Totteridge to Barnet 11.4 miles/ 18.4 km - extension to main route via Hadley Green
A walk in the Green Belt on the edge of North London.
Trains: Northern Line to Totteridge & Whetstone station - meet at the station at 10:30. The Barnet extension returns from High Barnet station.
Lunch: The Three Hammers, Mill Hill - an Ember Inns pub.
For refreshments back in Totteridge there are cafes near Totteridge & Whetstone station, or follow the Totteridge village ending to reach the Orange Tree pub. On the Barnet route there is a cosy pub, Ye Olde Monken Holt, and plentiful cafes. Follow the link to the walk details below for more info on all of these.
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9 comments:
While parts of this walk can be muddy - heavy clay soils - those who have not done it recently might be pleasantly surprised by the number of hard surface paths that have been put in place in formerly gloopy spots. In particular there is now a gravel path going downhill from Laurel Farm, and one all the way through the Darlands Lake Nature Reserve. A 100 metre section between these two is still muddy and a bit overgrown with blackthorn, but this is due to the intransigence of the landowner, not any lack of enthusiasm on behalf of Barnet Council or the Darlands Lake conservation team (of which I am one) to put it right.
A bit later a formerly muddy field on the way to Mill Hill has had a gravel path put across it too, and don’t quote me but I have a feeling the Upper Dollis Brook path in the afternoon has been gravelled also.
Don’t be put off by these remarks. Though I say “hard surface”, the paths have been done very sensitively and are firm rather than brick hard/urban. They still feel like proper country paths. And don’t wear your party shoes: there will still be some gloop.
For what it is worth (since nobody uses them anymore….) the written directions for the main walk were thoroughly updated and improved very recently and are thus perfect in every respect and impervious to criticism.
This is a nice little outing. Do it!
Agreed, it certainly is a good outing. But please don't assume nobody uses the written instructions. They're in regular use and much preferred, by some members, to squinting at a device - a valuable resource, free from reliance on a battery. Hats off to all those who have written and updated them over the years.
Couldn't agree more with Ann Onymous about the written instructions. Essential as far as I'm concerned.
Do you know if the paths in the afternoon have been improved since May 24?. At that time, the morning was ok, apart from a muddy bit through a small woodland but the fields in the afternoon were waterlogged .
I am reluctant to make any commitments on the topic!! I checked the route on 17 November and it was fine then. Today at Darlands Lake the ground is frozen solid and I don’t think it will have thawed by tomorrow. I suspect back in May you might have done it after lots of rain. But these are clay soils and can be quite water retentive in winter.
OK, just walked the valley bit of the afternoon route (aren’t I nice?). As I recalled, a couple of sections of gravel path have been installed. Otherwise the fields are occasionally a bit waterlogged in small patches, but all is currently frozen. Due to be another cold night, so it may well stay that way. I would say at worse you will encounter normal winter mud. Other opinions are available.
"About N=13, I think", I am told, on a w=cloudy day. Ground still frozen so potential waterlogged bits in the afternoon not too bad. Some went to pub and found it satisfactory, though soup supplies were inadequate to the demand for them.
(This is just what I was told. If anyone on the walk was to do a fuller report, please do!)
#2 walkers did the main walk as well as the extension to High Barnet via the affluent Hadley and visiting the Hadley Green. As the text detailed the church and old toll booth were worth seeing. This walker would be keen to know if anyone has walked the longer extension to Cockfosters (is it mundane and passing the residential areas). A quick drink in Ye Olde Monken Holt followed by a bus back home rounding off this nice walk.
Just fyi, the Cockfosters extension is pretty much all through woodland: just a tiny bit of suburbia at the end.
Was Ye Olde Monken Halt nice? I have never actually been in it (just put my head around the door)!
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