What's Saturday for anyway?

Having survived last night's auction with my wallet intact (even I don't stretch to spending £800 on a night's baby-sitting!) this morning I had to head out directly from my warm bed to avoid scheduling conflicts later in the day. I can't say that I was exactly keen but it was nice to re-visit one of my circular routes around Muswell Hill that I used to run back in the day! Fundamentally this one is all about staying off-road and that means a bit of Coldfall Woods chopped into a generous serving of Alexandra Palace plus garnish from various parkland walks and other tranches of urban greenery. One of these is Hollickwood Park, a small but pleasing park adjacent to the North Circular, and I had thought to photograph the small pond there but when I turned round I discovered that I was not alone:

Taking the kids to the park?

So that was a nice surprise and I carried on with the intention of exploring just a little further than usual; which is why I ended up near Bounds Green and running on top of the main line from St Pancras (it travels by tunnel for a short section here). I've come this way before but it's usually been quite muddy and overgrown which has put me off exploring fully. Today though I benefited from the recent dry weather and discovered that the path terminates in what is, essentially, a light industrial estate - quite surprising when just a few metres away it's like this:

Can this really be suburban London?

Rather a contrast to be sure but the path is like this for it's full length to Durnsfood Road and it's a bit of a battle not to get swallowed up by the brambles! After this experience I played it safe and wiggled my way over to Ally Pally, took the disused railway line and then made a quick dash across the grounds of St Luke's Woodside Hospital; yes I know that it started out as a lunatic asylum and that I probably shouldn't be using it as a short-cut but I haven't been locked up caught yet! So who's to worry eh?

Distance: 7.8 miles

Time: 1h 01m 57s