Silver Jubilee Park, Kingsbury to , LSW via summit of Brent 38

Start Kingsbury Road at Silver Jubilee Park — NW9 0AY

Finish Northwick Park —E of HA1 3GY

Distance 5.31km

Duration 1 hour 8 minutes

Ascent 50.5m

Access Buses at start of section. Northwick Park station (Metropolitan Line) 500m distant from end of section. Buses on Preston Hill en route.

Facilities Shop and café at Roe Green en route.

38.1 Kingsbury Road, by the church and near the mandir. 0m

38.2 E (away from mandir) on L pvt; L into Mardale Drive; ahead up Springfi eld 1310m Gardens; L by path to Hill View. Gardens; R, then L over summit and down Highfi eld Avenue; L on Roe Green to cross Kingsbury Road (bus).

38.3 Ahead on Slough Lane (bear L at pub); R on path between fl ats and houses; 1060m ahead across fi elds and to L of garden fences to Fryent Way.

38.4 Cross, and ahead on path; L over ditch, then R to cross railway bridge; bear 720m L across school bus area; R then L bend along Shakespeare Drive to far end; L on The Mall (bus).

38.5 Ahead on The Mall and Preston Hill to top; across rbt and descend 940m Woodcock Hill ahead to entry to sports ground.

38.6 L pvt ahead, onto Draycott Avenue when Woodcock Hill turns R uphill; L 1280m (Windermere Avenue), R (Lulworth Avenue); R (Conway Gardens); over rly bridge and across park to path with housing behind hedge.

© 2017-21 IG Liddell Summits Walk 38 – 1 This section of 38.1 the route starts at the top of Kingsbury Road, just to the east of Shree Swaminarayan mandir. Walking boots are to be recommended to deal with the mud which will be found at various locations in this section. The huge mandir replaces outgrown facilities in Golders Green: it combines traditional Indian design with such ecological features as solar energy panels and rainwater capture. Shree Swaminarayan Mandir, Kingsbury, seen There are bus stops here, with routes converging from Harrow, from Silver Jubilee Park , Hendon and Golders Green. From the pedestrian crossing at the top of Kingsbury 38.2 Road, and with your back to the mandir, walk eastwards on the left-hand pavement towards the bus stop. Take the fi rst street on the left (Mardale Drive), and ascend the street using its left-hand pavement, skirting a small copse which conceals an electricity substation to your right at the roundabout junction where Coniston Gardens comes in from the left. Continue ahead into Springfi eld Gardens on its left-hand pavement. After number 59, turn left into a narrow alleyway which doglegs right then left to come out onto Hillview Gardens: The summit of Brent on turn right to reach Wakemans Hill Avenue. Turn left and climb to Wakemans Hill Avenue, the top of the hill: this is the summit of the London Borough of looking west towards Brent, topping out at 92m above sea level. Harrow Hill Weaving the summit of Brent into the route was possibly the greatest challenge of all the thirty-two borough tops: the location does not fi t easily into either the inner or outer ring of summits. In the end, this 10km detour from South to Northwick Park (which is only half a fi eld away) was needed. All other options proved much worse: the nearest link-points

38 – 2 London Summits Walk © 2017-21 IG Liddell on the inner route would have involved long treks from Kilburn and back to , and to incorporate Brent between Stanmore station and Moat Mount would have resulted in a route almost entirely on suburban streets. On the positive side, Barn Hill and merit a visit, and Gotforde’s Hill gives a view of what is to come. Continue over the hill to reach the junction with Buck Lane: Wakemans Hill Avenue becomes Highfi eld Avenue. at this point. Highfort Court, by Ernest Trobridge Here, the four corner plots are graced with blocks of fl ats which could well be described as “Fortress Kingsbury”. These fl ats date from the mid-1930s, and were designed by Ernest Trobridge, a noted local architect and a disciple of Emanuel Swedenborg (as was Augustus Clissold, encountered earlier on the London Summits Walk route in the park in Hackney which bears his name: Swedenborg is discussed in Section 2 of the London Summits Walk route narrative). These buildings look backwards in time, but they contain many innovative features of their day, as do other houses built in the vicinity to Trobridge’s designs, such as the tall fl at-fronted Montaire Court seen on the right as you descend Highfi eld Avenue, and nearby thatched houses built with green elm timbers which were adjusted as they sett led to provide Green Man Inn, Kingsbury strength and lightness. Descend Highfi eld Avenue, passing Trobridge’s Montaire Court on your right. At the bott om, turn left onto Roe Green (street), with the park of that name straight ahead. Follow Roe Green down to Kingsbury Road: on the corner block of shops here, there is a grocery and a café, both Romanian at the time of writing. Cross Kingsbury 38.3 Road and join Slough Lane opposite. Be

