12th August Caistor & The Wolds

12th August 2010 - Caistor & Top of The Wolds

Pathfinder Guide - Lincolnshire - Walk #25

Top of the Wolds - 8 Miles (Actual 8.98 Miles!)

4 hours

We parked in the centre of Caistor (Market Place) which was free. The day was bright and sunny, blue skies.(at the start!)

After crossing the A46, the route took us along the Viking Way along the edge of corn fields, and then pasture where we encountered a couple of horses. Friendly, they followed us across the pasture, perhaps expecting to be fed.

Parts of this route were a bit overgrown, so no shorts unless you fancy nettle stings and thistle prickles!

After a few miles the route headed down into woodlands for a very short while, and the remains of tunnels from the old ironstone mining industry that riddled these hills till 1968.

Heading back to field edges again, the weather turned and we got a liberal soaking whilst walking along the "top of the wolds" roadway.

One distraction here was a Turkey farm, with the said birds been on general view to anyone passing by.

At Nettleton top we ate our lunch in the rain and continued on, the rain stopping after a short while.

Be aware that the section around top of Nettleton hill; the book suggests there is a stile after the corrugated iron barn (at the field corner). If there is, we missed it, and we did look hard. We carried on a while along the filed edge, but ended up ducking beneath the barbed wire onto the track the other side.

This led us to better views across the wolds and down to Nettleton village.

Dropping stepply we arrived in Nettleton, passing through the edge of the village and field edges again. Some of these tracks were once again very overgrown.

The last part of the walk is more of the same, eventually arriving on the edge of Caistor and a mile or so back to the start through the town.

Our Walk Score: 5/10

Apart from the view at Nettelton top there was not a lot to hold our interest on this walk and many sections were much the same. Not the greatest one and nor very memorable.

Chapel St. Leonards 24th July 2010

Chapel St. Leonards, Hogsthorpe & Chapel Point - 24th July 2010

Pathfinder Guide - Lincolnshire Walk#17

(7.8 Miles, 3hrs, 15 mins)

We drove to Chapel St Leonards and parked in the main pay and display car park near to the town centre. The road to this enters a housing estate, but a little further on you do find the car park entrance. Cheap at £1.60 for 6 hours.

We walked out of the car park the way we came (which is a few hundred yards away from the walk start in the book, actually at the town centre).

Following the road and passing the school we crossed over the bridge at Orby drain and followed the path left to the church yard. Entering the churchyard to find a stile and into the field beyond (some cows here but they paid us no attention)

After another field and crossing another bridge over the drain shown below

we headed into another field, crossing it

diagonally to the far side and a kissing gate to a lane.

Following the lane lead us into Hogsthorpe, walking through the village, eventually turning off right and then left across school playing fields and into the fields below.

The day was overcast but very warm, you can see the state of the ground, very dry due to the weeks of generally hot weather and little rain.


After several miles of mainly fields and then a long, long track that seemed to go on forever, winding left and right and quite rutted, we turned onto a dirt road across the old marshes.

By this time we were both hungry, but decided to wait until we were nearer the beach and hopefully a picnic area with benches or tables.

After several miles we eventually arrived at Wolla Bank, which was a car park, but no picnic area that we could see.

We headed up through thick sand and trudged onto the beach, heading nearer to the sea and firmer ground (wetter sand) so walking a little easier.


We headed on a bit further, but hunger was too much and we stopped on the beach to eat, against some rocks.

The walk is actually on the beach itself for about 2 miles or so. We did find another picnic area/car park a little further on from where we had stopped (and this we discovered had several picnic tables!).

We did look/see if it was possible to follow a firmer path away from the beach here, but the path we found doubled back on itself heading us in the wrong direction, so it was back onto the beach.

This was pleasant with a nice sea breeze, and walking on the wetter sand was far easier than the soft powdery stuff nearer the land.

The beach was fairly busy, but not too packed with dog-walkers, sun-bathers and some fishermen awaiting the tide to come in.

Another mile further on we arrived at Chapel Point and took the steps off the beach onto a concrete path near beach huts and then a more distinct path. We turned off right on this along a very narrow path which took us to a roadway in the town, and led us back to the town centre and then the car park.

Our Walk Score: 6/10

A fairly varied walk, though the field and track section did get a little monotonous, but was saved by the beach section towards the end. Worth doing because of this. Pleasant rather than exciting!.

Humber Bridge & Barton 23rd July 2010

Humber Bridge & Barton Upon Humber - 23rd July 2010

Pathfinder Guide Lincolnshire walk#6 5.54 Miles 2hrs 10 Minutes

Weather: Mainly sunny with a little cloud

Well, we set off from home and headed for Barton Upon Humber and the bridge viewing area car park (free) arriving around 11:30.

The walk headed into Barton first of all and a general walk around the town centre and to view St.Marys and St.Peters churches. (There was a wedding at St.Marys with the congregation massing outside the churh as we passed by).

The surprising thing is how close the two churches are to each other, showing that in Saxon times Barton was an important port and prosperous town.

To be honest we weren't that fussed with Barton and so for a shorter walk you could easily skip the first mile or so.

Anyway retracing our steps we eventually forked left heading out of the town, and under the A15 via a somewhat dark pedestrian underpass.

This lead out onto a narrower lane and we turned off right across fields with a view of the Humber Bridge as shown below.

The Humber Bridge was opened in 1981, and is one of the longest span suspension bridges in the World at 4,626ft (1,410m).

After following the track across fields we eventually alighted near to the Far Ings nature reserve and took lunch here on a bench (sarnies and fruit, living the dream).
Surprisingly quiet given the proximity to the main road, the bridge etc.

Plenty of ducks, swans, butterflies and bees.

After walking around this along a narrow path we turned right and headed towards the river and followed the wider concrete and gravel path for a couple of miles back to the start point, the bridge getting closer and closer, eventually passing beneath it.

Our Walk Score 5/10

An OK walk but not much variety and the walk into Barton at the beginning could be missed out.

Note; in the summer months there is a nearby PYO strawberry field, follow the signposts for Thorton Abbey.

Even if you don't fancy picking your own their homemade jam is highly recommended!