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| Wold top scene |
Sixteen miles. That's how far I walked on Monday. I arrived in the Lincolnshire village of Elsham at just after nine in the morning and got back to my car at three thirty in the afternoon. Not once did I sit down in those hours but there were a few "rests" as I paused or took short diversions to take photographs.
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| Disused phone kiosk in Elsham |
It was a day when it felt good to be alive as late winter sunshine bathed the northernmost section of The Lincolnshire Wolds. By the time I reached Horkstow Wold at about one o' clock I could see the mighty River Humber and distant views of my true homeland - The East Riding of Yorkshire. Just north of Horkstow and South Ferriby the wide band of ancient chalk that forms The Lincolnshire Wolds dips under the river before rising on the other side to become The Yorkshire Wolds.
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| St Clement's, Worlaby |
On this delightful walk I saw many things and loitered in the following villages - Elsham, Worlaby, Bonby, Saxby All Saints and Horkstow. They all sit on the springline and when walking on the upper part of the wolds you have to descend to reach them. They look westwards into the sunset, sheltered from the most bitter winter winds that arrive from The Ural Mountains in Russia, faraway across the grey North Sea.
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| Disused Methodist chapel in Bonby |
I met a man in Worlaby and he was curious about my photo-taking - but in a friendly way. We stopped and chatted for a while. A couple of hours later he drove past me on the quiet top wold road and stopped to chat some more. He was impressed by the distance I had made and perhaps he was wondering slightly enviously about the joys of country walking.
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| St Andrew's Church, Bonby |
I saw kestrels hovering and snowdrops bursting forth, a woman in a big red Christmas jumper, crows pecking at winter corn, five ancient churches (all locked), a tumbledown farm shed, a cyclist in a fluorescent outfit. The Humber Bridge and millions of pieces of chalk scattered across wold top fields like bits of ice or springtime blossom. Strange to think that they were once part of a primordial seabed.
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| Saxby All Saints |
It was cold up on the top lanes so I was glad that I had remembered to don the red thermal hat I bought in Bury Market. When I finally got back to the car, I was cream crackered. It was only then that I sat down and gobbled the banana I had been carrying for sixteen miles. And the plastic bottle of spring water was almost syphoned down to my complaining kidneys.
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| On Middlegate Lane - heading back to Elsham |
I love Bonby church.
ReplyDeleteThis is a part of Lincolnshire I don't know at all - you have now gone out of my neck of the woods.
Yorkshire is England's Alaska but Lincolnshire is its Texas. No wonder you don't know the entire county Mrs Weaver.
DeleteThat's some serious walking! Sounds great, though. I love the photos -- particularly the old phone booth and the Methodist chapel. (You know how I love disused things and buildings.)
ReplyDeleteMy Deutsch blogging buddy Meike of Ludwigsburg is also passionate about disused or derelict places. We should form a society - DADS. Disused and Derelict Society - but not the members!
DeleteI'm in!!
DeleteWow, that's a long walk. Well done ! I think I've done well if I manage 15 k !
ReplyDeleteThank you Helen. Fifteen kilometres is still a nice long walk and more like my usual distance. Thanks for dropping by again.
DeleteI like that chapel. I very much doubt it was much more welcoming in it's prime.
ReplyDeleteSing along brother Adrian, "What a friend I have in Jesus!" Louder!
DeleteNo wonder you were cream crackered after carrying your banana for sixteen miles. It sounds vaguely naughty. I have no idea what "cream crackered" means. We are, as Winston Churchhill is supposed to have said, two nations divided by the same language.
ReplyDelete"Cream crackered" is a more polite way of saying "knackered" which means greatly fatigued.
DeleteSixteen miles! That's impressive. My poor feet hurt just thinking about it.
ReplyDeleteI'm having some problems with them, plantar fasciitis in the left and achilles tendinitis in both. It's making my life miserable lately.
Oh dear! Sorry to hear about your poor feet Jennifer. On the few occasions my body hasn't allowed me to walk I have become rather miserable. The idea of not walking fills me with dread.
DeleteThanks. I started having problems around Christmas. The store where I work is so large I usually average 5 or 6 miles walking around it each day and that increased during the holidays. I've been using a night splint on one foot, and doing doctor recommended achilles tendon stretches, and taking Motrin, but so far I'm still having a lot of pain. Even our nightly walk with the dogs has been miserable. :(
DeleteMake sure you are wearing really comfortable shoes that are not part of the problem.