© 2017-21 IG Liddell London Summits Walk 38 – 3 careful not to drift rightwards into Old Kenton Lane, but bear round to the left, keeping the vast Green Man pub to your right. Beyond the pub on your right, there is a boxy complex of modern brick-built fl ats: squeeze to the right of the fi rst house down an alleyway. After 200m, the alleyway opens out into Fryent Country Park. Do not take the clear path which bears off half-left (that is, to the south-west) — that will just lead you back to the top of Gotforde’s Hill — but instead, keep straight ahead on level ground to a gap, then continue westwards, still on level ground, with the hedge on your right-hand side. You will reach a complex path junction with an adit into Valley Drive (which might provide a drier alternative west towards Fryent Way after, or during, heavy rain). Bearing slightly left, walk along the right-hand edge of the fi eld, past the ends of back gardens fortifi ed by thick briars and brambles to emerge onto Fryent Way through a narrow gap at the end of the roadside berm. There is a refuge to the right, nearer Valley Drive. Cross Fryent Way at the lay-by, and go ahead onto a 38.4 footpath. About 150m beyond Fryent Way, take the footbridge on the left, then turn immediately right to make for a footbridge over the . On the far side of the footbridge, descend to school gates at a vehicle turning circle. Turn left down the side of the turning area (with your back to the school gates), then go to the right to follow the street (Shakespeare Drive) round to the left . Follow Shakespeare Drive out to its end at The Mall, where turn left. Continue ahead. The Mall becomes Preston Hill: 38.5 climb the hill which gives its name to the street, passing a large care home on your left, to reach a roundabout at the top. Buses run along The Mall and up Preston Hill to Preston Road station; at the roundabout, the station lies about 500m to the left. Go straight across and continue westwards down Woodcock Hill, keeping to the right-hand pavement. At the foot of the hill, the street bends right, and you will reach the entrance, on the left, to the John Billam sports ground. Cross to the left-hand pavement here, but do not 38.6 enter the sports ground: rather, continue straight ahead, following the left-hand pavement past the triangle where Woodcock Hill sweeps up to the right. You are now in Draycott Avenue. Take Windermere Avenue to the left (yes, it leads to the Windermere pub which you passed at South Kenton), passing

38 – 4 London Summits Walk © 2017-21 IG Liddell beneath the Metropolitan Line and Chiltern Railways tracks. Turn right at the roundabout into Lulworth Avenue, then left into Conway Gardens. At the far end of this street, take a footbridge over the tracks of the West Coast Main Line, the Overground, and the Bakerloo Line. Cross Northwick Park, using a few trees in the middle as a guide, between a rugby pitch on your left and a cricket pitch on your right, to reach the perimeter path on the far side of the Northwick Park, bounded by the railway tracks park: behind the bushes which border this path, there is a small housing estate, and the bulkier forms of St Mark’s and Northwick Park hospitals. The arrival at Northwick Park’s western perimeter path marks the end of this section of the London Summits Walk route. Here, you are a mere 700m from , across the fi eld to the south. This would allow you to undertake a circular route of about 11km (sections 37 and 38 of the London Summits Walk route) taking in the Brent summit, or would give you access from this point to the Bakerloo Line or Overground services. Some 500m in the other direction (to the right as you cross the park) lies Northwick Park station, off ering Metropolitan Line services to Amersham, Chesham, Watford and Uxbridge, and to central London.

Northwick Park from the railway bridge, with Harrow Hill in the background

© 2017-21 IG Liddell London Summits Walk 38 – 5