Saturday, 6th January 2018
Well, I'm off the starting blocks for my 2018 walking year and my Challenge365 - A Mile A Day For A Year project.
After spending all Christmas and New Year with an awful chesty cough which totally wiped me out, I finally felt well enough (and the weather was nice enough!) to do a little walk.
Seeing as I was feeling a little bit bored of my usual local walks, I had a good ole nosey at the map and spotted the words "Nature Reserve".... hmmm, I've lived in this area pretty much all my life and never knew about this little area. Sounds like the perfect recuperative easy walk on a blustery, sunny winter's day.
I got parked up in Hollym near(ish) the Church and The Plough Inn pub - free roadside parking but the lane is narrow so I was mindful of not blocking driveways and making sure other vehicles could pass by - it seems to be a farming community and I didn't really want my car trashing by a tractor not being able to get past!
From my car I headed east back down the lane and past the Church. I took a right turn onto Church Lane and followed this a while before taking another right turn onto the metalled part of South Carr Dales Road. Eventually, it petered out and turned into a track/green lane which was, in places, a bit squishy under foot. Luckily, it doesn't seem to be walked very often so it wasn't too churned up.
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| The start of South Carr Dales Road (track) |
After about a mile the track opens out a little to follow field edges and gives some big sky views towards Patrington.
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| Big sky views towards Patrington |
The ground under foot was still quite squishy but not unpleasant to walk on. Again, I don't think these paths are walked very often, which helped, as the grass was still intact and provided a bit of traction on the otherwise waterlogged mud.
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| Heading up onto Toffling Hill - a whopping 7 metres above sea level! |
There was some good views from this tiny hill and I enjoyed getting my bearings.
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| Landmark spotting - Withernsea Lighthouse |
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| A man made reservoir at the top of Toffling Hill |
I pootled along the track enjoying the sunshine and battling against the bitingly cold wind. At one point I spotted a footpath sign pointing across a freshly ploughed field and I groaned inwardly at the thought of clod-hopping my way across that, then breathed a sigh of relief when I realised I didn't need to - Hollym Carrs Nature Reserve was a little further along the track.
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| The entrance to Hollym Carrs Nature Reserve |
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| A faded but still readable info board just inside the gate |
Although there are no signposts, there are faint tracks on the ground, taking you through young woodland then bursting you out into patches of grassy open spaces. I can imagine in Spring this area is, indeed, teeming with wildlife.
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| Much of this reserve is like this - woodland and grassy spaces |
I sort of wandered about a bit before deciding the easiest thing to do was to point my compass at the other end of the Reserve and just generally head, in a meandering sort of way, in that direction.
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| Gorse just coming into bloom - a lovely splash of colour |
After a while, I reached a gate. It appeared to be padlocked shut. On closer inspection, it wasn't. I did wonder if I was about to trespass beyond the reserve boundaries and then decided I didn't care if I was and headed across a meadow with a huge owl nesting box in it. There was a sort of sheep-trod on the ground so I followed that seeing as it was heading in the general direction of my compass bearing and reached another locked gate. This one had quite an obvious diversion round the side of it which was as good a sign as any to pass through it.
I was now on the old dismantled/disused Withernsea-Hull railway line. Again, I'm not sure if this is actually a right of way as it's not marked as such on a map (not like it is near where I live) but there were other footprints, plus horse hoof prints and I worked on the principle of "it didn't say I couldn't walk there so I am".
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| Deer running across the field |
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| Another local landmark - Halsham Water Tower |
I finally reached "Railway Cottages" and observed some "no public right of way" signs. Ooopsidaisy then. Oh well, never mind!
I turned right onto Crofts Lane for a final easy walk back to the car, and a good nosey in everyone's houses as I reached the village. A couple of nice properties for sale here. My punishment for being so nosey was that, just yards from my car, I got attacked by a freak hail storm which came from nowhere and vanished just as quickly. Weird!
Before heading off home I decided to drive the short drive up the road to coastal town of Withernsea. Like all good seaside towns, it was shut for winter! I had a short and bracing walk up the main street, along the prom and back to my car.
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| Brrrr! Waves in the late afternoon sunshine at Withernsea beach |
All in all, a lovely couple of hours out in the fresh air and probably a walk I will do again in the springtime.
Thanks for looking
