Cockfosters to Enfield Lock

Introduction

Mum and I walked the London Loop section between Cockfosters (at the end of the Piccadilly Line) and Enfield Lock - which is on the Lee Navigation, so we'd already passed it when doing the Lea Valley walk.

Weather forecasts

I got up ridiculously early in order to leave the house at 08:30 in time for a train an hour later. As a result, I heard the weather forecast on the radio, which assured us that there would be rain in the morning, but it would only be heavy in the southwest and the Midlands, and would move north by afternoon.

The walk began in a large park which apparently had once been part of Enfield Chase (land owned by nobles for hunting). It wasn't actually raining when we started. Here's how accurate the forecast turned out...

Half an hour in, we climb a hill and look back on the land behind. (Shot taken in the split second before raindrops spattered my lens.)

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It stops raining for a little while, enough to wipe off that lens. We make it through the park, cross a road to take another footpath... then it starts raining again, for serious. (Those black spots against the sky aren't dirt, but leaves thrown off the trees behind.)

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Thankfully I'd brought my anorak (yes, I'm an anorak). It got some serious use for the next hour or so, well past midday. Eventually, though, the rain really did stop.

The rest

The rest of the walk was pleasant but not all that photogenic. The initial part had followed a stream called the Salmon Brook; now it switched to the Turkey Brook, mostly going through parks. The streams had lots more water in than seemed usual, though they hadn't flooded.

A railway bridge. We passed two lines, not including the two we travelled on.

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Under the bridge.

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Tree with faded 'No Trespassing' sign.

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We detoured to look at an old (ish) large house called Forty Hall. (Shame it wasn't 'Towers'.) It's now a council museum. We didn't go in, both because we had muddy boots and because they had a local art show which - through the windows - looked pretty awful. A bunch of teenagers were filming some kind of drama in the grounds, which we tried not to get in the way of.

The route got pretty urban after that, entering the town of Enfield Lock; the Turkey Brook continued, along with Turkey Road, the Turkey pub, etc. We went on to see the lock itself, which looked much as it had last time, except that a large pub opposite had been seriously damaged in fire.

Lock gates.

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Then it was along the Navigation towpath for a short distance, opposite the old factory (presumably where they made Lee Enfield rifles) which has been converted into expensive housing. After that the station was only a short distance back.

Epilogue

I got back to MK in excellent time. Since the morning, the river beside the University had risen significantly; it was about twenty or thirty centimetres short of flooding.

That tree's usually just beside the water (on this side), not under it.

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