet more woodland on the way to Queen’s Mere, a rather choked lake that was apparently a favourite spot of the Wombles (though judging by the amount of scum on the surface when I visited, it looks like our furry friends have moved on to quieter pastures). After crossing a couple of fairways – this is Wimbledon, after all – the path turns in front of Memorial Gardens, which is home to a World War I memorial that’s well worth the short detour.

Passing some very extensive playing fields and following the rather overgrown Beverley Brook, the Ring soon turns left towards the busy A308, but its dalliance with the traffic is short, and after a foot bridge with good views and a quick pedestrian crossing, the Ring enters the absolute pinnacle of London’s parks, and the highlight of this amazing day’s walk: Richmond Park.

A Right Royal Treat

There can’t be many walkers living in London who haven’t visited Richmond Park at one point or another. At 2500 acres, it’s the biggest urban park in Europe, measuring 2.5 miles from top to bottom and side to side, and it’s absolutely glorious. Home to a large collection of wild deer and enough space to accommodate even the busiest of bank holidays, Richmond Park is one of the undeniable positive sides to having a monarchy, because this tract of land was enclosed for the sole use of royal hunting parties in 1637, and has remained in the Royal property portfolio ever since. In these more enlightened times, the park is now open to the public, and the Ring strikes through the heart of the park, taking in some of the more evocative landscapes in the process.

The first major feature you reach is the hollow that’s home to Pen Ponds. These wide, flat lakes were created by damming an estuary of Beverley Brook, and they’re a haven for birds and deer; just sitting on its banks and watching the world amble past is one of life’s pleasures, and if you’re walking this stretch as a day walk, you couldn’t hope for a better lunch spot (though it can get bitterly cold here, so wrap up warm if it’s a cold day). The chances of seeing deer round here are pretty good, though you want to steer well clear, especially if you’ve got a dog. I met one bloke whose husky had done a runner and was hanging out with the deer, following them all over the park and ignoring his calls; his voice was quite hoarse from all the shouting. I found it hard to be sympathetic, given that he thought the whole thing was hilarious; I doubt the deer were that amused, but something tells me that here in Richmond Park, the deer wear the trousers. I certainly wouldn’t mess with those antlers...

After Pen Ponds the Ring turns left and wanders past the wonderful ancient oaks and chestnut trees of Sidmouth Wood, before winding along the flanks of Petersham Park. On a clear day the views west are utterly captivating, but the best view of all can be found from King Henry’s Mound, which requires a small detour just after passing Pembroke Lodge. At the top of the mound is a free telescope that’s perfect for gazing over the Thames Valley towards Windsor Castle and Twickenham Rugby Ground, but even more amazing is the view in the opposite direction. Through a gap in the trees you can just about make out St Paul’s Cathedral, some 10 miles in the distance, for this is one of a handful of views across Greater London that are protected by law. In theory nobody can build skyscrapers blocking this view, which Henry VIII was said to have used in 1536; he apparently stood on the mound, waiting for a flare from the Tower of London that would signal the execution of Anne Boleyn, leaving him free to marry wife number three, Jane Seymour. What a cheery story...

Into Richmond

Meanwhile, back on the modern-day Ring, the path heads down into the Thames Valley towards the village of Petersham, where it passes a disappointingly mediocre pub on the A307 before jumping right back into yet more beautiful landscape. The Ring is now in the floodplains of the Thames, and on your right is Richmond Hill, topped by the impressive Star and Garter Home. The view of the Star and Garter from the Thames is one of the most beautiful in London, but the Ring only hints at the grandeur of the view you get from the Thames Path, and I highly recommend turning left when the Ring meets the river, and walking for a couple of minutes away from Richmond, to the corner of the field to your left. The view across the still-working farmland of Petersham Meadows is something else; there are almost always cattle grazing away, and from the corner you get a much more impressive vista of farmer’s fields and stunning London architecture. It’s no coincidence that this whole area feels like a Turner painting, as Turner used to live in nearby Twickenham and painted this very meadow.

The day’s walk is nearly done, as Richmond is just along the Thames. Instead of the shock of arriving at a busy A-road that normally greets the end of a day on the Capital Ring, it’s pleasant to wander past riverside pubs, boating clubs and 17th- and 19th-century town houses. After a pint or two to celebrate the end of such a glorious day, even the link route to the tube station manages to avoid the worst of the traffic that plagues the centre of Richmond... and in a way, that sums up the quality of this walk. It really is the jewel in the crown of the Capital Ring.

North London

Day 7: Richmond to Osterley Lock

After the majesty of Richmond Park, it would be fair enough to assume that the next few days of the Capital Ring would pale into insignificance. But like all good bands following up a classic album, the Ring doesn’t try to compete, but instead it heads off on a new and refreshing tack. Although day 7 is one of the shorter days on the Ring, coming in at a meagre 3.8 miles, it really manages to pack in the variety; indeed, if you’re looking for an extra day to tack onto the Wimbledon Park to Richmond leg, then you’re much better off choosing this section over the dismal walk from Streatham to Wimbledon Park.