DeleteGreat photos as ever, That phone box definitely looks like it will be on BT's hit list.
ReplyDeleteAs I think I said before Ian, I have started to snap any red phone boxes I see. They are disappearing quicker than people might imagine.
DeleteIt's surprising that you met only one person. Again it's a very beautiful area.
ReplyDeleteI met two other people walking a dog. I thought the dog's name was Red but it was in fact Fred.
DeleteThat was a walk I would have happily taken with you, Neil, for distance as well as for scenery and weather. But I'm afraid I would not have been able not to eat or drink at all for so many hours. Maybe a very short stop to nibble a cheese sandwich would have been in order, and a sip from the water bottle every now and then (no need to stop for that).
ReplyDeleteThe man who chatted to you probably never walks much himself - so many people don't. Even for the shortest distance, they take the car, which is a shame - they don't now what they're missing.
I had that feeling about the man. He seemed ever so slightly bemused by my leisure choice. Once, in America, with Shirley and the kids we walked from our hotel on the edge of a little Florida town to a restaurant in the town centre. It was less than half a mile. The owner of the restaurant was astonished that we had walked saying, "Why didn't you come in your hire car?"
DeleteMy goodness that was a long walk, Yorkie! That's a long walk, expending energy, without sustenance of some kind and water.
ReplyDeleteI guess the reason you saw only one person during that lengthy hike is the others are all at the cemetery, having not drunk water during their walks!
Take heed! :)
Okay Auntie. I will take heed. Thank you for your kind concern.
DeleteWhat a nice, long walk you had! All the sights to see...no doubt you slept like a log that night! I'm with Lee - you should drink water while walking! I'd have had a pocket of trail mix, too. I WANT a red phone booth. Love all the pics and just FYI, I sing "What a friend we have in Jesus" and mean it :-)
ReplyDeleteUnless it's a warm day I never really feel like drinking or eating when tramping the land. Rich people are buying up those old phone boxes and turning them into "Features". Living in your mountaintop designer penthouse with private woods I guess you are rich Hilly so you could easily have one shipped over. I can be your agent... for a fee!
DeleteActually, YP, I've reconsidered. I don't talk on the phone anyhow, so I'm afraid I'll have to cancel the check I wrote...
DeleteA decent day of walking, Mr Pudding.
ReplyDeleteI am much taken with the converging lines in the last photo - hedge, road, dry grass, clouds.
Did some wit put that sign on the phone box?
Ms Soup
Sadly, that is an official sign Alphie - to let passers by know that the phone box is redundant.
DeleteYP, you seem blessed with good weather on your walks. Whilst everyone else is hiding indoors and turning up the heating another notch, there you are, striding out in beautiful sunshine.
ReplyDeleteWhen I belonged to a walking group (now disbanded, alas) we always stopped for our "banana break" after a couple of hours. I still smile at the thought of everyone digging into their rucksacks and hauling out their bananas, (though the odd apple did make an appearance)and on occasions it was almost desperate synchronised peeling if we'd gone too long over the allotted time ! I always took one of our dogs with me, so was loaded down with extra water, and an extra banana for him too.
I have heard of sausage dogs CG but never before had I heard of banana dogs! Regarding the weather, I hate walking in rain so I tend to walk when sunny skies are promised by the weather people. Over the last few years I have discovered that there is always at least one day in any week when we enjoy sunny skies - if only for a couple of hours.
DeleteAaah, yes, our banana dog - he looked more like a Spaniel, but on our long walks always expected his banana treat !
DeleteI rather envy you your ability to walk that sort of distance although it's a long time since I even tried it. Hopefully when I get my new knee in a few months time I shall eventually be up for the challenge. It looks like it was almost the perfect walk too.
ReplyDeleteSix weeks after you get the new knee you will become The Bionic Man -leaping around the countryside like Oscar Pistorius!
DeleteYou know, YP, it's a great pity that the followers of your blog live so very far apart. If we all lived nearer to you, you could organise some of these lovely walks for us. We'd all turn up, boots and bananas at the ready !
ReplyDeleteThe police would have to be alerted in case fighting broke out during the walk.
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