Parkland Walk

Stratford Olympic park to Hampstead heath about 13.5 miles

This is the second part of a walk that has seen us cover 30 miles - all the way from Stratford Village to Wembley park. for the first part of the walk please visit http://canvins.com/london/hampstead1html.html All pictures on this page By Mitch.

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The starting place for this walk is the olympic village of Stratford , there are many modes of transport to reach the start, we used the Jubilee line to stratford underground station then the DLR to pudding mill lane and the start point. Stratford has seen a total redevelopment due to the 2012 olympics and you walk past the impressive stadium, soon to be the ground of West Ham. You will find yourself next to the River Lee a canalised river incorporating the River Lea (also called the River Lee). It runs from Hertford Castle Weir to the River Thames at Bow Creek; its first lock is Hertford Lock and its last Bow Locks. Hackney Marches lies just to the side of the River Lee , it was once a true marshland but was drained back in medieval times and also building rubble was dumped here during WW2 - it is now the largest area of common land in greater london. Walthamstow Marshes is where we turn off the Lee and head west into Upper clapton and into Stoke Newington in the borough of Hackney. Keep your eye open for the castle building a former water pumping station, It was designed, by William Chadwell Mylne, to look like a towering Scottish castle.



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Abney Park
To the west of Stoke Newington lies Abney park and the very strange overgrown Cemetery, the old paths and tomb stones make a strange erie sight as you walk towards the old Chapel in the centre. There are nearly 200,000 burials in the graveyard with the most famous being William Booth founder of the Salvation army.

Parklands.
Two huge parks are on route one being Clissold park and then Finsbury park a 110-acre public park in the London Borough of Haringey. You would not think you were in London walking through leafy well planted avenues in the park, you will also find a small boating lake and a cafe and toilets near to the centre.

Parkland Walk
A large 4.5mile long walkway that follows the old railway line that run from Finsbury park to Alexandra palace. You will find the abandoned station at crouch end. The railway stopped using the line for passengers in 1957 but some of it stayed open for freight traffic up until 1964. The walk is a local nature reserve and a Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation. It was declared a local nature reserve in 1990 and is London's longest such reserve


Highgate cemetery
The cemetery lies on both sides of the Swain's Lane and is called the east and West cemetery , with entrance fees of £4 to visit the east side. I wanted to visit the burial site of Karl Marx for some time and you will have no problem finding it amongst the old tomb stones and overgrown walkways. It is a strange erie place and shows the way that the victorian’s used to remember the dead with the eleabarte Stones its worth a visit if you are down this way.
After a short walk you will come to Hampstead Heath and a walk uphill to the top of Parliament hill with great vies over the city of London. A great walk this one and with tired legs we made for Hampstead overground station towards West Hampstead then back to Dollis hill where we park the car.


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Mapping.