The day starts off by the River Thames in Richmond, where the going is flat and it’s easy to slip into a rhythm. Keep your eyes peeled to the right, though, as there’s a slotted metal post by the side of the towpath that shows the original meridian line, before it was moved to Greenwich. The white building in the distance is Kew Observatory, which dates from 1769.

The river walking continues for a while, crossing over Richmond Lock to the north bank of the Thames, and wandering past some extremely well-located housing developments that make the mouth water. The river, though, is at its most beautiful here, with plenty of greenery on the bank that frames the view east towards Isleworth Ait, an island in the middle of the Thames that, being a nature reserve, is completely devoid of buildings and people. Passing a collection of houseboats and weaving off the river for a few moments to avoid an inaccessible part of the bank, the Ring turns back to the Thames for the last time, in order to visit Isleworth.

It’s a great place. From the decking outside the Town Wharf pub – through which the Ring’s public right of way plunges regardless – to the stone tower of All Saints Church, Isleworth is a real charmer. It’s hard to believe that this is zone 4; if it wasn’t for the planes churning overhead every few minutes, Isleworth could be a pretty little country village.

Syon Park

After the church, the Ring veers left and away from the Thames, which it doesn’t reach again until the very end of the walk. Luckily the theme of today’s leg – river walking – doesn’t end here, but first the Ring cuts straight across Syon Park, home to the grandiose Syon House and a garden centre that has a welcome refectory tucked away behind it. Syon House itself is a bit of a tourist attraction, with a butterfly house and a grand old glass conservatory, but it makes for a pleasant stroll before the path suddenly bumps into busy traffic in the centre of Brentford.

The noise doesn’t last, though, because a few yards down the main road through Brentford, the Ring starts to follow the Grand Union Canal, which it sticks to until the end of the day. The canal basin area in Brentford has been completely redeveloped and is now a tidy, modern and surprisingly pleasant part of the world; sometimes modern developments can feel unwelcoming and unwarranted, but I rather liked the clash of modern apartments and narrow boats. A little further along the canal is a single remaining warehouse from the days of old, and its dilapidated and downright spooky atmosphere made me glad that Brentford has got in with the new and out with the old.

This theme doesn’t stop here. The canal winds on past the huge, mirror-clad headquarters of GlaxoSmithKline, and all around the sounds of heavy industry feel at odds with the tranquil and downright rural feeling of the canal. Trees line the banks and ducks swim alongside you as the GSK building pops in and out of view, and although the noise pollution is hard to ignore, it’s about the only kind of pollution around. This is probably the only part of the world where an iPod would positively enhance the walking experience; something from the chilled section of one’s music collection would suit this part of the Grand Union far more than the clunking of heavy metal you get from the invisible but audible factories that live round here.

The worst part, though, is the noise of the M4, which starts out as a background hum and develops into a full-blown roar, and it’s at this point that day 7 ends and day 8 begins. Luckily, the photos only tell the story of how pretty this part of London can be, which is definitely the best way to remember it.

Day 8: Osterley Lock to Greenford

The most surprising thing about the walks on the western edge of the Capital Ring is how rural they are, despite being right under the main Heathrow flight path and bang in the middle of zone 4. Richmond Park and Syon Park are one thing, but being able to walk for nearly five miles through west London without bumping into anything approaching urban sprawl is no mean feat, and this happy aspect to day 8 is all thanks to the River Brent.

The day starts off with the noise of the M4 pounding in your ears, but very quickly the sound of the cars subsides, and soon enough it’s as if it had never been there. The Ring follows the Grand Union Canal again, as it meanders past factories and housing, neither of which manage to make this feel like you’re walking through the suburbs of the nation’s capital. On the right as the day starts is Elthorne Waterside, where the landscape is positively wild; this nature reserve used to be a refuse tip, and this isn’t the first such area on this section. If this is what happens to landfill after a few years, then there is hope for the last section of the London Loop after all...

After about a mile of easy, flat and extremely green canal walking, the Ring turns right at the locks of Hanwell Flight to follow the River Brent, which presents a much more overgrown and interesting take on urban waterways. Unlike some urban rivers I’ve walked along, the Brent is refreshingly devoid of shopping trolleys, plastic bags and the usual detritus of city life, and there’s enough wildlife here to keep up the illusion of countryside, even if the noise of the aeroplanes in the background is still very noticeable. A brush with commuter-ville in the shape of the huge Wharncliffe Viaduct turns out to be charming; as the trains hurtle along hundreds of feet above your head, it’s hard not to feel happily detached from all the hustle and bustle of city life. Work certainly seems a long way away at this point.

After the viaduct, the Ring follows the river through Brent Lodge Park, a manicured and pleasant park that’s made far more interesting by the spire of St Mary’s Church, which peeps through the trees at every opportunity. There’s also a maze of yew trees, an animal centre and a playground here, and in autumn the trees are a lovely bronze colour that makes it hard to resist clicking away on the camera.

