Thursday 24 August 2017

Day: 223 8/4/00 Salt End to Skiffling

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. 



No comments:

Post a Comment