Sunday, 4th April 2021
Seeing as it was such a lovely day I decided to join two walks together to make a longer route.
It's Bloobie Season so I set off to Ellerby where there are massive swathes of them in the woodland(s).
I got parked up at my secret parking spot and set off:
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| Wahoooooo! It's not a railway track! |
There are some very modest gentle inclines as the countryside rolls underfoot. I was pleased to realise that I never noticed them. Even "the hill" for which I'd purposely chosen to do this route anti-clockwise so I'd go up it rather than down it seemed to have been flattened.
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| "The Hill" I'm sure it used to be steeper than this! |
To see the Blackthorn in full blossom was lovely and I kept spotting lots of spring flowers on the field edges and in the little pockets of woodland I passed by:
BLOOOOOOBIES.......
Ohhh, how lovely to see. I think I may be juuuuust a little too early as the scent wasn't there, but still, to see them, oh it gladdens the eyeballs.
My original plan was to sit in the woodland and have my snack and cuppa and just listen to the birdsong. But, my legs didn't feel "done" yet and I wasn't ready for a rest. I did just sit a while and listen to the birdsong as they forgot I was there and returned to normal. It was lovely.
Heading away from the woodland had me following field edges until I reached the "massive field" where the path runs straight across it. It had been rough-ploughed and the RoW hasn't yet been reinstated so I followed the wide field edge trod around it. Clearly used by horses, boots and paws. A much nicer route so I'm sacking off the field crossing in favour of this route in future.
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| Blackthorn blossom |
The path eventually pops you out opposite the Blue Bell Inn and it was decision time. Do I turn left and return to my car or do I turn right and do another 4 miles? I had a jiggle of my legs to see how they were feeling....and turned right.
Past the cute little Church and on through the other side of the village.
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| Daffies on the verge-side |
I remembered there was a bench further along a field path and I planned to sit there and have my snack and cuppa. It was occupied by an absolutely stunning display of funeral flowers. I guess the chap liked to sit on the bench and admire the views.
I continued on and reached the rail track. Which goes on, and on, and on, crossing a small road before continuing on, and on, and on. I did eventually find a bench and spotted a sneaky path through a hedge which begged for a little exploration. Glad I did as I found a woodland with some chopped up tree trunks which literally said "have your cuppa here" to me. So I did.
Then returned to the endless rail track. Crossed the main A165 and plodded on, this bit being even more boring as it's been tarmacked. I decided if I do this extended route again, I would park in the village and get this bit out of the way first. Ye gods, it's boring.
Eventually I turned off it and headed up The Mudbath From Hell - as I'd decided to call it the last time I walked here in sideways sleet and flooded fields. Today though, it was dusty, sun-baked clay. The fly tipping is still there which helped me walk a bit faster so I couldn't see it anymore.
All that was left was to re-cross the main road and plod up Crab Tree Lane and back to my car. My hip and tendon was giving me a bit of gyp. I think because of the endless flat, hard, compacted, repetitive nature of the latter part of my walk and also possibly because this was the first time I'd put my proper rucksack on since last year! It was probably a bit overkill for my pot of fruit, rice crispy bar and flask, but I need to get used to wearing it again and I'd weighted it with a couple of litres of water too. We'll see how I feel tomorrow.
To brighten up the monotony of the road I spotted loads of primroses in the verge:
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| Primroses - lovely splash of colour on the verge |
All said and done though, it was a gorgeous day, and the first part of the walk was a delight. It was lovely just to be out in the fresh air - I even enjoyed the muck-spreading smells! But, like I say, if I do this extended walk again, I'll start in the village and get the boring railtrack and road out of the way first.
I need to tweak some settings on ViewRanger on my new phone as it kept going to sleep and stopped tracking my walk every time the screen switched off. Annoying. I suspect my mileage was nearer 8.5 miles.
Thanks for reading 😊