The final whistle will blow this week at Highbury as Arsenal football club leaves the stadium that has been its north London home since 1913 and moves to the gleaming new Emirates Stadium a few streets away. So, as nearly 100 years of footballing history comes to a close, this month's walk explores the streets of Highbury and smart neighbouring Islington, taking in sections of canal, secret river and nature reserve and discovering quiet streets just yards from some of London's busiest thoroughfares.

Highlights

Regent's Canal
New River Walk
Clissold Park
Gillespie Road local nature reserve
Highbury Stadium
Emirates Stadium
Highbury Fields
Upper Street


Type of walk: circular

Time taken: 2.5-3 hours

Distance: 5 miles approx

Start: Angel tube station (northern line)

Turn right out of Angel station and walk up Upper Street into the heart of Islington. Forty years ago Islington was somewhere you only lived if you were poor and bohemian, prepared to put up with living in a crumbling Georgian house on the wrong (east) side of Regent's Park. But now it is sought-after and expensive, full of bankers and lawyers who have the money to restore the tall town houses to gleaming perfection.

Ahead of you is the Mall Antiques Arcade, a treasure-store of antique furniture and artworks which could tempt you to a pleasurable detour. Otherwise (or afterwards) take the first turning on the right into Duncan Street just before you reach the antiques arcade and continue straight ahead across Duncan Terrace. The elegant four storey townhouses to your right were built between 1817 and 1839 and the gardens in front are open to the public.

Cross Colebrooke Row on the other side of the gardens and look for two brick pillars to the left marking a sloping tarmac path. This is the way down to the Regent's Canal, which curves through the capital from Little Venice in the west to Limehouse in the east. Built between 1812 and 1820, the Regent's Canal used to be a vital link between the Grand Union Canal from Birmingham and the River Thames, carrying freight across London before the growth of the railways. London's canals are flourishing again after being abandoned and forgotten in the 1960s when commercial traffic switched to roads. Now the Regent's Canal is an oasis of calm in one of London's most built-up boroughs, its towpath lined with colourful houseboats and crowded with walkers and cyclists.

Keep going along the left hand towpath under the bridge (watch out for cyclists as the path is very narrow here) and emerge opposite the City Road Basin. This stretch of water is set for massive redevelopment, opening it up for pedestrians, creating more green space and demolishing the ugly commercial buildings which cut the basin off from City Road. Glass and steel canalside apartments and warehouses converted into offices are early signs of things to come.

Continue ahead on the towpath past the Narrow Boat, a popular pub with real ale and seats by the canal, and look for an iron gate on your left just past an arched bridge into Packington Gardens. Turn right past the playground to a second gate, then left into Bevan Street and into a network of streets of well-kept flat fronted Victorian terraces in treelined streets, a treat to stroll through on a quiet weekday. Cross Linton Street to Union Square, follow St Paul's Road where it curves round and turn left into Canon Street. You emerge opposite St James's church, where a footpath heads off to the right. Look for a set of steps on your right signed Maryland Walk, continue straight ahead along Popham Street and emerge into the busy Essex Road. Cross at the pedestrian crossing and turn right past a shop called The Get Stuffed, whose windows are filled with stuffed bears and wolves and the floors are covered with stuffed budgerigars.

Just past the library, look for a sign saying New River Path and go through an iron gate into landscaped gardens. The name New River is a bit misleading as it is neither new nor a river but was built in 1613 to supply London with fresh water from Hertfordshire, flowing from near Hertford into London. The river originally terminated at Islington but more recently stopped at reservoirs in Stoke Newington. Now there is a signed path for the whole of the New River's 27 miles which makes an excellent walk down through Hertfordshire and north London. The section through Islington and Canonbury winds through imaginatively landscaped rocky gardens, where the course of the river is clearly visible although the river itself is covered over through Islington. Continue straight ahead on the path parallel to the playground when you get to Astey's Row after the first section of landscaped garden. This is the New River Path although there is no obvious sign.

Cross Canonbury Road to the Myddleton Arms, named after Sir Hugh Myddleton, one of the founders of the New River, and into Canonbury Grove. Look for a gate and a New River sign to the left, then look down for your first glimpse of actual water. The New River Path continues through gardens in the middle of Canonbury Grove and into Petherton Road, abnormally wide because the New River used to flow down the middle before being covered in 1870.

The Path leads you across Green Lanes, home to a large Turkish community. This is where to pick up snacks of Turkish pide, kebabs, felafel and pastries, supplies of Turkish books, newspapers and CDs and watch Turkish men (no women) in deep discussion in Turkish cafes.

The New River Path continues past the Methodist church and allotments on the other side of Green lanes to Stoke Newington Church Street, marked by the tall spire of St Mary's Church. This is the centre of trendy Stoke Newington ("Stokey" to locals) and a good place to stop for a meal and/or drink at one of Church Street's restaurants or pubs.

To get to Church Street keep walking straight on past the gate into Clissold Park. Otherwise follow the sign into the park past Clissold Mansion. The café at the Mansion serves refreshments and its outside terrace is popular with Stoke Newington's burgeoning population of middle-class mummies with three-wheeled buggies.

Take the path half left. Clissold Park is a restful, well kept park, with green lawns, mature trees and flowerbeds bright with flowers and it is a great place for a picnic on a sunny day. The strange castle-shaped building to your right as you walk along the path was once a pumping station, part of a network of pumping stations along the New River, and is now an indoor climbing centre.

Go out of the gate and rejoin Green Lanes, right into Brownswood Road, continuing across Blackwood Road into Monsell Road. Take the second left turn into Avendell Road, cross Gillespie Road and continue straight on to reach Highbury, Arsenal football club's stadium since 1913. Tucked between Arsenal's dense Victorian terraces, the art-deco stands of the stadium tower over the slate roofs and groups of devoted fans queue hopefully for tickets for the last Highbury game. Arsenal fans who want to visit the museum at the ground should do the walk on Friday, when the museum is open. When the last game is over the bulldozers will move in and convert the stadium to flats.

After a suitable wallow in nostalgia, retrace your steps up Avendell Road and turn left into Gillespie Street. Next to Arsenal tube station is a wall with a gate and a signpost to Gillespie Park Nature Reserve, another green surprise in the built-up streets of the borough of Islington. This small patch, overgrown with nettles and grass, has nature trails, ponds and benches for a sit-down. Follow the path from Gillespie Road to a junction with a bench and turn left beside a pond. Follow the path straight on to get to the Ecology Centre, cross the wooden bridge and take the steps up to a tarmac road, where you turn left. Turn left again at the gates into Drayton Park, follow the curve round and take the first right into Highbury Hill. The Victorian houses in this treelined road get gradually larger and smarter as you walk away from Arsenal and into grander Highbury but you are still in Arsenal football club country as you look right down Aubert Park and get a full-on view of the vast new Emirates Stadium nearing completion in Ashburton Grove.

Highbury Hill curves upwards to open out into Highbury Fields and the delectable sweep of Georgian town houses in Highbury Crescent on the far side of the grassy expanse of the Fields. Continue straight on along Highbury Place to Highbury Corner. You can end the walk here, taking a bus, or tube (Victoria line) from Highbury and Islington station. Alternatively cross Highbury Corner by the post office and walk straight on down Upper Street back to Angel tube. Upper Street has enough choice of restaurants and pubs to satisfy even the pickiest diner.

Finish: Angel tube station

Multimedia

Related Internet Links

• Map: print out a map of the Highbury route

Related Links

• Spring time in Richmond

• Autumn in Hampstead and Highgate

• Why London is one of the world's great walking cities

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