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This Week's Walks - Archive

Please see the Saturday Walker's Club This Week's Walks page.

This is an archive of walks done by the Saturday Walker's Club. You should only need to use this page if the SWC website is down.

Thursday, 13 April 2023

Evening Walk -- Tantalizing Northern Heights of Totteridge -- short circular

Evening Walk:  Tantalizing Northern Heights of Totteridge (short circular) t=swc.228

Distance:        Approximately 5 miles or 9 km for those more metrically minded

Difficulty:       2 out of 10

Train:              18:30 outside the Totteridge & Whetstone Northern Line Underground Station (High Barnet Branch)

This walk explores the Northern Heights, an area of greenbelt on the northern fringes of London. The walk is particularly nice in early spring when the woods around Darlands Lake have wood anemones and extremely rare wild snakeshead fritillaries growing. However, it can be difficult to catch these little guys at their best…..but we will try…..

More information about the route can be found here. We will adjust the route to create a walk of about 5 miles or so…..

1 comment:

Stargazer said...

N=6 ventured up to the Northern Heights of London on an w=initially-sunny-then-showery evening. This pleasant route enters greenbelt almost from the start and we were immediately greeted by a stunningly grand display of blossoming blackthorn. We carried on into a young oak forest where it was a bit gloopy underfoot, then came face to face with the grand matriarch herself!

We then approached Darlands Lake which was very pretty with the setting sun behind. Unfortunately the fritilleries and wood anemones were a bit scarce this year -- but we did find a couple....I guess they suffered from a bit of stage fright on learning the SWC would be paying a visit. Hopefully, they make a resurgence. Our local correspondent provided good background on the area and told us about various conservation efforts.

Back in Totteridge, 4 went to a very tasty upmarket Indian where we were joined by a 7th regular evening walker. A fun night out!