Come for a walk with me

Good morning world. The weekend is here again, my goodness the weeks are zipping by so fast now, I can't keep up. The weather forecast for yesterday was good so I went for a ramble, get the boots on and get out there. The forecast for today is not so good, so best stay at home and do local stuff.

Right, where did I go? I didn't want to drive too far. I printed a map off from this site

http://www.maptasm.com/

Note :- I always post my links in full as I think a shortened version can be easily missed.

If you use maptasm it will always open in the Greater London view. I always zoom out a couple of times, then grab and move the page to the part of the country I want, then zoom in to whatever scale I need. A tip for printing, always print in landscape, then you have a sheet which is exactly what you see on the screen.

Anyway, the first two pics are a clue as to where I went. The home of the world famous Red Arrows. Scampton is a few miles north of Lincoln. They weren't out today so you will have to make do with this imaginary display, on the roof of the bus shelter in the village. Here is the web site of RAF Scampton, where they are based.

http://raf.mod.uk/rafscampton/

The Dambusters Inn in the High Street has a heritage centre full of RAF and World War11 memorabilia.  Operation Chastise, the air raid on the German Dams, was formulated at the nearby RAF station. The pub wasn't open so I couldn't look inside. 

I set off across the fields to North Carlton. As I was walking through the churchyard there, I noticed my reflection in the windows of the farmhouse next door. Strange that they had put mirrored glass in the windows, I guess to stop prying eyes peering into their living room. A good photo opportunity I thought.

Across some more fields, most of this area is agricultural, with gentle rolling hills, and I arrived at the church in South Carlton. Beautiful blue sky as you can see.

Around the back of the church was a surprise, this extra bit tagged onto the side. I think the hidden entrance looks every bit as good as the front door. It was time to park my bum on the grass and have a bite to eat. No bench to sit on, but it doesn't matter, I don't mind sitting amongst the gravestones. The view was lovely across the fields, so peacefull and quiet.  

Onward I went, over a couple of dykes, and came across this willow plantation. It was all planted up neatly in rows, I guess so they could get the machines through it to harvest it. There is some interesting information on this site

http://www.nps.ie/grow-willow-page.html

Eventually I reached the edge of Odder village, and turned left along an old road which used to be the main A57, before they built the bypass. I arrived at Burton Waters. I have often seen this place as I have driven by, now I have a chance to look around, or so I thought. There are several lakes here, lots and lots of boats, residential housing, log cabins, shops and entertainment.

It looks idylic. Relaxing in the sun, a perfect holiday location.... 

and a perfect place to live. A house on the waters edge with your own mooring. Jump in the boat any time you like.

How the other half live eh! There's some expensive kit here.

I remember reading up about this place a few years ago, thinking it might be a nice place to retire to, but when I looked at the prices, I could maybe afford a shed from the proceeds of the sale of my house. After seeing it in the flesh I'm not sure I would want to live here anway.

I had a chat with the security man because I wanted to get closer to the houses to see exactly what you got for your money. He was a friendly sort of guy, but he couldn't let me through the big wrought iron gates to walk around inside. There are signs everywhere saying Residents Only, and warning of 24 hour security operations, you can see the cameras peering down at you. Cars were arriving, they had to pass through gates which only opened when you punched in the correct security code. I don't think I want to live in this prison after all.  

I crossed over the A57 road, and headed for Burton by Lincoln, a very pretty village. Here is St Vincents Church. It sits high up on a hillside.

Through the village and out the other side, I took a footpath to the left through this field. What a wonderful day to enjoy the countryside. Just me and the sheep.

Passing through to the next field, I had to step over an electrified fence, thankfully it wasn't too high. It was there to keep these sheep enclosed. They stopped munching the grass as I entered, and turned to look at me. The next thing they all panicked and made a dash for the other end of the field. I single handedly managed to round them all up. Sheep dog, who needs a sheep dog, ha ha.

I felt a bit guilty about disturbing their Friday afternoon teatime nosh and natter, but what can you do, I needed to walk straight through them to get to the other side. I kept telling them not to worry, I was just passing through, but the daft beggars took no notice. Sorry sheepies :o)  

I got back to the car at Scampton at 6.30pm, after covering 14.5 miles. It was good to get my legs working, and getting a taste of what's to come with the map reading and reminding myself of the distances I need to cover on the big walk.

A quick pop into Morrisons as I was passing to check the reduced. Lots of meaty ready meals, yuk, no thanks. I'll just take three packs of posh cheese at 39p each, and some bananas.

Once again, thanks to the fantastic comments over the last couple of days. Lots of new people visiting, welcome. Some of your stories are so inspirational, please take a few minutes to read them. I'm just off out to check the churchyard for rubbish. No doubt there will be some. Toodle pip.