Considering it was January, I managed a full schedule of two walks per week clocking up 80 miles, my highest mileage for this month since I started logging my walks in 1990!

January 1st - New Year's Day Walk
A lovely day for the HDWC & LWC New Year's Day walk - about 4¾ miles starting and finishing at The Wrygarth, Great Hatfield where the twenty-one of us enjoyed an excellent 'after-walk' Carvery Lunch. Our route took us via Manor Farm and field paths to Whitedale, then back along the 'Hornsea Rail Trail' to the site of Sigglesthorne Station at Great Hatfield.

Friday 4th Jan
School holiday 'child-minding duties' meant this week's walk with Suzie was on Friday rather than the usual Thursday. A cold, grey, but dry day was quite good for walking but not so good for photography. Our route from Skidby Mill took us along the lane up to Rowley Manor. It was a muddy quagmire under the old H&B railway bridge, whilst tipper-trucks rumbled overhead - probably working on the Eppleworth flood-prevention scheme. After a lunch stop by the duck pond in Little Weighton we continued along Risby Lane, where sprouts were being harvested, and took a scenic detour around the fishing ponds at Folly Lake in Risby Park. From Risby we took the bridleway down Oldgate Lane into Skidby village, with red-nosed reindeers on the green, and back to Skidby Mill, about 9 miles in total. We then visited the Sails Cafe for cups of tea before driving home.

Sunday 6th Jan
There was no programmed walk for today, but it was decided at fairly short notice to repeat the walk along the sands from Fraisthorpe. Obviously the word got around, because nineteen turned up for this interesting 7½ mile walk on a fine, calm day - not bad for early January! After a coffee stop we wended our way round Bridlington Harbour and then headed out of town past the scenic delights of the industrial estate to the pretty little hamlet of Bessingby. Here we took a lunch break in the churchyard and the sun even made an appearance! From Bessingby we passed the dyke into which Ann had fallen on a previous visit, and headed back to the coast at Wilsthorpe, to return along the low cliffs to Fraisthorpe. Unfortunately the 'Cow Shed' café is closed through January so some of us called in at the New Inn back in Leven for drinks.

Thursday 10th Jan
A 7½ mile circular walk from Welton with Suzie via Elloughton, Brantingham and a section of the Yorkshire Wolds Way over Elloughton and Welton Wolds. Another overcast day, but dry and light winds meant ok conditions for walking. Our route passed the churches in Welton, Elloughton, and Brantingham - we were invited in for coffee and biscuits at Elloughton Church but declined the offer as it was 'too early' for us. Ornate 'shepherd's crook' boot-scrapers were observed on the approaches Brantingham - they obviously do not like muddy boots through their picturesque village! We returned along the 'high-level' route on the edge of Welton Wold above Welton Dale, noting the Highland/Belted Galloway cattle again here. We stopped of at Eliza's Coffee Shop on the way home where we joined by Caroline who still unable to walk with us because of the problems with her hip.

Sunday 13th Jan
There were twenty of us, including two newcomers, on today's walk around the perimeter of Beverley, taking in the towns three areas of 'Common' or 'Pasture' land - Westwood, Figham, and Swinemoor. The walk turned out to be nearer 11½ miles rather than the 9½ miles stated on the programme! On a dry but very windy day we headed north from Hull Bridge along the river bank before turning west past Arram Grange and cutting across the Molescroft part of Beverley onto Beverley Westwood. Here we found a sheltered hollow in Newbegin Pits for our lunch break. After lunch we continued across the Westwood then cut down through the Lincoln Way Estate to Long Lane and through the derelict Lake Minster Park to reach Figham Pastures. After crossing Beverley Beck by the lock-gates we rejoined the river bank overlooking Swinemoor for the final, very windy, stretch back to Hull Bridge.