From Brent Lodge Park the Ring turns into a golf course, and although normally I hate walking through golf courses, this is an example of how it should be done. The path doesn’t cross any fairways (at least, I didn’t notice if it did), and for a long part of the traverse the path is enclosed by trees and bush, so any stray golf balls have practically no chance of knocking you out.

After the golf course, the path climbs away from the river into Bitterns Field, a huge, open grassland that is another old refuse tip, and from there the Ring enters the large and featureless expanse of Perivale Park, which is home to football and rugby pitches. About the only thing of note is that you can see the hoop of Wembley Stadium from the pitch, which must be an inspiration to the players, but as far as walking goes, it’s not a lot of fun. And then the Ring ploughs into suburbia – the first proper ‘burbs for some days – and spends the last mile crossing over A-roads, wandering alongside railway lines, and completely failing to spark any interest.

So, this is not the most exciting walk on the planet, but it’s still green, pleasant and worth the effort. There are better days on the Ring... but there are worse ones, too.

Day 9: Greenford to South Kenton

This is a lovely little walk, though if you don’t like climbing hills, you should probably give it a wide berth, as most of the day is spent either trudging up or sloping down. If, like me, you can’t walk past a hill without wanting to stand at the top, surveying the view, then this is probably the best day on the Ring for you.

Things start off innocently enough. A stone’s throw from the large Westway Shopping Park that overlooks the starting point of day 9, you find Paradise Fields Wetlands, an enjoyable wetland that kicks things off with a distinctly rural feel. The roar of the aeroplanes from the last few days’ walk is pretty distant by this point, and soon enough the Ring rejoins the Grand Union Canal for a while, echoing the flat walking of day 7 and day 8. Look ahead, though, and you can see the slopes of Horsenden Hill ahead, which is where things start to get interesting.

The section along the canal is a little bleak, but things get more enjoyable as the Ring turns back over a foot bridge and into the woods at the base of the hill. It’s a fairly easy climb to the top of Horsenden Hill, through woodland and then through grassland, but even if you’re allergic to walking up hills, you should make the effort because the views are excellent. The top of the hill is fairly flat and doesn’t have too much tree cover, so in the wind it’s a fairly gusty place, but this is the price you pay for clear views to the north and west. The view north is particularly interesting, because straight ahead of you is Harrow-on-the-Hill, which the Ring climbs next.

Heading down from the summit, the path wanders for a stretch through the pretty woodland of Horsenden Wood, before coming out into the suburbia of Sudbury. There follows a fairly forgettable stretch of suburban streets and A-roads, but it’s not terrible and it doesn’t last too long, and soon enough the Ring ducks off to the left, taking a bridleway onto the slopes of the hill that gives Harrow-on-the-Hill its name.

Public School

It’s a fairly instant transformation from Sudbury to Harrow, a transition from two-up-two-down to a village that is synonymous with the public school that dominates its centre. Harrow feels like a privileged place, and as such it manages to stimulate both pride in one’s country, and shame at the unfair class system. I went to school in a place not unlike this, and I still find it slightly unsettling to look at the grand buildings and delightful sports pitches, all wrapped up in an English village setting. The difference between my old school and Harrow is that I went to school in a rural village in Derbyshire, while Harrow is bang in the middle of zone 5; it makes the English country village feeling all the stranger, but for the walker it is a delight.

For Harrow-on-the-Hill is very pretty. There’s a small village green – a tiny triangle of grass, but still picturesque – and the school chapel that dominates the high street a little further on, standing in the shadow of the original school building, which was built in 1615, though it’s been considerably developed in the intervening years. It’s well worth taking a short detour to St Mary’s Church: simply follow the signs for the Capital Ring Link to Harrow-on-the-Hill train station, and a hundred yards or so up the hill, the link path takes you into the church graveyard. As one of the highest points in London, it’s worth visiting, if only because you’ll be able to spot it as you walk away from Harrow, and it’s always satisfying to think, ‘I was there!’

From Harrow, the Ring heads steeply downhill, past the Music School and across playing fields. When I did the walk there was a diversion where diggers were levelling off a section of land, no doubt for more playing fields, but assuming you can work out where you’re supposed to walk, you come to one of the highlights of the Ring. No, it’s not a view or a beautiful village, but a stile onto the A404. The reason it’s a highlight? Because this is the only stile on the whole Capital Ring, and is worth celebrating for that reason alone.

Nearly home, the Ring passes the dominating buildings of Northwick Park and St Mark’s Hospitals, squashed between car parks and a golf course until it pops out into a flat park. Look ahead as you enter the park, and you should see the distinctive hoop of Wembley Stadium rising above the trees, a taster of what’s to come on day 10. For now, though, the path skirts the park and reaches South Kenton station, which is where this pleasant jaunt over two thoroughly delightful hills comes to an end.

