A couple of Club walks this month plus one local walk. Caroline is not walking due to on-going treatment for her back & hip problems.

Sun 3rd Oct.
For October's short walk, our leader Carron had arranged parking (and tea and cakes afterwards) at the small Sunk Island Garden Centre near Ottringham in South Holderness. Sunk Island is an area of former marshland, drained to create a vast area of flat arable farmland, so there would be no hills on this walk! Fourteen walkers (and three dogs) met up on a sunny but windy Sunday morning, and at 10.30 we set off alongside the bank of Ottringham drain for the village itself, where we passed St Wilfred's Church to arrive at the main A1033 Withernsea road. We then had to walk the pavement of this busy road for about a mile towards Keyingham before turning off onto Dam Lane. Here we took a drinks stop before heading south along this lane into the sun and wind. For a lane that doesn't appear to go anywhere there was quite a bit of traffic meaning we had to step off the tarmac onto the verge a few times. Along the lane we passed the one item of interest on the walk - the Ottringham VOR (VHF Omni-directional Range) Beacon which controls the flight-paths of commercial aircraft flying overhead. We followed Dam Lane for a *** long way to Far Marsh Farm (home of Yorkshire Dairy Goats) where we turned off to follow a bridleway to a bridge over Ottringham drain and our lunch stop. After lunch it was just a matter following the drain back to the Garden Centre to complete a 7 mile walk in part of the county that I hadn't previously explored.

Sun 10th Oct.
Today I was down to lead the Club walk so I was joined by five Walking Club members at Cot Nab, highest point on the Wolds at 800ft above sea level, for this 8 mile walk on the edge of the Wolds. Cot Nab was the site of a WW2 air crash involving a Halifax bomber which just failed to clear the 800ft, hitting a milk lorry that unfortunately was passing along York Road at the time. On a sunny and breezy morning we set off along a minor road (on the line of a Roman Road) and field paths, after shooing cattle that were obstructing the gate. We crossed the main road at Wayrham and headed down the dale into the dark shade of conifer woodland. Into the brightness again at Bradeham Dale where we watched a flock of sheep head in single file up the hillside. We took a drink stop by the dry dew pond near the Artwork in Thixen Dale. Buzzards circled overhead. We were then faced with a steady climb up Worm Dale onto Painsthorpe Wold then down the road on the other side. We diverted to a spot overlooking Painsthorpe Dale for our lunch stop. No sooner had we left the road when a steady stream of 'classic' cars on a rally headed up the hill. From 1930s Austin Sevens, 1950s Wolesleys, to 1960s MG and Triumph sports cars. After lunch we continued down the road but at the hamlet of Painsthorpe diverted left onto a track which is a permissive path provided by Lord Halifax Estates of nearby Garrowby Hall. This conveniently links to an area of access land in South Wold Dale. Alas by now the sun and blue skies had been obscured by a veil of cloud. The permissive path leads down to a footbridge over Kirby Beck. Here we turned left and picked our way towards the pond, which is fed by springs issuing from the hillsides and is the source of Kirby Beck. From there we followed an over grown track which curved up the hillside and along the top by South Wold Plantation. Here on Megdale Brow there are great views north over Kirby Underdale to the Vale of York. We could just make out the Kilburn White Horse near Sutton Bank, about 25 miles away. With no more hills we followed a track and field edge paths over Garrowby Wold to cross the busy A166 back to our cars in the lay-by near Cot Nab Farm to complete an enjoyable but quite strenuous 8 mile walk.

Sun 24th Oct.
My plan was to drive to Huggate to do a short walk on the Yorkshire Wolds and possibly meet up with Caroline at Rachel's Tearoom after. Light rain was forecast for later, but when I arrived tin Huggate it was already raining in earnest. I sat in the car and waited, but with low dense cloud it didn't look like easing off any time soon, so with that I came home. I messaged Caroline that I was heading home - she was in Beverley and suggested we meet somewhere for tea/coffee at around 11am. The rain eventually caught up about midday.

Monday 25th Oct
A much better day, sunny with a brisk wind, so with nothing on the calendar, I decided to walk from home alongside the disused canal to the River Hull then to Hull Bridge and Tickton from where I would catch a bus home. Leven Canal was built in 1805 to connect the village with the River Hull (at Leven Lock) and so to Beverley and Hull itself. It was last used in 1935 and is effectively now a 3 mile long narrow pond, a haven for wildlife and anglers. A footpath follows the north side of the canal all the way to the River Hull, whilst sections of the opposite bank are the preserve of anglers. To the south the otherwise flat landscape is now dominated by the 12 wind turbines at Hall Farm near Routh. As I headed alongside the canal I caught glimpses of the arm of a working excavator ahead. I wondered if my walk might come to a premature early finish. From the top of the steps over the pipeline at the site of Far Fox Aqueduct (where the canal has been filled in) I saw the work was taking place on the adjacent Holderness Drain and the right-of-way over the footbridge was open. It would seem a new wider bridge is being constructed over the drain. I continued unhindered by the works past Waterloo Bridge which leads to the abandoned Waterloo Farm, now surrounded by wind turbines. The low-lying farmland by the canal at Leven Carrs has been returned to nature creating a wetland habitat which attracts a variety water birds and waders. From here a large bird of prey took to the air - not a buzzard, not a red kite - I'm convinced it was a Marsh Harrier as these birds have been sighted regularly at nearby Top Hill Low Nature Reserve and Hornsea Mere. At last after about 3 miles I passed the site of Leven Lock and climbed the bank up to the River Hull. Back in the 18th Century the River Hull was confined within banks and the surrounding flood plain was drained to create fertile farmland. The River Hull is generally higher than the surrounding land, much like the fens of East Anglia. I now turned south to walk along the river bank into the brisk wind - and cloud had moved in obscuring the pleasant sunshine. The footpath follows the river round a loop to the west, but I continued straight ahead past a lake, presumably a former sand and gravel quarry, which borders Pulfin Bog Nature Reserve. This lake attracts a variety of wildfowl - swans, ducks, & geese etc, and there are always a few cormorants in residence which sit on some posts drying their feathers. t's easy walking along the river bank with views over surrounding farmland and glimpses of the towers of Beverley Minster about two miles away. Soon the noise of traffic on the busy A1035 at Hull Bridge intrudes on the peaceful scene. Hull Bridge is NOT the Humber Bridge (to which Google takes you), it is a small settlement within Tickton Parish which grew up around the bridge over the River Hull. It was originally a high arched bridge, replaced by a rolling opening bridge to allow shipping to pass. Finally a new concrete high-level bridge was built in 1976 about 200yds upstream from the original, linked to the Tickton Bypass on what is now the A1035 road. The old bridge was replaced by a footpath/cycleway bridge. At Hull Bridge I joined the old road by the Crown & Anchor Inn and walked into Tickton village to await the next bus to take me back to Leven in time for lunch at 1 o'clock.

Links to Photos of these walks can be found at the top of this page or on the Photo Albums page. Click on this link: Photo Albums