Weather: Cold and fine
Distance:
30 km (18.6 miles) Total Distance: 2836 miles
The
first walk of the new millennium and what is turning into a traditional couple
of days walk when Margaret and the boys are over in Ireland. I dropped them off at the airport yesterday
morning and then chilled out watching Wales beat Italy in the first of the
Six-Nations Championship. I knew today’s
walk was a long one so there was no point in coming up yesterday just to do a
small bit.
I traveled up early leaving
home at 6.30am and started walking at 9.00am.
I parked the car near Grimsby dock train
station. The first mile was along the dual-carriageway looking at the new car
storage area in the docks. I called into
the Shell petrol station for a cappuccino coffee from the machine and walked
slowly while it cooled down. The first
hurdle of the day was a road and footpath closed sign that greeted me 100
meters further on. There were indeed
major works ongoing but I took to the adjacent railway line and squeezed around
them – I’m glad it was a quiet Sunday with no workmen around.
Access
to the sea wall was just a little further on.
The first thing that struck me was the large number of sea birds on the
mud flats. There was quite a
bit of activity to watch at the first couple of factories with coal and other
material being moved around. Walking past the
factory I spotted a Triangulation Pillar on the factory land that I had never
noticed before.
The
sea wall was in a good condition and it was easy walking all the way to
Immingham. Talking to a group out
walking their dogs my fears were confirmed that I had to cut inland at
Immingham to avoid the docks. I turned
left, through some woods and soon came out on the docks road and what was to be
three miles of walking beside busy roads carrying freight lorries. I hate to
think what it would have been like on a weekday. The saving grace was a little café I found
and called in to buy a bacon batch and cup of tea for £1.30 and took them
outside to eat. It had been a very
frosty start to the day and only now in the bright sunshine was the ice
starting to melt – it was a lovely day.
The
road took me between Immingham town and the dock without good views of either
so it was not pretty. Eventually after an hour I turned off the dual
carriageway and onto a minor road and then down to a Conoco factory. Walking straight through the site I came out
on the sea wall again and near some old lighthouses still used to warn estuary
traffic of the dangers of the river. I
passed some strange houses and factories in the afternoon – the first being a
house whose ground were strewn with old cars and a prospective buyer looking
around.
At
North Killingholm Haven was a collection of very old brick clad oil storage
vessels – I learnt later from a friend that these now had holes cut in the side of
them and were used a warehousing. The
dock itself was being done up but the contractors were not taking very good
care of the footpath through the area that was strewn with debris. Then I
passed what looked like an old brick works with an old chimney. I was pushing myself a bit since I did not
want to miss the bus 16.14.
At East
Halton skitter I walked through the first of the many timber yards I found on
this stretch of the river. At Goxhill
Haven I saw something that I felt helpless to do anything about. The first thing I saw was sheep and lambs
running around a farm outbuilding complex but strewn with abandoned cars etc. I
then clocked a house in a dilapidated condition and a young boy ~ 12 years old
clambering around the roof and a very old man, cloth cap and overcoat climbing
very slowly up an old wooden ladder helping the boy repair the roof. He was in no condition to go climbing a
ladder but was either very eccentric in nature or fiercely independent or very
poor.
Another
half-hour and I was going through another timber yard and into New
Holland. An examination of the timetable
in the small train station told me the bus stopped at the station but there was
no stop to indicate exactly where. I asked a man walking his dog but he did
not know. I walked up into the village a
bit found a stop but not the right timetable on it and then a Methodist church
with organ music sounding out. I wondered if anyone was in it. I walked back towards the station. I called into a club still open, asked again
but nobody knew but had a half a Guinness and stopped and watched the last ten
minutes of a Newcastle vs. Tranmere Rovers FA cup quarter final match.
I
waited for the bus that turned up exactly on time and was only a few yards off
where it was meant to stop. We had to
change buses in Immingham and then onto Grimsby, the whole journey taking me
around the villages of North Lincolnshire sometimes more than once I think! I
hopped off the bus not far from the car and finished what was a great day’s
walk.
I stayed the night with some good friends in Brigg.
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