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clarcana: Walking:

Walk from Streatham to Finsbury Park.
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Parametric data

Route name:
Streatham to Finsbury Park.
This route on OS maps:
https://explore.osmaps.com/route/15641103/s ...
Distance:
12 miles walked, 10.2 miles flown.
Duration[dur]
  
4.3 hours.
Topology:
Point to point (Northward).
Ascent:
87 metres.
Stiles:
0 (zero).
Landmark of note:
Emirates Stadium
Feasible excursion:[exc]
King's Avenue.

Waypoints:
Tooting Bec, Sreatham Hill, Balham, Clapham Park, Oaklands Estate, Clapham, Stockwell, Nine Elms, Vauxhall, Lambeth, Waterloo, Temple, Lincoln's Inn, Holborn, Clerkenwell, Pentonville, Angel, Islington, Canonbury and Highbury.

Weather:
10°C, 🌫️ Early mist.

Avoiding roads:
Five 'nanas awarded. No need to stroll in The Strand.

Footpath construction:
Two 'nanas awarded. One or two urban parks to be traversed. Highbury Fields was the worst, but you could go round it

Footpath condition:
Four 'nanas awarded. The mud had dried a little.
Refreshments:
Coffee at Starbucks. Lunch at Cafe Nero.

Vistas:
One 'nana awarded. Waterloo Bridge has views of the Thames, once the morning mist lifts.

Blackberries:[bbp]
No 'nanas awarded. Thin pickings. Gillespie Park, maybe.

Route map and notes.

Play Parade

The critical laurels that had been so confidently prophesied for me in the Twenties never graced my brow, and I was forced throughout the Thirties to console myself with the bitter palliative of commercial success – which I enjoyed very much indeed.

Noël Coward.

My walk from Edgware turned out to be rather dull as an orienteering exercise. Streatham flips the other way. Even after I have cleaned up the route suggested by the OS, there are many turns to make. My incompetency here becomes obvious at turn 1. Streatham has three rail stations, and I alight at the wrong one. Worse thing happen at sea, as William Clarke might have told you (had he survived). The start at Streatham Station slices ½ mile off the walk. It saves no time; the route having to be replanned on the hoof. I rejoin the original route at Ambleside Avenue.

I recognise Tooting Bec going in the opposite direction to my walk from Victoria to Croydon in November. As usual, the early part of the walk is mainly suburbs. This continues until Vauxhall, when the city proper starts, and resumes at Islington as you move out of it again. The route along the Albert Embankment is an OS favourite but, this time, it has to be cajoled out of an inexplicable meander at Waterloo. There is ongoing construction work nearby so maybe it is worried about that.

The convenience at Lincoln's Inn Fields provides a peedestrian break. Can it be the last one left in London? I traverse Gray's Inn Gardens in the opposite direction to December's Hendon Walk. Most of the route north of the Thames until here is rather hard going - cutting across the road plan (such as it is) at 45°. Relief arrives with Rosebury Avenue. At 1200 metres it is the longest stretch en route after the Embankment. Look for Mount Pleasant Post Office HQ on your left, with postal destinations marked in six-foot high lettering. The OS wants a meander into Spa Green Garden. I politely decline this lady's offering of laurel leaves. At the end of Rosebury hit St.John Street and the A1. A minute or two past the Angel I go over the Regent's Canal that I walked a fortnight before. I again do lunch here, but a restrained toastie at Caffè Nero this time.

After ¾ mile of Great North Road cross into Highbury Fields. Marvel, as you do so, at a further offer of vegetation; this time made at gunpoint. Highbury Fields is the longest stretch of dirt to be tackled, but the absence of rain this week misleads me into thinking that there is at least an even chance of making it to Ronalds Road. In reality, the Gunners stand a better chance of the FA Cup this year. Not that anything is going on inside the Emirates Stadium as I plod along Drayton Park; I would have heard if there was.

Gillespie Park is a contrast to the walk preceding it. The path goes along a narrow strip of green between the rail line and St.Thomas' Road. Mercifully, this is well aggregate sealed. You don't want to p*ss off the Arsenal supporter. There isn't much to see but at least it is peaceful, unlike the Mosque in its time. I still get an earful of St.Thomas' Road as a car tries to turn into it from Seven Sisters Road, then jumps the red light by which I cross. No matter, I now let the train take the strain back through town, running past the stadium's western side.