Day 10: South Kenton to Hendon Park

I got lost twice on this short, 5.9 mile walk, which probably says more about my concentration levels than anything else: in this part of the world the signs for the Capital Ring are plentiful and always point in the right direction (unlike on day 1), and the maps in the Capital Ring guide are beyond reproach, but I still managed to daydream my way past two turnings, and I didn’t notice until I’d overshot by a considerable margin. I’ve therefore seen quite a bit more of suburban London than I wanted to, which is a pity, because the rural parts of this walk are by far the most interesting bits.

Don’t be put off by the view that greets you as you step out of South Kenton station; the depressing mess behind the block of flats by the station and the dismal Windermere pub are not particularly typical of this section of the Ring, though the day does start off with a relatively long section through the streets of Preston that holds no surprises. Happily it’s not long before the path ducks under the railway line and turns north to follow the railway to the edges of Fryent Country Park; unfortunately, though, I can’t tell you about this particular stretch, as I failed to turn north and instead plodded uphill, heading due east, up a steep suburban hill that did at least provide me with a good view over my shoulder of Horsenden Hill and Harrow-on-the-Hill from day 9. By the time I realised my error, I had pretty much reached the summit of Barn Hill, which the Ring proper approaches through the greenery of the country park.

Still, it doesn’t particularly matter how you approach the top of Barn Hill, because there are precious few views to be had anyway. Instead the hill is clad in enjoyable woodland, and at the top is a lovely little pond that was created by the landscape designer Humphry Repton. Just around the corner from the pond is the trig point on the summit, and at last you get a taste of how high you are, for there, bang in front of you, is the glory of Wembley Stadium, with the North Downs visible in the distance (if you’re there on a clear day, as I was lucky enough to be).

Following the theme of day 9, day 10 also decides that one hill isn’t enough, and heads back down into Fryent Country Park, across the lethal A4140 (where you’ll have to wait a long time to cross), and back up the flanks of a neighbouring hill, Gotfords Hill. This time the views are everywhere, as there are practically no trees to shelter you from the vista (or, come to think of it, the wind). Again, you can clearly see yesterday’s twin peaks in the distance, and to the northwest the red houses of suburban north London stretch all the way to the hills in the distance. It’s a great view.

Unfortunately the next section is fairly bland, plodding down through the suburban streets of Kingsbury towards St Andrew’s Church, which is only notable because there’s an old church and a new one, the old one mouldering quietly in the background, boarded up and unloved, next to its younger brother, who was originally built 1847 in Marylebone, but was moved to Kingsbury, brick by brick, in 1931.

After the excitement of Kingsbury, it’s a relief to reach Brent Reservoir, or as it’s locally know, the Welsh Harp. Dating from 1883, when it was built to supply water to the Regent’s Canal, this huge lake is home to a pleasant park along the northern shores (the southern shores are considerably more built up). Although the Ring follows a gravelled path along the side of the lake, there’s a much more pleasant grass path down by the shore, which you can reach by turning right just after the interpretive kiosk. This joins up with the path again at a little bay next to a pond, which turns out to be a bomb crater from World War II; this is a popular spot for people with aquatic dogs, so beware of friendly pooches who can’t resist shaking Welsh Harp water over complete strangers.

At the end of the park you have to cross a single-file traffic bridge by pressing a button and waiting for the green man. This stops the traffic in both directions, and does so for an amazingly long time, giving you plenty of opportunity to check out the view to the left, where the arguably prettier northern arm of the reservoir stretches off into the distance. Wave goodbye to the rural feeling, though, because from here to the end of this section it’s yet more plodding suburbia, past the hulking structure of Brent Cross shopping centre, and into Hendon, where it’s a short walk to Hendon Central station. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is that: two hills, plenty of suburbia, and a pleasant but fairly average walk.

Day 11: Hendon Park to Highgate

Up to this point, the Capital Ring is way marked to an excellent degree – indeed, the only real problem is when the local retards decide to twist the signs through 90 degrees, but at least the signs are there in the first place. For most of this leg, then, it’s a surprise to find that the way markers are conspicuous by their absence, and after being lulled into a sense of security by the preceding ten days, it’s a bit of a shock. Luckily, the guidebook for the Ring is almost anal in its description of turning right here and veering left there, so it’s easy enough to pick up the trail, and there are still some markers every now and then to make sure you’re on the right track.

It’s especially surprising that the way markers have gone AWOL, because this leg takes you through some of the most affluent parts of London suburbia (though perhaps that’s part of the reason, come to think of it). Things don’t start off too well, though, as the Ring sets out from Hendon Park and meanders into Brent Park, a thin strip of chaos along the River Brent. The undergrowth is thick and wild as the path winds between the river and a set of man-made ponds called the Decoy, now home to plenty of ducks and a complete lack of signs to guide you through the winding pathways. Actually, that’s not strictly true, as there is a Capital Ring sign at the end of the park, where you turn right to follow the banks of Mutton Brook, but someone has helpfully sprayed white paint over the top of it, so it takes some deciphering.

