Excursion to Enfield Chase via Trent Park

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During the lockdown, I bought ‘Walking in London Park, Heath and Waterside’ by Peter Aylmer at WHSmith.

We decided to do the trekking course around Enfield Chase via Trent Park on the 11^th April. We had visited Trent Park several times and were familiar with woodland walk starting from the lake by the cemetery and various walking courses in Trent Park.

After reaching Obelisk, we took the left on the T-junction and walked across Hadley Road. We followed the trail by Ash Wood and Duncan Wood. On 11^th April, we saw several walkers along the trail. The surface of the footpath was dry but uneven; we had to stay careful around our foot, e.g. branches, left on the footpath. It was warm enough to do picnic; we had a picnic lunch in the Trent Park where we see lakes. Unfortunately, Mark was a little unwell and required to sit down a few times while walking on the course. Nevertheless, we managed to follow the trail along Salmon Brook and reached the pond. He claimed that he couldn’t go further from that point and we decided to return home.



He has not been furloughed during the pandemic period and has decided to take an annual leave between 10^th and 14^th May; we have decided to go for another walk to Enfield Chase on 10^th May. London saw some showers in the morning and near the lunch time; I suggested we would eat lunch at home and make the way for Enfield Chase after lunch.

It started showering after we had began the London Loop Walk from Cockfoster Station and rain continued until we were walking around on Moat Wood – the woodland’s leaves protected us from getting wet.

However, luckily, the rain stopped after crossing over Hadley Road and we started the trekking course on the open land. We did remember the narrow downhill path flanked by bushes, uneven surface, and river stream of Salmon Brook, a clump of plastic tubes to grow young trees and stone bench and a stone footbridge where Mark sat down on 11^th April. He was full of beans on 10^th May and allowed us to walk further than the pond along Salmon Brook. On 10^th May there were several cattle grazing on the farm. We carried on walking uphill towards Cuckolds Hill and rambled through a little patch of woodland, Brook Wood. According to the guide book of ‘Walking in London Park, Heath, and Waterside’, the path of woodland was planted in 1991 in memory of a local councillor and has been maintained by volunteers. We were offered lovely views of not only lush countryside but also spectacular views of London’s skylines and TV tower of Alexandra Palace.

We then went back to Trent Park. We were quire tired; popped in the café and had refreshments at the table in the terraced garden. After that, we went back home.

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Photos

Mark sitting on the bench
He was a little unwell on 11th April.

Woodland
This patch of woodland was established in 1991 in memory of a local councilor and has been maintained by volunteers.