Final walk of the year

Thursday, 31st December 2020

Despite reaching my target miles for the year, it was too much of a lovely day to waste away at work so I finished early and enjoyed a lovely, crisp, crunchy, frosty walk in the sunshine.  

I decided on a scenic walk to the shops before it got dark.

Only a couple of pics but what a lovely way to round off this weird old year.

Next year, I'll start a "same view, different day" post to see how the view changes throughout the seasons/weather/year for the local walks I do regularly, lockdown or not.

EDIT:  Changed my mind.  Going for a monthly summary of my local walks instead.

That's me signing out of 2020 - thanks for looking 😊

East Yorkshire: Paull Circuit again (3.5 miles)

 Sunday, 27th December 2020

Truly bored of covid / lockdown / tiers now.  How I'm craving some wild, woolly, remoteness.  The nearest I can get to that locally is this.  It still remains my favourite local walk but I'm in danger of over-doing it and getting bored of it.

Seeing as I've done this walk many, many times this will most likely be the last time I write about it.  I mean, just how many pictures of the same thing do folks need to see?!

So these pics, to round off my challenge, are a bit different.  I went "mud-bagging" instead.

Not off to a good start on the health-and-safety'd-to-death refurbed sea defences:

It's improving with a couple of nice, big puddles as I head "inland":

After plodding down the road, I turn off onto the nature reserve car park.  At least the path out of there and up onto the embankment looks promising:

HuuuUUUUUuuuugh puddle.  Only kidding, it's the small nature reserve pond:

Hmmm, I have to confess a level of disappointment at the amount of mud so far, although this isn't too bad - Squelch Factor 4 I think:

Up onto the embankment and I come across this sign.  It's a new sign and I'm pretty sure nobody will take any notice of it as the "ramp" is waaaaay off in the distance and the car park is to my right.  It's also the least muddy, slippery bit of the whole walk.  Epic Fail Paull Parish Council:

Now, here's some proper mud.  Some perma-mud.  The tidal mudflats of the Humber.  I don't think it counts really:

A disappointing Squelch Factor of 3 for this I think:

Getting back onto the engineered path and the best I could find was a couple of puddles:

Now this. THIS.  This is worthy of a Squelch Factor 7.  It's wide, it's deep and it's slippery.  Cracking bit of mud, this:

Through the woodland now which reveals a churned up engineered path:

Empty container ship on the Humber (which is just one big mudbath at low tide):

As always, this is a lovely little walk with a bit of all sorts in it.  It's getting more and more popular though, even the secret off-piste bits that I do.  Of course, it's nice to see so many people getting out in the fresh air but please, can you all stay at home when I want to walk here.

So there you have it.  I've completed my challenge with days to spare.  That's a first for me!

Thanks for reading 😊

East Yorkshire: Kelsey Gardens (2.6 miles)

 Sunday, 6th December 2020

With the dark nights (who invented that saying? night are, by definition, dark!) now upon us during the week, I took the opportunity for a late afternoon stroll in the sunshine.

After the past couple of days' heavy rain, I expected it to be wet and muddy.  And I wasn't disappointed.

As this can be a "welly-bobs" kind of walk I thought I'd try out gaiters with my walking shoes to see whether or not the idea was a pointless waste of time.

It's not the most exciting of walks but it's a pleasant way to while away an hour or so.

Some pics:

Leafless trees - winter has already arrived

Keyingham Drain looking very full after the recent rain

Nice, wide grassy track

Not so nice, wide grassy track!

View towards Keyingham from "the hill"

Sunset at Kelsey Gardens

Some different "social distancing" notices:

...though I'm pretty sure a low-loader is longer than 2 metres!

Very large puddle!

And so, back to the car

I chose the best part of the day to get out for an hour I think, and, despite it only being a short walk, I really enjoyed it.

The gaiters and shoes thing?  Hmm, okay for this sort of walk where ending up with mud halfway up your legs is the main concern but I really do need to put some thought into getting some boots with an ankle cuff that doesn't aggravate my achilles tendon... or some different gaiters.

Thanks for reading 😊

North Yorkshire - Richmond (6.6 miles)

 Wednesday, 4th November 2020

I booked today off on annual leave for a pre-lockdown walk.  What absolutely glorious weather!

I got parked up on the roadside near the tennis courts at Hurgill as the couple of little parking areas were full.

A quick peek at the view, looking back over Richmond from West Field:

Looking back down the lane (bridleway):

The road, turned into a lane, which turned into a a rutted, cobbled track

:

...before finally entering Whitecliffe Wood:

Lovely.  There were squirrels and loads of goldfinch in here all foraging amongst the leaf-litter.

Once out of the woods I bounced along a grassy trod, with Whitcliffe Scar becoming more and more prominent:

Quick look down the other way to the River Swale:

"Down there" was my return route and, with hindsight, I should have done this walk the other way round to make the most of the sunshine which had been glinting off the river earlier.

Whitcliffe Scar looking very noticeable now:

I may return another day to explore the paths higher up the scar and maybe go looking for the fort.

So far, the walk had been very easy, with no steep gradients and no scary drops.  A quick look back at my route.  Apparently I'm on the Coast to Coast route:

Another look down to the river with the autumnal trees basking in the sunshine:

Arty-farty pic:

Curious building built into the walls:

After a bit of a navigational mis-judgement and the local knowledge of a very kind lady who appeared at just the right time and pointed me in the right direction, I headed steeply downhill.

A bit of scrumpying, it had to be done:

And, if anyone knows the owners of High Applegarth Farm, please let them know their apple was the most delicious one I've ever scrumped!

Eventually I reached the valley floor and, what turned out to be a very short walk along the Swale:

Most of the path next to the river had been washed away and marker posts were diverting you away from the washed away river banks.  So I took a pic of the sunshine on the trees seeing as I couldn't get near the river:

Apart from to get this pic:

Eventually the not really very riverside path nudged me back into the woodland again:

This seemed to be an oak and beech woodland and the colours were spectacular:

I really did pick the right time of year to do this walk!

Almost out of the woodland now and I came across a little memorial.  It was for a lady, from her dogs:

There followed a less than interesting bit of farm track walking, hemmed in between high hedges, before spitting me out onto the main road.  Luckily I only needed to cross the road to get back into some woodland, and another short stretch along the Swale:

From there, I popped out in a static caravan/holiday home park and may have sneaked through a gap in the wall and onto the main road again.  But, shhhh, don't tell.

Plodging on up the road was a shock to the system with all the traffic, but I did spot this quirky curiosity:

From here, it was a sharp left turn at the butchers and back to the car, with a short detour into West Field (a minature Beverley Westwood, with steep bits) to sit on a bench and have my cuppa that I'd not drunk.  I missed the best of the sunset but, not to worry, a nice sit with a cuppa and biscuit and a lovely view was just the ticket before my drive home.

This would be a fantastic snowy winter walk too.

A lovely pre-lockdown walk to tide me over for a while.  

Thanks for reading.