This sums up this stretch rather well. There’s an underpass with walls smothered in illegible graffiti that leads to a grassy park, with the noise of the North Circular Road just to the left, and a choked stream to the right with signs saying ‘Polluted Water, Keep OUT’ poking out through the undergrowth. On a grey spring day, it’s not exactly the most welcoming part of the world, which makes it all the more surprising that it turns into Addison Way, and everything instantly starts to smarten up.

Hampstead

The reason: this is Hampstead Garden Suburb, one of the most affluent parts of London, and it shows. The houses are instantly a step up from most other suburbs on the Ring, and though it might irritate those of us with socialist tendencies, there’s no denying that the Ring now treads lightly through some stunning suburbs. The first real taste of this is Northway Gardens, a manicured strip of parkland along the now reinvigorated Mutton Brook, which incorporates yew trees, tennis courts and a surprisingly large number of men wearing skull caps and wide-brimmed black hats. After a quick jaunt through Lyttleton Playing Fields the reason becomes apparent, as the Ring hangs a left past Hampstead Garden Suburb Synagogue, and then the real fun starts, for this is where Hampstead kicks in big time.

The houses along Vivian Way are to die for (well, they are if you like houses that look like large English country cottages, which I do). OK, the hedges are a little too manicured for my taste and you get the feeling that the residents’ association is probably judge, jury and executioner round these parts, but the results are wonderful to walk through. Even the mock Tudor frontages are inoffensive (unlike in other, slightly more nouveau parts of the capital), and it’s a bit of a shock to arrive at the back of East Finchley tube station and the busy A1000.

Luckily the good times don’t end here. After a jaunt through the pleasant Cherry Tree Wood (which is actually a park with the eponymous wood on the right) and a quick stint of suburbia, you cross a disused railway line (which the Ring will end up joining for most of day 12) and enter Highgate Wood. From here to the end of this leg, it’s woodland all the way, and very pleasant it is too.

Highgate Wood is a fairly developed wood, with a park café and toilets, and if you haven’t decided to drag along a dog or a small child, you’re in the minority. Still, once you’ve escaped the main highway through the wood, things quieten down, and it’s an enjoyable stroll to the B550, where the Ring enters a much wilder wood, Queen’s Wood. The path here is much steeper and muddier – which means the wood is free of buggies, bottles and bairns – and the trees are a little more unkempt.

It’s a surprise, then, to suddenly reach the end of the day’s walk in the middle of a suburban street, a short walk from Highgate station, but that’s this day all over: woods, posh suburbs and graffiti, all in one short stretch. It’s a fun day, it really is.

Day 12: Highgate to Stoke Newington

Almost all of this day’s walk slopes gently downhill along wide and flat pathways, which is a good thing as the route has been considerably extended since the publication of the first edition of the Capital Ring guidebook in 2003. There was a new edition published in 2006, so presumably the extension is included in there, but luckily the way markers on this leg are up to the usual high standards of the Ring (day 9 aside), so even with the old guidebook, it’s easy enough to follow and is well worth the effort.

Anyway, the extension doesn’t kick in until the second half of the walk, so let’s start at the beginning, halfway along a suburban street in Highgate, where the Ring heads up a steep staircase to the main road before turning onto Archway Road. It’s worth taking a pause here to spy out the Archway, a huge bridge down the main road that gives the road (and the nearby tube station) its name. That done, it’s time for the Parkland Walk.

I like disused railway lines, because they always make for easy and tranquil walking. The Ring follows the Parkland Walk for two miles along this old section of the Great Northern Railway, and although you can feel London on either side, the embankments and cuttings create a quiet and sheltered stroll that feels surprisingly cut off from the urban sprawl. From the high points you can spy into people’s back gardens and enjoy views across to Canary Wharf, and in the cuttings the noise levels are so low you could kid yourself that you’re in the countryside. It’s a great little track, this.

About halfway along the walk are the old platforms of Crouch End station, and it’s the first point at which this feels like a disused railway; it’s a strange feeling, walking between the platforms where the trains used to run. But just beyond the old station is the strangest section of all, because this is where the graffiti artists have taken over. Nearby is Crouch Hill Community Centre, which might have something to do with it, but thankfully the artists of Crouch End are really rather skilled, and if you can ignore the amateur tag-scribbling surrounding them, it’s worth picking out the amazing designs that dominate the walls. If all graffiti was like this, it would be much easier to be sympathetic to it as an art form rather than a blight.

Finsbury Park

The graffiti dies out as quickly as the cutting walls end, and the Ring dives straight back into the enjoyable plodding of the disused railway, all the way to the gates of Finsbury Park. A large, landscaped park, Finsbury Park is great: it’s got a large boating pond, a café, playing fields and, when I visited, a fun fair. As a place to sit and munch on your sandwiches while watching the city tick by, it’s great, and it’s large enough for plenty of privacy, if that’s your thing.

