The rights-of-way project, part one

The part about walking that I like the least is the driving. 

So I've begun a project to walk the public rights of way within walking distance of my house. This will not take long; there aren't many. This may be related to the fact that the land is reclaimed, or drained marshland so doesn't have a network of ancient established paths that you find everywhere else.

I had to walk a 10-mile circular route to be able to reach these first two paths. They're both short stretches but in both cases it was very pleasant to get off the road.

First I want to mention Lade Bank Pumping Station. It has a distinctive chimney which you can see for miles because it's a very flat area. I've driven past a number of times but this is the first time I've been past on foot and stopped to have a good gander. 

You can feel the history. It turns out that the first pumping station was built here in 1867, replaced on the original base in 1936 and is still helping to keep this land drained and my home dry today. I've just enjoyed Ben's video about it.

The first public right of way for today is very short, around a third of a mile, and is a dead end. But I found it well worth the walk to reach it and a very enjoyable walk both ways. 

It was a very pleasant place to park my butt and have a little picnic away from the ever-present heavy vehicles on the local roads.

The second is longer at two thirds of a mile and this time it usefully joins two roads and so formed part of my circular walk. 

It's marked Stoodale Drove on the map. No, I didn't know what a drove is either. Apparently it's "a route for droving livestock on foot from one place to another, such as to market or between summer and winter pasture".

Half of it is lined by poplars on an adjacent property and half looks like it's used by farm vehicles to access the fields. Again, very pleasant walking.

I've called these 'rights of way' but you can see that Ordnance Survey has marked them with green spots, meaning "Other route with public access. For rights and restrictions contact the local authority" which I will try to do. 

Neither of these were signposted at all, making me a little uneasy. I couldn't help picturing a red-faced angry farmer with a gun coming out of a farmhouse to challenge me. At this point don't take my word for it that these are open to the public. If the footpaths officer at LCC confirms or denies, then I'll post an update here.

Viking Way: Bardney/Stainfield to Fiskerton

 We've been making progress with our Viking Way walk in legs of 5-8 miles at a time with transport at each end so that we can walk more of the trail each time. 

I haven't been blogging every walk because I post the information and pictures on UK-Walks. 

But this time I have quite a few extra pictures of a very pleasant and surprising day. 

The surprise was Barlings Abbey. We'd noticed quite a few ruined abbeys in this small area but there's usually not very much to see; some mounds and an information board. As you approach Barlings Abbey, though, you can see quite a chunk of the old wall, possibly dating back to 1154.

Our walk was on 30 August. That wonderful time when apples and blackberries are ripe for the picking. Things are still very green and the weather is warm but not too hot.

Shadow of Juicetrump

 On a recent Viking Way walk we spotted this information board which shows a circular walk close to the delightfully-named Juicetrump Hill. 

This map shows the route and may be enough to navigate the walk, particularly on the Viking Way section. I've made a GPX file anyway, which will load into any mapping / navigation app on your device. The starting point is given here as postcode LN9 6LJ / grid ref TF291 756.  I've used the Blue Bell pub as the start / end point in the GPX.

The walk is circular, ie starting and finishing at the same spot. Part of it is the Viking Way, a walk that passes through some of Lincolnshire's most spectacular countryside. The return leg has a couple of reasonably steep climbs, but some beautiful views are the reward.

It's currently mid-winter and it has been wet and so much of the walk was very muddy. This made the walking difficult, particularly on the slopes.  

Viking Way part 2: Ludford to Donington

A previous circular walk had included some miles of the Lindsey Trail and also some Viking Way. I have to be honest, the Viking Way is the more spectacular of the two. The council have taken care to ensure that the LT is accessible but this means that it sticks to surfaced paths and roads. This doesn't make for the most interesting walking or spectacular views. 

On 2 September we opted to continue following the Viking Way for these reasons. Previously we'd walked a section from Tealby to Walesby. In order to continue South, we drew a seven-mile route from Ludford Magna to Donington on Bain. 