Thursday 17th Jan
The weather forecast was cold but sunny, what I didn't expect was the strong wind and snow so early in the day. So after collecting some photos from Kilham me and Suzie continued to Rudston. Here there was an option of walks varying from 5 to 9 miles on the eastern fringe of the Wolds. But just after we had got kitted-out the sun went in, the sky turned dark, the wind picked up and horizontal snow swept across, turning the road white. The wind-chill dropped the temperature below zero. With no sign that things would improve soon I turned the car round and we headed back to Leven. After a coffee stop in Hutton Cranswick we arrived back in Leven about 11.45am. With blue skies and more shelter from the wind we decided to do a short walk without our packs. So we set off alongside the canal then took to country lanes to Heigholme, across fields and over the 'new' footbridge and back along the roadside to Leven - 4½miles in 1½hours.

Sunday 20th Jan
For the third Sunday in a row there were about twenty walkers on this 8½ mile walk! A cloudy day with temperature only a few degrees above freezing, but with only light winds it felt nowhere near as cold as a few days ago. From North Newbald our route followed the Yorkshire Wolds Way up Swin Dale to High Hunsley. From there we descended into the wooded Hunsley Dale for a lunch stop in the shelter of Hunsley Plantation. After lunch we rejoined the Wolds Way up Hunsley Dale which ends with a steep climb out of the woods onto open farmland. Once safely across the busy road we picked up the country lane for the long descent into South Newbald. Unfortunately the misty conditions obscured the views west across the Vale of York. We walked through the 'twin' Newbald villages past the impressive Parish Church back to our cars at the village hall. On the way home we called in at Liza's Coffee Shop at a very busy Ferguson Fawsitt Arms in Walkington, where they opened up the lounge bar to accommodate us!

Thursday 24th Jan
With icy conditions, I decided not to drive anywhere today. Suzie came through on the bus and we then walked back to Hornsea - not the usual route, but via Long Riston, Rise and Goxhill - a distance of nearly 11 miles! From Leven we walked alongside Monks Dike then along Carr Lane to visit Long Riston church. Continuing past Farnton Hill gallops we reached the little hamlet of Rise with its walled-garden and restored cottages. In Rise, a local villager pointed us in the right direction to 'Mucky Dick' - the track leading towards Great Hatfield. Fortunately for us 'Mucky Dick' was frozen so we didn't get too mucky! After a brief lunch stop at Sigglesthorne Station (Great Hatfield) we took to field paths to Goxhill, then on towards Wassand from where we turned towards Hornsea overlooking the Mere, where much clearance work of reeds and scrub was taking place. Back in Hornsea, chose The Victoria for a drink - what a mistake that was!

Sunday 27th Jan
Fifteen of us today for this 9 mile walk from Watton via Burnbutts and Kilnwick. A very windy, cold day with rain forecast for later. Fortunately we got round at a brisk pace and were settled in Cranswick Farm Shop tearoom before the rain came! It was quite a battle against the gale-force north-westerly across the exposed site of Cranswick airfield, but we fortunately found a sheltered corner for a coffee stop just off Burnbutts Lane. By the time we reached the hamlet of Bracken, the sun had been replaced by cloud but we found a sheltered spot near the lake at Cawkeld for our lunch break before continuing with a loop round Kilnwick and then alongside the beck back to Watton.

Thursday 31st Jan
A very cold but sunny day for a return visit to Watton and Kilnwick, which Suzie had missed last Sunday. Long delays due to road-works meant an even later start to the walk than intended. However I contrived a six mile walk, which in the main avoided duplicating last Sunday's route and including paths not walked previously. Nothing of the 12th Century Gilbertine Abbey or Priory remains today, other than the recently restored barn and the Prior's House, which dates from the 15th Century. It was a 'double monastery' with separate buildings for Nuns and Monks. A plan of the Abbey is displayed in the adjoining All Saints Church, where there is also a tombstone dating from 1297 of William of Malton, then Prior of Watton Abbey. Our route took us to Kilnwick where, after visiting the candle-lit St Mary's Church, we took a lunch break in the sunshine on picnic tables at the Park, the new children's playground. Our return revisited Cawkeld Lake then a new route via a rickety footbridge (which we discovered later had been closed by the ERYC) to rejoin the beck-side path back to Watton. We finished the walk just in time as freezing fog rolled in!