This is where the Ring has been extended, too. The original route – which is still shown on the signs as an option for those who want to avoid steps – follows roads all the way to Clissold Park in Stoke Newington, but the new route takes the New River Path to within a block of Clissold Park, and it’s a great improvement. The New River was built in 1613 to bring fresh water to London from Ware in Hertfordshire, 40 miles away, and it was built to follow the contours all the way, dropping an average of two inches every mile, so the water flows without the need for pumps. The river meanders around in an elongated ‘S’ shape, passing along the northern shores of two reservoirs, the imaginatively named West and East Reservoirs. The views over north London from the banks are excellent, and despite the large number of flying insects who call this part of the world home, it’s an enjoyable diversion.

The river peters out not far from the large towers of the Castle Climbing Centre, and it’s a stone’s throw to Clissold Park, a delightful park that takes the Ring to Stoke Newington. Dominating the green grass and pleasant ponds of Clissold Park is the 220 ft spire of St Mary’s Church, and the Ring plods through the park towards this amazing landmark, sitting there on Stoke Newington Church Street. This is a great street: Stoke Newington has always been associated with dissenters and radicals, and modern Stokey retains a similarly bohemian and multicultural atmosphere. Book shops spill out into the street, a dentist operates from a building that looks like the Old Curiosity Shop, cafés set up shop on the pavement, and further on, on the High Street, Stoke Newington feels like another country (something I mean as a compliment). Shops sell things in strange alphabets and smells waft out onto the street that you’ve never smelled before. It’s invigorating.

But before the delights of the High Street, there’s an even more amazing treat in store for walkers of the Ring, as it passes through Abney Park Cemetery. This cemetery of 300,000 graves is also an official nature reserve, and the sight of Mother Nature slowly reclaiming thousands of gravestones is a sight to behold. Creepers pull angels down into the undergrowth, while stone caskets split open, spilling stonework onto their neighbours. It’s an eerie but beautiful place, and is the perfect place to end this entertaining and easy walk.

Day 13: Stoke Newington to Hackney Wick

Although this is a short leg, it’s delightful, following the gentle flow of the Lea Valley Walk for most of the day. The River Lea also forms the backbone of day 13 of the London Loop, and as with that day, the river provides a pleasant walking companion as the Ring starts turning south, back towards the Thames.

This section of the Ring starts off in the middle of Stoke Newington, surely one of the most successful multicultural areas of London. Walking east from the train station, the suburbs are leafy and pleasant, but the most interesting aspect is the way the different cultures nudge up against each other without even blinking. Walking past the Stamford Hill Masjid-e-Quba mosque on Cazenove Road, the Ring turns left into streets where black-hatted Jews stride past the gates of schools whose playground screams come from beneath a sea of Islamic headscarves, while the homely smell of curry wafts from an open window on the corner with the A107. It’s a delight to walk through, it really is, and it’s a very comforting sight in this age of extremism, terrorism and street violence.

The suburbs don’t last long, though, and after crossing the A-road, the Ring dives into Springfield Park and past a pretty little pond. The best aspect of this enjoyable little park is the view across the Lea Valley, which is where the rest of this section meanders along. Dropping down into the valley, it’s a short hop over a bridge to the other side of the Lee Navigation (the man-made canal that merges on and off with the River Lea). Suddenly, things are much more rural, as the Lee Navigation is only built-up on one bank, the one opposite the route of the Ring. This means you can yomp along on the grassy banks of the river, enjoying wide expanses of greenery to your left while still being close enough to the buildings of Upper Clapton to have a good old nosey into people’s back gardens and life on the estates. It makes for good walking.

This tone continues for the rest of the day, though it isn’t long before trees spring up and hide the sweeping views of Walthamstow Marshes to the left. The River Lea breaks off from the Lee Navigation in Lea Bridge, as Hackney Marsh approaches on the left. Not long afterwards, there’s a gate in a wall by the canalside that leads to the remains of the Middlesex Filter Beds, and it’s well worth taking five minutes to visit the strangely charming ‘Ackney ‘Enge, a ring of stones from the old pump buildings that makes for a good lunch stop. It might not quite be Stonehenge, but that hardly matters...

Further along the Lee Navigation the Ring passes the rather dreary industrial building of Lesney Industries, erstwhile manufacturers of Matchbox toys. The letters might be falling off the factory – ‘LESNEY INDUSTRIES LTD’ has been reduced to ‘L SN N STR’ – but it’s unlikely that the dilapidated Lesney works will remain in this state for long, because from this point on, the theme is regeneration. New-build houses nudge shoulders with rotting, graffiti-strewn factories, and after the Ring ducks under the A102(M) bridge, the entire left-hand side of the path is blocked off by bright blue boarding, behind which heavy industry bumps and grinds its way towards 2012. Yes, this is Hackney Wick, and while the Capital Ring guidebook points out the ‘mournful grey stand of Hackney Greyhound Stadium’, these days the stadium has gone, and the Olympics have arrived.

