Monday, 14th September 2020
I'd forgotten what a lovely, serene, quiet, relaxing (well, relaxing mentally - there's a few ups and downs to wrestle with) walk this is.
Chores completed this morning. The sun is shining and I can't think of a better way to while away a few hours. I made some sarnies and chopped an apple up and decided to take a flask too. Some might scoff and think this is overkill for such a short walk but I really don't care. It's my walk, in the sunshine, and I want to enjoy it - even if it means 2 snack stops. Who cares?
I got parked up at Beverley Clump. Got my shoes and rucksack on. Set ViewRanger to record. And off I trotted. Well, strolled. The car's temperature wotsit was saying 25 degrees so I didn't want to overdo it.
Lovely leafy track leading away from my car:
Already, I was glad of the dappled shade!
Now, this doesn't look much, but this is my "benchmark" hill. Not so much heading down it but I return the same way and the first time I did it I stopped 4 times for a breather. Keep reading to see how I got on!
Lovely view of the route ahead though.
So down, down, down you head until the path splits left and right. I go right:
... and head further down to the elaborate stock gate. I chose to climb the stile next to it. Not a great idea if I'm honest as it's rickety and wobbly!
Over the stile and I take a right turn up the hill, absent-mindedly noticing that the "DO NOT ENTER - PRIVATE - DREWTON ESTATE" gate was open. I should have walked along it, just because.
It's a gentle uphill and you re-gain some of the height you lose as the trail meanders it's way along the valleys.
It was nice to get into leafy tracks-ville again:
With a hint of more sunshine to come as I round the corner.
The "Two Sentinels" are still here I see, one looking a little worse for wear - lightning strike by the looks of things:
I do wonder if these were once an entrance to a long-lost grand house as they really are out of place compared to the rest of the trees along here.
I reached my first "hill" challenge of the day quicker than expected. It didn't look like it had eroded into the flat nothingness I had hoped for and I was soon glad of the leafy cover as I tackled it. It starts off gently and ramps up the gradient as you climb out of the "headwall" of the valley. There's only about 20 metres of super-steep but it was enough to make me stop and uff and puff a bit. By the time I got to the top my skin was leaking!
Looking back at the tree lined valley I've just climbed out of:
It doesn't look much from here but, believe me, when you're used to flat, that is a shock to the system!
It didn't help that the leafy tree cover had vanished now when I needed it most and I was in the full glare of the sunshine. Luckily there was a lovely breeze at this modest height of 496ft.
I was a bit miffed that the Drewton Estate have properly blocked off the unofficial trespass across the field, past the trig point - a much safer route than heading to the busy B1230, with its traffic doing more than the national speed limit, that's for sure. But I had no other choice than to take my life into my own hands, thanking the cars that gave me a wide berth and Death Staring the ones that didn't. It was about now I wish I'd brought my "Gandalf's Staff" with me - it's metal tip might have accidentally caught the side of a few cars as they passed too close. Probably best I'd left it at home really.
A left turn onto the farm track and I still managed to get a little trespass in as I unintentionally just followed the track instead of heading through the woods like the map (had I been looking at it) tells you the RoW is.
I reached the bench. It's looking a bit worse for wear now, but still useable. I sat and had my sarnies and a coffee. Lovely just sitting in the dappled shade with a gentle breeze, staring at Eggborough and Drax power stations. Hmmm! I looked left instead to stare at the wind turbines somewhere across the Humber in Lincolnshire instead. Hmmm! No, but seriously, it is a lovely, peaceful spot to "just be".
I did have a little chuckle to myself as I heard two voices, a man and a woman, having a bit of a, err, disagreement about the path through the woods. Seems nobody uses that path judging by the "I've been scratched to death by brambles" and "are you sure that was the path" comments from her and "yes, the path's not been maintained" and "yes it's the official right of way" from him. Shortly followed by "these bloody brambles, will you get this one off me - I'm stuck" (from him). "No, it was your idea to go through the woods because that's where the path is so sort yourself out" (from her). Eventually they rounded the corner and saw me. They must have realised I heard them bickering but we chatted for a while about the weather and the walk, as you do. I resisted the urge to comment on their nasty looking bramble scratches!
Suitably fed and watered I continued on down another leafy lane, losing all the precious height I'd just gained!
The pic hasn't turned out too good but here's another out of place tree:
Another wonderful, old, gnarled thing which is much older than it's surrounding chums.
At the end of the lane you reach a gate with "warning - livestock" written on it. A quick glance round the field and I breathed a sigh of relief. Until I got into the field:
Great! The hillside to the left is pretty steep and I couldn't be bothered to climb up it from here. Had I seen them at first I'd have gone along the top and dropped down beyond them. As it turns out, it was too warm for them to even bother getting up and they just looked at me with big eyes as I strolled past, feigning an indifference I did not feel. Bonny things really. Don't know what breed they are.
I head past Diamond Cottage and down their access road to the weir. This is as near to a waterfall walk as I can get round here:
There were a few ducks on the water and they were ... quite chatty.. Evidently there were hundreds more ducks hidden in the undergrowth and they were all chatting. All at the same time. I don't know about you but I think ducks quacking sounds rather like a nasally laugh. Hearing that multiplied by all the hidden ducks got me smiling, and then chuckling away to myself. For all I know they could have been laughing at me!
I headed over the little bridge and took a sharp left which starts to head back uphill again. I cross another little bridge - it looks like a railway bridge but I don't think it is - and wander along the edge of a couple of fields and meadows. One particular field was absolutely full of sunflowers:
Oh how I wish I'd seen this field when they were in full bloom!
Now here's a random thing for you. At the beginning of this walk, I asked for "a sign" during this walk that I should let something that's bothering me go. A random, lone poppy. I saw no others on the walk and this one was so bright, it drew my attention from quite some distance away. I took it as "a sign".
Over another stile and I'm back to the bottom of my "benchmark" hill. I sit and have another snack on the sunny hillside and do a bit of navel gazing, wool gathering, contemplated the universe. Okay, I daydreamed a bit. The sun on my face, no traffic noise, birds chirruping away, the memory of those ducks laughing at me, the thing I must now let go of. I let it all drift through my head and blow away on the breeze.
I could put it off no longer. If I wanted to get back to my car I had to tackle it. My Benchmark Hill:
It doesn't look much really does it? A slow, steady climb, a false summit, then a final climb back to the gate. I did it all in one go and found it really rather easy. A far cry from the 4 stops I needed the first time I did this!
All in all, this remains my favourite local(ish) hilly uppy downy walk. It might not be a mega-yomp, it might not have the rock and gnarl of the mountains, but it makes me sweat and breathe heavy(!) and it never ceases to soothe my soul.
Thanks for reading 😊