In the interests of covering more miles of the Viking Way itself, we opted for a linear walk. this is more difficult if you're by yourself (unless you want to do twice the distance - one way and then back) but with two people and two cars it's not too difficult to arrange.

The details of the route are on this page. Below are more photographs of some of the best countryside that Lincolnshire has to offer. Even on a dull day, the views don't disappoint. 

Lindsey Trail part 2 - Market Rasen, Willingham Woods

On Weds 14 July I continued my walk of the Lindsey Trail, picking up where I'd left the path last time.

The big surprise of the day was the amazing facilities on Willingham Road for Willingham Woods. There's a proper brick cafe there, picnic benches, WC, loads of parking and information boards. 

I wish it were possible to find these things at the start/finish of every walk!

This part of the Lindsey Trail does go through some woodland and once again is accessible. 

Then a chunk of it is on road. Not my favourite kind of walking. Sadly we're a long way from the Viking Trail this time, so in order to form a circular walk it was necessary to find some suitable footpaths to complete the circle back to the car park. Willingham Lane fits the bill, it's a nice farm track, picturesque and (mostly) easy walking.

The route I devised is published here on UK-Walks.info. There you'll find an interactive map and GPX file which works in various mapping and navigation apps.

Lindsey Trail, part one. Circular walk including part of Viking Way

The time feels right to revive this blog. I've moved to a new area and have been doing a lot of walking; exploring my new area and revisiting some older routes.

I now live close to the Lincolnshire Wolds whose beauty is a well-kept secret. South Lincolnshire is flat and fairly featureless but the Wolds are an area of outstanding natural beauty. I happened to see some information about the Lindsey Trail and decided to investigate. It's a long-distance trail, 69 miles altogether. Quite a challenge to do in one go, but perhaps good for breaking down into weekly walks and devising some circular routes.

The council decided to make the Lindsey Trail accessible, which is good news for those with mobility issues but it does mean that a great deal of it is on road. Off-road, the forest tracks are surfaced and well-maintained which makes for very pleasant walking and easy navigation.  I decided to start with the northernmost part of the trail, starting at Walesby, heading for Market Rasen and then circling back.

The details of the actual route are here on the uk-walks website.  After walking 4 or 5 miles of the Lindsey Trail, this circular route heads back towards Tealby, picking up the Viking Way. I have seen another part of the Viking Way before while walking at Rutland Water. 

This part of this circular walk is not accessible in the same way as the Lindsey Trail. It uses regular public rights of way, fields and stiles etc. 

I was not expecting the stunning views. I felt that I could have been in the Peak District. 

This being Lincolnshire, though, it wasn't a surprise to meet some Lincolnshire Longwool sheep. 

And a field of deer. 

The 8.5m route I devised this week is published here. You can see the route against an interactive OSM map and download the GPX file which will open in any mapping / navigation app including OsmAnd and OSMaps. The map used is Explorer 282 which, if you buy the paper version, now includes the offline mobile download too for use in the OSMaps app.

A sad day

As I watched this JCB digging up this field with a very heavy heart, a lady at the bus stop asked me "have they started building the new shop?"

I told her that an application was in for hundreds of houses, a school, a shop and a health centre. But so far the health centre was the only thing that had permission, so I assumed that's what they had started to build.

"Ah. I'd heard they were building a shop", she said hopefully.

She wasn't an elderly lady. We were less than 100 yards from a corner shop and not terribly far from the town centre. But the fact that her view is about to be ruined, what used to be a small friendly town is to have hundreds more households-worth of people parachuted in (this is one of many developments being built onto the edge of the town), more green fields are being concreted over and more hedges dug up, all seemed to matter not a jot compared to the convenience of a shorter walk to get her fags.

I despair. And I don't want to live any longer in the rapidly-growing Ashby de la Zouch.