Sunday, 5th April 2020
What a gorgeous day it was today. And I was wracking my brains for a walk that
would avoid people, knowing that the sunshine would bring them out in their
droves.
Instead, I plumped for a walk up to the next village,
returning across the fields.
I decided to get the worst of the road walking / pavement
plodding out of the way first and broke it up a bit as I headed through Watsons Park:
… and then onto the road for about a mile or so:
I’ve never seen this road so quiet.
Passing the fire/ambulance station with it’s lovely cherry
tree in blossom:
I forgot about the hill at the traffic lights though! Kwooooorrr.
I was glad the lights were at red so I could have a breather 😉
I decided to cut through the Church. Another lovely building, and a bit more hill
to climb up:
The exit brings me out opposite Nuns Walk with its info
board high up on the wall:
A lovely leafy-lane walk followed before bursting out into
the paddocks:
Apparently seeing a piebald horse is good luck.
Through the paddocks and more leafy laneage:
What a cracker of a blossom tree.
The least interesting lane of the walk was this one which
crosses the Cranswick Foods access road:
At least it’s fairly short and I spotted some newly
installed alpacas/llamas:
….before turning onto a tiny dead-end lane to curve round
the back of the last building:
This path is notoriously squishy and badly maintained so I
was surprised to find it both dry and the hedgerows cut back, although some of
the fencing still needed attention.
I ended up on Middle Lane and gave way to two horse riders
out enjoying the sunshine. I was
surprised to see them riding on the road as neither were shod:
Yep, them pesky cooling towers again!
A little further along and Hedon Church came into view:
Plus I spotted an “old school” ditch crossing device – two planks
of wood. Though I didn’t need to cross
it, I just had to, for old time’s sake.
A look back at Preston Church:
Had a nice chat with this chap who was doing his bit for
social distancing:
At the end of the field there is a bench. So I sat.
In the sunshine. With some nice rural views (ie. facing away from the
cooling towers). I felt a knot of
anxiety that I never realised I was feeling disappear and a lovely feeling of peaceful
calm came over me.
After a short stretch across the next crop field I crossed
the old railtrack and on into the “cow field”.
This time I simply walked straight across it to the unofficial exit at
the other side:
…and I popped out onto the normally muddy track behind Elsie
Gate.
I decided to follow the track to Farrand Road to get a pic
of this sculpture/memorial (which I’ve been meaning to do for a while now):
It’s lit up on a night too and looks really lovely.
I was thrilled to discover that the official “you are now
entering Hedon” sign has been revamped:
It was looking a bit shabby and faded before Christmas.
Oh, here’s a peculiarity of the locality – white phone
boxes:
I went up the track behind Drapers Lane:
Parched and baked dry to the point there’s big cracks in the
mud. It’s hard to imagine the drain bank
had overtopped just a couple of months ago with all the rain and storms Whatever
They Were Called.
And more of the same along the unofficial side of the Havenside
path:
Eventually I returned to the main road and checked on the
chippy which is closed until further notice:
After noticing the doors on the first floor I decided I must
look into the building’s history (it’s a listed building). I don’t often look at the shop from this
angle.
Well, it were a reet nice mooch in’t sunshine it were.
Thanks for reading 😊