Reporting back in.

Just a quickie to let you know what I've been up to for the last three days. Here's a clue.....

and here's another......

On Monday I booked myself a bed at Woody's Top Youth Hostel for two nights, Tuesday morning I set off and went straight to the hostel to check it out so I knew exactly where it was. It's in an isolated rural location on top of a hill, with wonderful views of the Wolds. It's a few miles south of Louth in Lincolnshire, the nearest place being a small village called Ruckland. The hostel was opened in 1948 and was formerly a barn, the name being derived from 'Mr Wood's Top Barn'. For many years it was very basic, the water being carried up the steep hill in a wheeled cart, and the toilets were of the compost variety. It has recently undergone a complete refit, and now boasts very modern facilities.

The cost of my two night stay was £31. I shared a room with three other women on the first night, then one of them checked out so there was three of us in the room on the second night. We were all of a similar age, and had a lot to chat about. Indeed they even shared their bottle of wine with me which was a lovely gesture. There was a younger German couple staying who spoke excellent English so the conversations were very varied and interesting. The wardens were a middle age couple who volunteer for these duties several times a year. The YHA is a charity, so they rely on volunteers to man some of the smaller and quieter hostels. No meals are provided at Woody's Top, which suits me, because I always self cater, I even took my box of growing salad with me, ha ha. I had a nice surprise on the second night when I returned from a long walk, the German couple had cooked too much food for dinner, so they kindly shared their very tasty vegetable stew with me. This is why I like staying at hostels, everyone is so friendly.

After arriving at the hostel on Tuesday, I drove a few more miles to the town of Horncastle, and spent the afternoon exploring there. Wednesday was a walking day, I was determined to walk to Alford and easily achieved this. This morning I checked out of the hostel and drove back to Alford to look around because I didn't have time to see much yesterday. I'll be posting the first lot of photo's tomorrow, so maybe you will come back and have a look.
Toodle pip