WI Walk: Thorpe Hall Snowdrops Walk

Saturday, 23rd February 2019

This was a bonus walk for the group.  Thorpe Hall near Rudston isn't normally open to the public but they open their doors for a couple of days to show off their fantastic crop of snowdrops.

Although the walk trail itself isn't very long it was lovely to get out in some countryside and away from traffic noise.  The first thing I noticed when we got out of the car was the smell of grass and earth!

Some piccies:

Carpet of snowdrops in the sunshine

Winter aconites closed in the shade

A blue thing!

Thorpe Hall

Summer house

Snowdrops, Aconites and Primroses

Random lone tree

Poor attempt at an arty-farty pic

On our way home we had a quick pitstop at the Lissett 158 Squadron War Memorial which has weathered nicely since the last time I was there:

Travel Time: 45 minutes from The Hall

Parking: Within Thorpe Hall's grounds (£5)

Distance: 1.44 miles!

Ascent: 100ft

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East Yorkshire: Kelsey Gardens from Burstwick (2.5 miles)

Sunday, 17th February 2019

We're having unseasonably warm weather for February - temperatures in the teens, plus sunny blue skies... and on a weekend too!

Did a nice walk yesterday from Yoga and walked back down Nun's Walk and over the fields and, because it was such a lovely day and hasn't rained in ages, I extended it and walked across the cow field, around the back of Haven Arms and along the drain bank.  I was ready for a cuppa and food after that!

Today was slightly less sunny and a bit more blustery so I thought I'd explore getting to Kelsey Gardens from Burstwick Village instead of the disused railway for a Sunday Bacon Sarnie and cuppa.  Nice walk.  Easy walk. Probably a mud-fest after rain but setting off from the village was a path I'd not explored before.

After getting parked up I headed off down Newbridge Road, a quiet country lane and soon after, turned right onto East Carr Lane (track).

East Carr Lane (track)

I followed this until the turn-off for Kelsey Gardens.

Going a little off-piste to avoid the access road to Kelsey Gardens

 I had a little mooch about to see if the path round North Lake had been opened up yet. It hasn't.  But it is a nice leafy woodland path that remains on the start of it.

Bit of Gorse in bloom on the old North Lake path

 I clambered about a bit to get my bearings before retracing my steps and heading to the butty shack.

Random patch of snowdrops

 I got a bacon sarnie and a cuppa at the shack and stared and daydreamed across the lake.  There was nothing going on today - sometimes you get kayak/canoe-ers or the model boat club using the lake, but not today.

Sneaky peek through the reeds

 After my sarnie and cuppa I sort of retraced my steps but followed the hay meadow's edges (discouraged due to irresponsible dog owners letting their dogs crap all over it and not picking up or picking up then chucking the poo bag into the long grass - morons).  I don't have a dog with me so I felt no guilt at walking this route.

Crab apples (thought it was the wrong season)

I saw a large patch of snowdrops through the bushes but couldn't get a clear piccy of them.

From there, I simply retraced my steps along the East Carr Lane (track) again.  Saw a couple of dodgy looking blokes with dogs, probably going rabbiting.

The lack of rain is making it's lack of presence felt in the field drains - I've never seen them so low apart from last summer when we had our heatwave.

Not much water in East Carr Drain

All in all, a nice moochabout to while away a couple of hours.

My achilles tendon seems to be aching a little bit yesterday and today and was a bit stiff when I got up this morning.  Hope it's nothing to do with these new shoes I've got which don't seem to have as much cushioning in the sole as I've got used to.  I miss my Meindls!

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WI Walk - Hornsea

Saturday, 2nd February 2019

Our first walk of 2019.  We've recently had some pretty harsh, cold weather and fantastic frosts and the south of the country has ground to a halt with decent dollops of snow.  What do we get? A light sprinkling of "white over" first thing in the morning which melted a couple of hours later.

Anyway, today I awoke to a covering of the white stuff and brilliant blue skies so I was looking forward to a lovely walk in wintry conditions.  By the time we met up, the snow had all but melted.  The sky was still a lovely blue though.

We car-shared and set off to Hornsea for a bad weather/easy underfoot walk. 

Along the Prom

Turbulent seas

Start/End of the Trans Pennine Trail

Info Board

Following the stream draining Hornsea Mere

On one of the houses near the Alexandra Pub

Memorial Garden

Parkland behind the Churches
(I never knew this was here!)

As if walking isn't exercise enough!

Add caption

This says "Enter Hall Garth with title free you'll find your name is wrought on me"
and beneath is each letter of the alphabet

Tide's in!

We ended our walk with a lovely cuppa and bun in the Floral Hall cafe which looks like it's been re-vamped and is really rather nice and cozy now.  Prices are reasonable too.

This is the first "proper" walk I've done since, probably our last WI Walk and my achilles tendon was noticeably aching.  Possibly because a lot of the walk was on pavements or possibly because I've not done any sort of walking for a month.  Food for thought.  Oh, and I also noticed I got quite short of breath for no real reason when trying to walk and hold a conversation.  I'm putting this down to losing any fitness I may have got towards the back end of last year and my race to achieve my Challenge365 Mile A Day For A Year.  I need to test this theory and make some lifestyle changes.

Travel Time: 30 minutes from The Hall

Parking: Roadside (free) at The Floral Hall, Hornsea

Distance: 3.9 miles

Ascent: 132ft

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