Between Finsbury Park and Highgate, the path forms part of the Capital Ring strategic walking route.

After the war, the development plan was abandoned but passenger trains continued to run on this line until 3 July 1954, when British Railways (the successor to the LNER) ended such services permanently.

The Alexandra Palace branch closed completely in 1957, but the link from Finsbury Park to Highgate and East Finchley remained open to freight traffic until 1964.

Stroud Green station once stood at this point, with its platforms cantilevered out over the sides of the bridge over Stapleton Hall Road.

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.

Passing the blockhouse, the walk enters Crouch Hill Park which spreads to the south of the old railway line.

The new park has a triangular form covering an area of 25,730 square metres (277,000 sq ft), which is bounded by the walkway to the north and housing on the other sides; it is home to birds, invertebrates and bats, including some species locally uncommon or declining.

[10] Beyond the site of the new school building, and just before Crouch End station, is a footbridge across the Parkland Walk which crossed over the railway.

It was retained after the line's closure and now connects Haslemere Road in Haringey to Crouch Hill Park in Islington.

Beyond this, the cutting opens out on the northern side as the route skirts a hill, parallel to Hornsey Lane where some apartment blocks have been built.

The route continues on an embankment to a brick-built bridge over Northwood Road, beneath which traffic can flow in only one direction at a time.

The surrounding ground rises rapidly and the route becomes a cutting at the end of which the portals of the southern pair of Highgate tunnels come into view.

Vestiges of line-side electrical equipment for the planned 1930s electrification of the line and part of the structure of the old Highgate station are visible through the tunnels.

The walk continues opposite, via steps down to the trackbed, towards Alexandra Palace, skirting the side of Muswell Hill.

[13] It has been suggested that the sculpture, and the Parkland Walk generally, provided the inspiration for Stephen King's short story "Crouch End".

[17] In 2020, artist Ben Wilson was invited to produce a series of miniature artworks on blobs of chewing gum along the Walk.

Subjects depicted on the works include a rescue dog, a jogger and a ghost station from the Walk's original railway.

[citation needed] Further, a formal complaint against the council for proceeding with the project was made to the Local Government Ombudsman by the "Ashmount Site Action Group" (ASAG) but was not upheld.

However, when Islington Council, relying on the recommendations of a planning inspector, applied to the Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove for permission to cease to use the old site for a school, permission was refused, and the site was requisitioned, without compensation to Islington Council, for use by a Free School.

Building operations at the Cape were finally completed in February 2013, two years and four months after the contract to carry out the work was signed by Islington Council.

Factors behind this award include the use of rain water harvesting, natural ventilation systems to keep the school building cool in summer and the setting up of an "energy centre" in the blockhouse which by means of combined heat and power provides district heating both for the whole site and for social housing near the site, as well as generating electricity.