  1. -
    Begin walk
    at Streatham rail station.
  2. Aft. 0 m
    TL
    into Estreham Rd.
  3. Aft. 240 m
    TL
    onto footbridge.
  4. Aft. 210 m
    TR
    into Potter's Ln.
  5. Aft. 45 m
    bear L.
    into Conyers Rd.
  6. Aft. 460 m
    X Mitcham Ln.
    into Riggindale Rd.
  7. Aft. 110 m
    2nd. R.
    into Rydal Rd.
  8. Aft. 230 m
    TJ L.
    into Ambleside Av.
  9. Aft. 180 m
    X Tooting Bec Rd.
    into Garrad's Rd.
  10. Aft. 440 m
    cont.
    into Abbotswood Rd.
  11. Aft. 590 m
    TJ L.
    into Drewstead Rd.
  12. Aft. 75 m
    TR
    into FP.
  13. Aft. 490 m
    X Emmanuel Rd.
    into Radbourne Rd.[rdb]
  14. Aft. 720 m
    TJ R.
    into Weir Rd.
  15. Aft. 160 m
    X Atkins Rd.
    into Clarence Av.
  16. Aft. 1000 m
    bear L.
    into Park Hill.
  17. Aft. 620 m
    X Abbeville Rd.[abv]
    into Clapham Park Rd.
  18. Aft. 85 m
    TR
    into FP through
    Bonney Estate
  19. Aft. 40 m
    TJ R.
    into Bowland Rd.
  20. Aft. 170 m
    2nd. R.
    into Haselrigge Rd.
  21. Aft. 50 m
    bear L.
    into FP.
  22. Aft. 40 m
    cont.
    into Kenwyn Rd.
  23. Aft. 220 m
    TJ L.
    into Tremadoc Rd.
  24. Aft. 80 m
    TJ R.
    into Clapham High St.
  25. Aft. 200 m
    3rd. L.
    into Gauden Rd.
  26. Aft. 250 m
    TR.
    into Chelsham Rd.
  27. Aft. 350 m
    X Union Rd.
    into Gaskell St.
  28. Aft. 240 m
    TR
    into Gaskell Est.[gsk]
  29. Aft. 120 m
    TJ L.
    into Jeffreys Rd.
  30. Aft. 70 m
    X Larkhall Ln.
    into Priory Grv.
  31. Aft. 330 m
    X Lansdowne Way
    into Hartington Rd.
  32. Aft. 550 m
    cont.
    into FP.[fpn]
  33. Aft. 150 m
    cont.
    into Wheatsheaf Lane
  34. Aft. 40 m
    TJ L.
    into S.Lambeth Rd.
  35. Aft. 470 m
    X S.Lambeth Rd.
    into S.Lambeth Pl.[slp]
  36. Aft. 200 m
    X Kennington Ln.
    onto Albert Embank.
  37. Aft. 940 m
    Go under Lambeth Br.
    onto Albert Embank.
  38. Aft. 730 m
    Go under Westminster Br.
    onto Albert Embank.
  39. Aft. 540 m
    Go under Hungerford Br.
    onto Albert Embank.
  40. Aft. 300 m
    TL.
    over Waterloo Br.
  41. Aft. 530 m
    X The Strand
    into Aldwych
  42. Aft. 260 m
    3rd. L.
    into Kingsway
  43. Aft. 120 m
    1st. R.
    into Portugal St.
  44. Aft. 45 m
    1st. L.
    into Sheffield St.
  45. Aft. 75 m
    TJ L.
    into Portsmouth St.
  46. Aft. 50 m
    X Lincoln's Inn Fields
    into Newman's Row
  47. Aft. 35 m
    cont.
    into Gt.Turnstile
  48. Aft. 50 m
    TR
    into High Holborn
  49. Aft. 30 m
    TL
    into Hand Ct.
  50. Aft. 100 m
    TJ R.
    into Sandland St.
  51. Aft. 80 m
    TL
    into Gray's Inn Gardens.
  52. Aft. 200 m
    TR.
    into Theobalds Rd.
  53. Aft. 220 m
    bear L.
    into Rosebury Av.
  54. Aft. 1200 m
    TJ L.
    into St.John St.
  55. Aft. 230 m
    X Pentonville Rd.
    into Islington High St.
  56. Aft. 150 m
    cont.
    into Upper St.
  57. Aft. 1200 m
    cont.
    into Highbury Corner.[hbc]
  58. Aft. 70 m
    X Holloway Rd.
    into Highbury Pl.
  59. Aft. 200 m
    TL
    into Highbury Fields.
  60. Aft. 270 m
    X Highbury Cres.
    into Ronalds Rd.
  61. Aft. 190 m
    TR
    into Arvon Rd.
  62. Aft. 170 m
    TR
    into Drayton Pk.
  63. Aft. 660 m
    TL
    into Gillespie Pk.[gpk]
  64. Aft. 750 m
    X Seven Sisters Rd.
    into Station Pl.
  65. Aft. 50 m
    TL
    into Finsbury Park
    rail station.
  66. Aft. 0 m
    end walk
    -