Saturday, 14 August 2010

Onward we march

What a surprise the weather turned out to be today. I left home to meet my fellow ramblers wearing trousers and sweatshirt, and it wasn't long into the walk before I was stripping off, and changing into shorts. From the Visitors Centre at the country park we headed through the fields to Barrow upon Humber. Sun and blue skies.

It's very flat around here, just fields of crops.

We marched on to New Holland on the side of the River Humber, this is the pier, you can just make out the Humber Bridge behind it.

New Holland is a working dockyard, the footpath goes straight through it and out the other side. No one is working today, it's all quiet.

These pictures bring back memories for me, although I didn't come to this particular dockyard in my lorry, I spent many hours loading up timber in docks like it.

A view of the pier from the other side.

By this time we were all getting a bit tired, and ready for a bite to eat. We carried on down the waters edge to Barrow Haven. I quite like this unusual weed.

Barrow Haven is a little dockyard with facilities to unload one boat at a time. The tide is out and I can't work out if this boat is waiting to unload, or if it has been unloaded and is waiting for the tide to come in so it can sail away. The name on the back of it looks a bit Russian to me, and there is a man painting the handrails.

Finally we got to the pub just down the road. Some of us sat outside and ate our sandwiches and some went in for a meal. I think Sarah the Ranger realised that we should have stopped for lunch before this point, it was almost three o clock and we were getting a bit tired after walking for over four hours. I checked the mileage when I got back, it was 10 miles to the pub, then another 2.63 back to the visitor centre.
I popped in the little Tesco store in Barton and got a few bargains. I also had a look in the Factory Shop next door, I was looking for a pair of shorts. Lo and behold, I found some exactly like the ones I had on, only in blue instead of black. Just what I want, they are baggy with a big pocket for the map, and reduced from £6 to £4. You can't really call them shorts as they are down to my knees, they are oh so comfy.
So, mission accomplished today :o) What about tomorrow? There is the National Skydiving Championships on not far away at Hibaldstow Airfield, so if the weather is fine I will go and have a look, and probably have a walkabout as well. Off to bed now, toodle pip.

5 comments:

  1. I am 65 but dont walk as far as you - the longest I have done is 8 miles at one go. Do you wear hiking boots and thick socks. Do you have any tips for walking so far - you sound like you had a great day and the corn(maize)looks like ours in the midwest although a bit greener. Love reading your blog -
    lizzie

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  2. Looks like you had a good day, then.

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  3. What a great walk, and the weather looked good, such interesting places you go to. I have always been fascinated by docks and harbours since I was a kid, you can't even get close to the wharves in our port, in the old days you could walk down on the wharves, those days are sadly long gone.

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  4. A very interesting walk. I like that you are allowed to go right through the dock yard.

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  5. It looks as if the ship is from Saint Petersburg, but I'm not able to translate the name.

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