400 Years of the New River

Long version: They (walkers) often murmur: “this is really beautiful.” Hardly surprising given that this is a walk through two parks and past two reservoirs (one of which is a world of water and reeds and birds – hey, it’s a nature reserve). So, an eye feast for starters. And ear niblets – all that birdsong. And – goes without saying, this, because it’s a London Walk – lots of food for thought. This dish, for example: very few bits of London are 400 years old. Let alone still doing what they were built to do four centuries ago. Forget London or England – let’s wheel in Europe to get the measure of this. Look around Europe – yeah, there are some spectacular Roman aqueducts. But they’ve been bone dry for many centuries. The watercourse we’re exploring – the New River – is still doing what it was built to do 400 years ago: fetching water – yes, drinking water – to London. Some fetch: 38 million gallons of water a day. More stats? How’s about 21 pumping stations? And the Chalk Aquifer 150 metres or so below us? H20 of the drinking variety for 1.2 million Londoners. Even the unpacking of the lumpen name – the North london Artificial Recharge Scheme – is a bit of fun. (Engineers – you have to marvel at how no-nonsense they are). What else? Well, you got a King to the rescue. In return for a return of course. And Nimbies who had a change of heart. And a “Scottish castle.” And the best rock climbing in the London area. And a knight who went bust. He was the Elizabethan Lone Ranger. Hi-Yo Gold! Away! Knight errant. He was all over the place. Still is. Very much with us today. London’s full of him, like rooks in a tree. Any of that – let alone all of it – is reason for going on this walk. But in addition to seeing a bit of London that’ll be virgin territory to virtually all of you there’s the satisfaction of getting under the bonnet, finding out about a critical piece of the city’s infrastructure, a development that made London possible.