Oh we do like to be beside ourselves at the seaside

To Saltfleet on Sunday, for another joint amble with LWG, who turned up in impressive numbers for a short walk really - but the sun was shining and we're heading for the beach, after all.  At least, were heading for the beach once we'd escaped the trailer park labyrinth, navigated the fen dykes, sashayed past over-inquisitive cows, leapt over many a WW2 pill-box and steered clear of the quicksand.  It was worth it for that view though - and the chance to quaffle a jar of Blonde Witch at the end, of course!

Lincolnshire, Leicestershire and Rutland combined walking groups, as viewed by sand-worm

A pilgrimage to the Church of the Ancient Rambler

Lincoln cathedral in the distance

Bizarre signage

Last Saturday saw our very first collaboration with our neighbours in the Lincolnshire Walking Group, who took us to the Wolds to prove that the county isn't all fens, dykes and flat fields.  


A good yomp across arable land not too unlike parts of Leicestershire landed us in the woods for lunch, then eventually to Walesby for cream teas, Bakewells and the like.  While Walesby's tea shop was well equipped, the church never got connected to modern things like roads and electricity, and is mostly visited by people walking the Viking Way - so much so that it really is signposted as the Rambler's Church.

Duck a l'orange

Pond life

Red sky at night... well if you believe that you'll believe anything

Admiration of more medieval ecclesiastical architecture then gave way to gazing at a cracker of a sunset while we tackled some nicely-undulating curves... and then it was back to base for mass consumption of lasagne.  Well, we HAD burnt off a few calories, after all.

The Towering Inverno

Arboretum fountain

Lincoln castle - from the cathedral balcony

We hit Lincoln last Friday - not that it had done anything to us, you understand, we just fancied an afternoon expedition en route to another youth hostel weekend.  So after lunch at the Lion and Snake and a walk around the Roman, Saxon, Viking, Normans and hang-on-I-forgot-the-Celts city, we climbed the south-west tower to admire the illuminated castle from the top of the cathedral's front.  


Having admired the Romanesque and Gothic, it was off to the renovated Woody's Top hostel (now complete with actual running water!) for pizza - naturally.  We knew we'd need more energy for the next day...

Whoa, who booked summer again?

We were walking closer to home yesterday – well, it is the Leicestershire and Rutland walking group, after all, however pretty the Peaks are for regular added distractions.  Phil led us off from the car park at Anstey as the sun popped back out and refused to behave like it was autumn, and as the suburban start point gave way to rolling countryside as traditional, the one walker who’d thought to come in shorts was the best-equipped of all of us.  Warm sun, blue skies and hedges full of berries made the whole thing pretty relaxing and easy on the eye, too, and best of all the pub stop came just in time.  As it happens it was one of those pubs where a member of staff decides, after hitting us for quite a few quid for drinks and bowls of chips, to protest about anyone nibbling a sandwich on the side out in the yard – unwise of them, as they may have lost future business there, but it happens very rarely.

Climbing to Old John

On through the woods as the sun got a little lower, and the terrain got steep enough to provide training ground for some visiting walkers preparing for the West Highland Way – a great choice, as long as they are well waterproofed!  On top of the hill at Old John, we all laid down on the warm turf at the edge of the old volcano to rest a while, and it was such a perfect afternoon that, just for a couple of minutes, silence fell and we could listen to the birds and the breeze brushing past the basalt.  At least twenty winks were snatched by one or two of us in a moment rather rare for such a conversationally-gifted group, but it was time to get down the hill and, of course, engage in mass consumption of ice cream before getting back to the start point.  Whichever weather deities were involved in providing such a fine day to walk in, thanks!

Back to Dovedale

It was time to revisit one our favourite haunts last Sunday - back to Dovedale.  Somehow we always seem to have a good walk around here, even when the weather's not doing it's bit, and this was just such a day - it was overcast, the rain was only just going to hold off for the day (we hoped), but it was still pretty warm for autumn and we weren't going to be put off that easily.  'Good job we weren't as we had some new visiting walkers to impress!


Rich wisely led us around Thorpe Cloud - well, it's a fun climb but you only have to come straight back down again - and into the steep sides of the valley proper, which did it's usual trick of being sauna-humid all the way up but bestowing a refreshing blast of cool air at the top.  Up on the ridges, the mud wasn't TOO bad and we made decent time to Milldale, where the pasties had just come out of the oven, although we had to fend off legions of over-confidently peckish ducks to hold on to them!

'Til we have built Jerusalem, etc...

Then it was back down the river - literally.  The path on one side is landscaped, cared-for and accessible by the more advanced motability equipment for inclusive access to the countryside - which is great, but a bit too easy for us.  So we headed off to the other side, beside the sign reading 'impassable after rain', just as the drizzle started.  Well, we knew what we were doing.  Probably.  It was only a little bit slippery until we got to the sections where the path, running beside a big solid cliff, was actually under-water, which is where the fun started. Swinging ourselves between trees, tip-toeing on submerged rocks and performing a variety of rambulatory gymnastics we made it, astonishingly, without a single dunking.  Grins all 'round - cheers Rich.