Spotlight on Louth

I don't know where the time has gone today. A bit of housework, a trip to town, a walk, and ages to upload a video to yootoob, then get all the photo's onto here. Yes, two of you guessed right, I was at Louth yesterday. An 85 mile round trip in the car. I almost ran out of petrol on the way back. The gauge was on red for ages, then the warning light came on. As it was country roads most of the way, there wasn't a petrol station in sight. I think I did the last few miles into Brigg on fumes, ha ha. 

St James's Church has the highest church spire in the UK. It is very difficult to get a good photo of the whole church because it is surrounded by other buildings. It stands quite high in the town and can be seen from miles around. Most of the photo's taken of it are from this street.  

It has a very impressive tower.

And I climbed the 199 steps to get up there. There was some wonderful views. It costs £1.50 to go up, and when they show you to the entrance at the bottom of the steps, they lock you in. The steps are too narrow to let people go up and down willy nilly, it is one way traffic. I went up on my own, as there was no one else waiting. When you come down you have to press the buzzer to alert someone to come and unlock the door and let you out.  

It was bitterly cold up there, the wind was howling, it was difficult to hold the camera steady.

I don't mind going up high and looking at the view, but I don't like looking straight down to the ground. I can't stand close to the edge. It's too scary.

After a few minutes I was ready to come down, it was far too cold to hang around. My fingers were frozen. Shut the door on your way down.

I took a few photo's of the inside, but have only added this one of the magnificent window. Although St James's is a church, it is almost big enough to be a cathedral.

A young lady came to practice on the organ, I was chuffed, this is the icing on the cake. A good opportunity to make a little video of the interior. I hope you l;ike it.

This is the best I could do to get a photo of the whole church, but even so, the bottom of it is lost amongst the rooftops.

While I was standing there I got chatting to a man who was walking his dog, as you do, ha ha. I usually have some treats in my pocket, but was disappointed to find I had forgotten to put some in, in my rush to get out of the house, so no treats for his dog. He told me he has a shop in town, and was on his dinner break. Most of the shops in Louth are independantly run by their owners. It is a very close knit community town where everyone supports their local shops. The man asked me where I was walking, and he was kind enough to suggest a nice scenic route for me to take. So I followed his directions to Westgate Fields and Hubbards Hills. Through the park there are wooden sculptures on the ground. Gigantic leaves cut out from huge chunks of wood and bolted together like a jigsaw puzzle.  

The path follows the River Lud for a while.

There are several small wooden bridges crossing it. There was a few people about, mainly dog walkers with children, as it's the school holidays.

I soon arrived in Raithby, which is not even a village, just a cluster of farms dotted about. Even so, they have a lovely church. The door was unlocked so I had a look inside.

When I came out I found a man unloading a wheelbarrow and some gardening tools out of his van. I thought he must be coming to do some tidying up. He asked me if I was the church warden. He looked a bit worried as he was tapping on his mobile phone. He told me that he had come to dig a hole so that some ashes could be buried, but he didn't know where it was supposed to go. He tapped again on his phone. Then he told me a tale of when he dug a grave in the wrong place at a cemetery. The body had to be dug up a month later and relocated to the right plot. I left him to it when he managed to get somone on the phone. The last I saw of him he was wandering around amongst the gravestones while getting instructions on where to dig. 

Down the road and through a gate into a field is where I went next. Are you going to let me through, little lamb.  

I hate upsetting sheep as I walk through their field, I feel like I shouldn't be there. But no matter how hard I try not to disturb them, they always run away. I want to take one of those black ones home with me.  

The next village was Tathwell, again not really a village, just a few houses, and some farms nearby. The small church sits high on a hill. I was ready for a bite to eat and was pleased that the porch was open so I could get some shelter from the wind, even though the main door was locked.

I haven't seen a thatched roof for ages, this one really suits the rest of the house. I love the way it comes right down low at the front and the upstairs windows are peeping out from underneath it.

I have a long trek back to Louth now over several fields. It was so windy and cold, I was ready to go back. So, this view is where I have come from at Tathwell,

And this is where I am going, over that hill. Brrrrrrrr as I pulled the hood over my ears. Head down and march on. My eyes were all teary and my nose was running like a tap, it was blooming cold.

At last, back in Louth. A quick look around and a few more pics. If you look at this window from the side, it bulges outwards. It looks as if it might collapse at any minute.

Oh, the divine chocolate in this window.

Excuse the reflections in the window. Pink and blue chocolate, doesn't it look lovely.

Olde Worlde pub, there are lots of these.

Do you know, I'm not sure what this building is, maybe I'll look it up later.

An old fashioned sweetie shop

Just as I was on my way back to the car, who should I bump into but the man who had recomended the walk to me. He had closed his shop and him and his wife and dog were off home. That was a coincidence. And as I was about to walk past their shop, I thought I would take a photo. So if you are in Louth, pop in to see Marcia and Gary, and tell them I sent you. Don't forget to ask for a discount  :o) They are at Eastgate, by the way.

I will have to go back to Louth at some point. They have loads of charity shops which I didn't have time to look round. And there are more walks in the area, but I'll go when it's a bit warmer. Only 8.33 miles this time, far too cold to do any more.
Toodle pip.