THE UNLOST RIVERS OF LONDON Bounds Green Brook Friern Barnet → New Southgate (1½ miles)
[Bounds Green Brook → Pymmes Brook → Lea → Thames]
To truly wreck a river, build a dual carriageway along it. My stroll along the Bounds Green Brook is thus essentially a walk along the North Circular, which isn't going to be pleasant, although on the plus side most of the waterway remains above ground alongside the eastbound carriageway. [1914 OS map]
With the addition of a couple of minor tributaries, the Strawberry Vale Brook becomes the Bounds Green Brook somewhere in the vicinity of Colney Hatch Lane. This once rural spot is now a major junction on the North Circular, here a mighty six lane beast (plus slip roads), while a waterway in a pipe sneaks diagonally underneath. The giant Tesco on the northern flank was originally part of Finchley's Victorian sewage works, until a new facility in Edmonton freed up the space and aisles of groceries replaced an expanse of filter beds. It's quite the draw hereabouts.
The upcoming stretch follows the rear boundary of Colney HatchAsylum, in 1851 Europe's largest. The main building is some distance away because this riverside land was a 75 acre farm used to keep many of the inmates occupied. Today that farmland has been converted to housing, much of it seriously luxurious, although the streets closest to the A406 are rather less so. The Bounds Green Brook runs through a long strip of woodland between Poplar Grove and the dual carriageway, with a none-too-enticing but still-well-used footpath running alongside. Behind the fenceposts, below the catkins, an abandoned Lime hirebike balances precariously on the gabions. I'm glad it's not my walk to the shops.
The nearest shops form the Friern Retail Park, a large cluster of warehouse outlets around a car park - the prime draw supposedly B&Q. It's unusual in that road access is only available via bespoke North Circular sliproads connected to a junction half a mile away, the exit route across a bridge via an entirely unnecessary roundabout. At least the developers left a landscaped patch of parkland alongside, its chief feature a pair of ponds that are probably fed by the river, and are definitely ruled by two geese. In February the vandalproof benches overlooking the water look hopelessly over-optimistic.
Back down at roadside level the Bounds Green Brook pops out again behind the bus stop, then buries itself beneath a used car showroom. Some of the litter chucked from passing vehicles ends up over the brim of its concrete trench. On Friday afternoon most of the vehicles weren't passing very fast, instead driving so slowly that two enterprising gents were stood on the central reservation attempting to flog red roses to those in the fast lane. I didn't see them succeed.
This stretch of the North Circular is called Pinkham Way, and ahead is the point where the road passes underneath the East Coast Main Line. I was entirely unprepared for the upcoming pavement experience, enduring a prolonged slog through a gloomy arched cavern beside belching lines of traffic. The railway can't possibly be this wide, I thought, and it turns out the second component bridge used to carry sidings into the local gas works. If Crossrail 2 ever gets built, this viaduct should be reused to help terminate the New Southgate spur. In the meantime, which is probably a very long time, the walk underneath is best avoided.
Beyond Bounds Green Road there's only half a mile to go,. The brook remains above ground all the way but its presence still feels like an apology, slinking to the side of the carriageway in a dismissive wiggle. Enfield Council have squeezed in a muddy space with litter bins, the kind of space you'd only visit if you were holed up in the neighbouring Premier Inn and needed a smoke. I tried following a short path down to a sheltered spot by the water's edge, but retreated rapidly when I found bottles of water and a jacket hanging out to dry.
The next bridge carries the Piccadilly line on its approach to Arnos Grove station. The river threads through one of the brick arches before continuing into slightly more pleasant wooded territory. A proper bridge spans the flow to serve three residential streets behind Arnos Library. And here at last is the reason why traffic has been queueing patiently for the last mile, the notorious bend in the North Circular where traffic attempting to go 'straight on' has to physically turn right. Even when the rest of the road was widened in the 1970s this area was too built up to add a brutal straight-through junction, and it's barely 10 years since Telford Road was upgraded from two lanes to four.
The geographical reason for that right turn turns out to be river-related. The Bounds Green Brook is about to flow into the PymmesBrook, which continues at right angles down to the Lea taking the A406 with it. The confluence is on the edge of Arnos Park, the two merging between concrete banks tall enough to minimise any risk of flooding. It's an inauspicious endpoint for a stream that's been horribly dominated by highway infrastructure for the majority of its length. Indeed the Bounds Green Brook is a river you're far more likely to drive than walk, and not an especially alluring experience either way.