And so this section of the Ring ends in slightly uncertain territory, that’s perhaps best summed up by the graffiti scrawled on a bench just after the Lesney works. ‘In loving memory of my beloved Hackney,’ it says in an empty hole left by a removed dedication plaque, and it’s probably a fair point. Enjoy the old Hackney while you can...

Day 14: Hackney Wick to Beckton District Park

Whereas the theme for day 13 is the canal walking of the Lee Navigation, day 14 is decidedly more urban, though in a rather detached manner. Before this kicks in, though, there’s still one small stretch of the Navigation to enjoy as it heads south to the Thames.

Perhaps ‘enjoy’ is pushing it a bit, though, as the regeneration of the Olympic Village isn’t confined to the east bank; no, there are plenty of cranes and scaffolding-clad buildings on the west bank too, so the short stretch of the Ring from Hackney Wick to the start of the Greenway is a great example of the old being crushed by the concrete boots of the new. The old factories sport some impressive graffiti and the area is in clear need of regeneration, but a few minutes into this section, where the Hertford Union Canal splits off from the Lee Navigation, you can see both the top of the Gherkin along the canal, and the towers of Canary Wharf straight on. It’s a reminder that Hackney Wick might be at the grittier end of town, but London is growing fast, and it won’t be long before the old east end is but a distant memory.

Tucked away in the middle of all this development, and shielded from the rest of the planet by fierce-looking wire fences, are the Lockkeeper’s Cottages, best known as the setting for Channel 4’s Big Breakfast. It’s now a private home, though it’s part of the compulsory purchase order surrounding the Olympics, so, as with much of this area, the cottages may well disappear. Indeed, just after the lock, the Ring turns left into the Greenway, and here I came up against my first real taste of the building work that’s rapidly changing this area.

The Greenway is a cycle and walking track that stretches for nearly six miles from Hackney to Beckton, but when I wandered through the dishevelled entrance gate, stepping over an abandoned bicycle and walking up the ramp to the Greenway itself, I was accosted by two young men in fluorescent jackets.

‘Where are you going?’ one of them asked.

‘I’m walking the Capital Ring,’ I replied. He didn’t react at all. ‘It’s a long-distance walk,’ I continued. ‘Look, there’s the sign, right behind you.’

‘Oh,’ he said, pointing along the Greenway. ‘Well, you’re not going down there.’

‘I’m not?’ I asked.

‘We’ve just finished resurfacing it today,’ he said. ‘It’s closed; if you walk that way, you’ll just come to locked fences.’

‘Um,’ I said. ‘Ah. Any ideas how I can get onto the rest of the Greenway, then?’

‘Can you keep going along the river?’ he asked.

‘I think so,’ I said.

‘Best do that, then,’ he said. ‘Keep going until you come to an A-road, then turn up that and you’ll find the Greenway.’

‘OK,’ I said. ‘Thanks.’

And with that I headed off on a detour that, luckily, the map in the guidebook just about covered, and which took me past developments that made my eyes pop out. This is truly the land of the hard hat, and if you’re planning to walk through it in the years leading up to the Olympics, you’d be wise to check for diversions before heading out. Just don’t expect them to be signposted; I bumped into a cyclist who was also trying to follow the Greenway, and when I told him this section of the Greenway was shut he just shrugged his shoulders and said, ‘Yeah, that’s how it goes,’ and pedalled off into the distance.

The Greenway

I eventually tracked down the Greenway, unfortunately missing out the part of the Ring that the guidebook describes as ‘currently the most forbidding part of the Capital Ring, among fly-tips and grim scrap yards.’ I’d rather fancied exploring this grittier end of the Ring, but I think I’m too late, as the grit is already being bulldozed into manicured sports complexes and flashy high-rises, and the Greenway itself is a little too cut off from its surroundings to give a flavour of what life is really like out here in the regeneration zone. The Greenway is not unlike the Parkland Walk from day 12, in that it allows you to sneak through the suburbs in a detached manner, but there is one big difference: where the Parkland Walk is along a disused railway line, the Greenway follows a sewage pipe, and I’m afraid it feels like it.

The name of this grand sewage scheme is the Northern Outfall Sewage Embankment – otherwise known as NOSE – and it’s a well-chosen acronym. OK, it’s a very forward-thinking use of sewage pipes to create a walking and cycling route on top of them, and in terms of what you can see from the Greenway, it provides some spectacular views of Canary Wharf and the Dome while providing a level and easy route towards the east. If I have a criticism of the walking, it can get slightly boring at times, as the charm of walking along the disused railway of the Parkland Walk doesn’t really translate to the NOSE... but it’s inoffensive enough.

What is offensive, though, is that every few hundred yards there are grates in the ground that reek of sewage. You might expect this kind of smell around the sewage works near the start of the Greenway section, but it continues all the way to the end, and after a few miles of gently wafting stench catching you unawares every few minutes, it’s quite a relief to get off the Greenway and back into civilisation.

