please empty your brain below
Ooh, sounds like you'll have strolled down my local canal. And this could be first mention of Hornsey on your blog. Yay!

EskimoPie | 04.09.13 - 7:17 a.m. | #

Scott's Grotto is well worth a visit. There is a folly tower on the hill behind it, but hemmed in these days by modern houses on an unassumin residential street, and trees largely block the view. Come back for the Heritage Open Days weekend in 10 days' time.

Andrew | 04.09.13 - 8:19 a.m. | #

Fascinating stuff, yet again. A new walk to add to my to-do list and a new word learnt.

Whiff | 04.09.13 - 8:35 a.m. | #

I did as much as I could of the New River path by bicycle earlier this year. Of course this is against the rulez as there are numerous "No Cycling" signs to be ignored. A bigger problem is the frequent small kissing gates, some of which are tall. So a light bike and gear that you can lift over your head is needed; Or strong arms!

Most annoying are the stretches where there's no accessible path next to the New River and the confusing signposting around this and where the river has been diverted or shortened over the years. This is particularly bad around Enfield and Myddleton House that I guess you'll get to in a few days.

Julian Bond | Homepage | 04.09.13 - 8:38 a.m. | #

Richard has walked it too ;-)

http://mylondontravels.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=new+river

Richard | Homepage | 04.09.13 - 8:39 a.m. | #

BTW. On this first stretch to Great Amwell keep an eye out for the Chadwell Sculpture trail figures. http://www.waretourism.org.uk/sculpture_trail.html Merhorse and Rider, Murphy and His Dog and a few others are fairly easy to find. Sadly some have gone missing (Norse Invaders) or broken so only their feet are left like Mr Minibody.

dg writes: Ah, I actually have a photo of Murphy and his Dog. Have added this information to the post, thanks.

Julian Bond | Homepage | 04.09.13 - 8:58 a.m. | #

some incompetent illiterate has named this spot "New Guage"

That incompetent illiterate has a little bit of sympathy from me. It is one of the very few words I still always feel a need to double-check (desperate and guarantee are others).

It is pronounced Gu~age not Ga~uge so why isn't it spelt that way?

Pedantic of Purley | 04.09.13 - 9:24 a.m. | #

First the Jack the Ripper series and now a "river" to follow! It's going to be a good month. :)

CornishCockney | 04.09.13 - 9:30 a.m. | #

Gu-age? Like "goo-aj" you mean? Gayj, surely? Gage might make more sense.

What we need is phonetic spelling. The question is, how do you pronounce bath and tomato?

Andrew | 04.09.13 - 9:42 a.m. | #

Note for Pedantic: the spelling of gauge as guage was a favourite when I used to edit scientific documents. I always used to put it down to them being used to the word language.

popartist | 04.09.13 - 9:59 a.m. | #

Ooooh! I grew up in St. Margaret's (note the correct apostrophe) and went to primary school in Great Amwell. Really looking forward to tomorrow's installment, as the walk from the little islands below the church to Stansted Abbotts was a regular part of my life (the New River actually ran right along the end of my back garden, but we weren't allowed onto the path along that bit). There were almost always several tethered goats grazing on the banks. I wonder if that still happens?

Claire | 04.09.13 - 1:24 p.m. | #

The pronunciation of 'gu' as just 'g' is well established, in, for instance, 'guard', 'guise' and 'guarantee'. So while 'guage' may not be the most obvious way to spell a word pronounced 'gage', it isn't round the bend. 'Gauge', on the other hand, clearly ought to be pronounced 'gauge'.

Andrew M | 04.09.13 - 3:21 p.m. | #

I guess that the lady being walked by her dog was relying on her leader to read and take heed of the warning notices. If Londoners are going to drink that water, they really don't want Fido to have been exercising in it !

Petras409 | 04.09.13 - 8:15 p.m. | #

What about the ducks and geese then? That's why we have treatment plants to clean the water up before we drink it. If you don't fancy water a dog's swum in, better not move to the Wolverhampton area.

Sarah | Homepage | 05.09.13 - 10:00 a.m. | #

By "co-incidence" there is an article on the BBC News website (Wales section) about the man responsible of The New River: see http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-east-wales-23981349 .

Brought to my attention by my brother who lives in Ruthin.

John Simmons | 07.09.13 - 11:02 p.m. | #











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