the walk After the track was lifted, most of the platforms and station buildings were demolished. The sections of the line from Finsbury Park to Highgate and from Highgate to Alexandra Palace, excluding the intermediate section through the tunnels and station at Highgate, were converted into the Parkland Walk. This was officially opened in 1984, following extensive re-surfacing and improvements to access. In the late 1980s, the park was threatened by a plan to build a road along its route but the plan was withdrawn following local opposition which was co-ordinated by The Friends of the Parkland Walk. The walk was declared a local nature reserve in 1990. Route description Finsbury Park to Crouch Hill From the Finsbury Park end, the route starts from the western side of the existing East Coast Main Line beside a foot overbridge that gives access from the eastern end of Oxford Road to Finsbury Park itself. The route rises on an embankment overlooking the back gardens of the Victorian suburban houses. The route then bridges Upper Tollington Park. The next bridge takes the walk over Stapleton Hall Road, at a point where the Gospel Oak to Barking rail line also passes beneath the road. Stroud Green station once stood at this point, with its platforms cantilevered out over the sides of the bridge over Stapleton Hall Road. The station master's house still survives at road level, but there are no traces of the track- or road-side station buildings, which were destroyed in a fire in 1967. After crossing Mount Pleasant Villas on an overbridge, the embankment gives way to a cutting as the land rises north-westwards. The route continues beneath overbridges carrying Mount View Road and Crouch Hill. Crouch Hill to Crouch End Hill Immediately after passing under Crouch Hill to the left, a large block house can be seen; this was originally built to house switchgear for the Northern Heights project, as part of the plans to incorporate the line into the tube system. This has been redeveloped by adding extensions, cantilevered off the north and west sides of the existing building, and extending a short distance over the Parkland Walk. Now known as The Cape, it is managed directly by Islington Council and houses a community energy centre, a youth centre, a new ecology centre and Ashmount School's after-school club. There is a public cafe in the building to which there is