Weather: Cool but dry
Distance:
29 km (18 miles) Total Distance: 2871 miles
I had
planned this to be a walking weekend so when the opportunity arose to also do a
days work on the Grimsby site on Friday I jumped at it.
I
stayed on site till 5.30 and then went to stay with friends in Brigg.
I was
up early, creeping around so as not to wake my hosts and away at about 7
o’clock. I drove over the bridge, paying
the £2.40 toll and then onto the BP Chemicals plant at Salt End. I had arranged with an old friend to
be able to leave the car in the car park there, though the man on the gate did
not show much recognition at having received the message – he did however let
me use the loo!
Back up the BP drive for
200 yards and right down the road to Paul, around the outside of the factory
that looked pretty clean and then onto the sea wall. I met a couple with a grumpy Labrador that
growled at me and they were the only people I met all day – it was that sort of
walk! The only village I passed was
Paull with a mixture of nice old houses on the way in but some run down houses on
the front itself on the way-out. I was
now on the estuary proper and the noise of BP had disappeared.
I came
across two old small lighthouses up for sale.
I tried to imagine anyone buying them. They were too small to live in
so where would they go? The good thing
about the days walk was that the path was in pretty good order all the
way. Had there been long grass it would
have been tricky but fortunately it was mainly short. I had taken to forcing myself to take a break
every hour to give my legs a rest and so that I would drink also. It was bizarre but for the first two breaks I
found a chair and then a bench washed up in the driftwood!
There
was little of note for the rest of the walk. I recall passing a pallet floating
next to the shore with a large nest on it.
Not to be outdone another bird had built a nest inside a tire!. At Stone Creek I passed signs of life with people out tending their boats.
On the
exit to Stone Creek the was a sign that the path I was now on was not a public
footpath but could be shut any time at the discretion of the owners. It also said that there was no way to cut
inland including at Outstay Farm. A
couple of weeks before I had made a call to the secretary of the Hull Ramblers
to ask about the route. At first he had
been quite hostile because the Ramblers Association had given me his number
even though he was ex-directory. He
cooled to tell me that the route was OK and he assured me that even though the
owner of Outstay Farm was a strange man there was a route along the estuary
bank and over the river at Patrington Channel.
I had feared that it would be one of those pumping stations owned by the
local water company and defended to the hilt with barbed wire. As I neared it I feared the worst but was
very relieved to see there was a track over the river. I lay down in the sun on the far side
knowing that from now on it was straightforward to the finish and should not
involve an argument with an irate farmer!
It was
then just another hours walk to Skiffling along the estuary and then up into
the village again. I had purposely not
looked at a bus timetable because I knew if I did I would no doubt end up
rushing and not enjoying the walk. It so
happened I had just missed a bus and it was another hour to the next. It was too far to walk to Patrington where it
would have been easy to get a bus to Hull so I hitched but there was hardly any
traffic and what there was showed no sign of stopping. Eventually a bus came, taking me to Withensea
where I caught another to Salt End – journey of 1.5 hours in all! I collected the car and then went to the
nearby Safeway’s for petrol and a cup of coffee etc plus some more provisions
for tomorrow.
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