The suburbs only last for a couple of streets, though, as the final stretch of this section is through the pleasantly landscaped Beckton District Park. It’s worth veering off the path to have a wander round the park’s lake (which isn’t visible from the Ring itself), and before you know it, the roar of City Airport signals the end of this section in Custom House, just north of the Royal Albert Dock. It’s not the greatest section on the Capital Ring, but I get the feeling that once the Olympic Village is up and running, it will be a very different story...

Day 15: Beckton District Park to Woolwich

The shortest day on the Ring just got shorter, because when I walked this final section, the coastal route – which is pretty much the entire route – was ‘currently unavailable.’ I can only assume that this state of affairs is reasonably permanent, as the area that the previous route goes through is a mass of building work, and the signs proclaiming that it’s shut are pretty sturdy. I thought this closure would make for a fairly pointless day whose only purpose was to complete the Ring, but I was wrong. Despite being a very short walk indeed, day 15 manages to pack in some real delights, and it makes for a great end to a great walk. London Loop, take note...

The last day starts in Beckton District Park, and it’s a pretty little spot. When I visited, horses chomped on the grass and the sun poked through blue holes in the clouds, but what I hadn’t been expecting was the immense wall of sound that permeates the air. The wind must have been blowing in the wrong direction, but there was a constant grinding and bellowing noise coming from behind the trees, either from the distant Tate and Lyle building, or from the nearby City Airport – I couldn’t tell which.

Luckily the walking is pleasant and enjoyable, and after a bit more park life and a short section through the suburbs, you come to Cyprus station on the Docklands Light Railway, and it’s here that you can make a quick detour to the campus of the University of East London. Take it, because this is absolutely the highlight of the day; the campus is futuristic and really striking, but perhaps even more impressive is the view over the Royal Albert Dock towards City Airport, where you can enjoy the full blast of the jet engines and the heady smell of aviation fuel as the planes power off over the heads of the City. It’s an amazing sight and is well worth the effort, though I’m not so sure I’d be able to concentrate on my studies with all this action just over the pond...

From Cyprus station the Ring sticks to what was previously the alternative route for those wanting to avoid obstructions, and it doesn’t muck around in getting you down to the Thames. The views from the road are pleasant enough, and it’s interesting to see the sheer amount of development going on; if you’ve got the first edition of the guidebook, then it’s an education comparing reality with the book – the large, white areas on the map are now full of buildings, and the photograph of a lonely Gallions Hotel is completely out of date. These days, the hotel is wrapped in polythene, while all around the cacophony of building work is slowly turning the areas of white into the colour of money.

When the Ring reaches the Thames, it does so at a manicured new-build estate that’s surprisingly pleasant. From here it’s a stroll west along the river, and unlike the last gasp of the London Loop, where things end in a rather disappointing manner, the Ring heads back to where it started, via the Woolwich Foot Tunnel (which, in itself, is worth the slightly spooky journey). Arriving back at the signpost where you started the Ring is like meeting an old friend, and is a great way to end a great track. Bravo.

Further Reading

If you enjoyed this book, you might like to know that there’s a whole series of free books like this available from www.moxon.net/ebooks, covering walks in six countries and three continents:

- Annapurna Circuit, Nepal

- Bada Valley, Indonesia

- The Capital Ring, United Kingdom

- Fraser Island, Australia

- Gunung Rinjani, Indonesia

- Hinchinbrook Island, Australia

- Hollyford-Pyke Route, New Zealand

- Kepler Track, New Zealand

- Land’s End to John o’Groats, United Kingdom

- The London Loop, United Kingdom

- Mt Cook, New Zealand

- Pilbara Bushwalk, Australia

- Routeburn-Greenstone Track, New Zealand

- Taman Negara, Malaysia

- Taranaki Circuit, New Zealand

- Tongariro Northern Circuit, New Zealand

If you know someone who might like any of my books, please pass them on; I make no money from this, but I do enjoy the thought of people reading my books and recommending them to their friends. If you’ve enjoyed reading my writing (or even if you haven’t) I’d be delighted if you could sign my Guestbook at www.moxon.net/guestbook – after all, it’s the feedback that makes it all worthwhile. Happy walking!

THE END

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction

Route

Day 1: Woolwich to Falconwood

Day 2: Falconwood to Grove Park

Day 3: Grove Park to Crystal Palace

Day 4: Crystal Palace to Streatham

Day 5: Streatham to Wimbledon Park

Day 6: Wimbledon Park to Richmond

Day 7: Richmond to Osterley Lock

Day 8: Osterley Lock to Greenford

Day 9: Greenford to South Kenton

Day 10: South Kenton to Hendon Park

Day 11: Hendon Park to Highgate

Day 12: Highgate to Stoke Newington

Day 13: Stoke Newington to Hackney Wick

Day 14: Hackney Wick to Beckton District Park

Day 15: Beckton District Park to Woolwich

Further Reading