Viking Way, Stage 5. Scamblesby to Martin Bridge, Horncastle

When we set off from the centre of the small Wolds village of Scamblesby the sky was cloudless and temperatures were already soaring.  We headed out of the village in a south easterly direction, initially along the valley, passing a magnificent patch of chicory, before climbing to the top of the Wolds and dropping down into Belchford, where the route passes the excellent Bluebell Inn.  Of course, it would have been rude not to stop, although I did content myself with shandy.

The small River Waring rises in Belchford, flowing south west to meet the larger Bain in Horncastle.  When I was a pupil in the first year at Horncastle Grammar School in 1960, we had torrential rain on 7th October and both rivers catastrophically burst their banks disastrously flooding the town.  I remember we had to wade to the school gate to catch our bust and there was so much pressure in the drains along West Street that a geyser gushed out of every drain cover.  As children, though, we were delighted to have a week off school.

Our route continued southerly and as we climbed out of the valley once more, past combining in operation, we were rewarded with views across to Lincoln Cathedral.  Our next village was Fulletby.  Perched high on the Wolds with views to the cathedral and over the Wash to Norfolk, it must be one of the highest villages in Lincolnshire.  It was the home of Henry Winn who lived to be 98 and served as Parish Clerk from the age of 14 until he was 90, which is till a record.  He was also village greengrocer,draper, ironmonger, constable and schoolmaster as well as a poet and diarist.  In his long life he managed to father 21 children!

A very pleasant downhill section now took us into the market town of Horncastle, established largely by the Romans.  It became famous in Victorian times as the site of the county's largest horse fair.  By the mid 1800's dealers and even emissaries from royal houses were coming from all over Europe, Russia and America.  Decline set in by the turn of the century and the last fair was held in 1948.  Also in the town is the town house of Joseph Banks the famous botanist who sailed with Captain Cook.

We left the town via St Mary's Churchyard and followed the River Waring until its confluence with the Bain.  The old river still exists as a small meandering stream in parts, but it was canalized in 1792 allowing boat transport from Horncastle to the River Witham and then onward to Boston and Lincoln where access could be gained to the national river and canal network.  The coming of the railway, which runs side by side at this point spelt financial disaster and the last boat left Horncastle on 7th May 1878.

About a mile beyond Horncastle we joined the Spa Trail to Woodhall Spa which runs along the trackbed of the old Horncastle to Kirkstead Railway which was opened in 1855 and closed finally to passengers in 1954 and to goods traffic in 1972.  As children going to school on the bus we loved it when crossing the humpback Martin Bridge coincided with a steam train passing underneath.

The day's walking finished just beyond Martin Bridge at a parking spot where we had left one of the cars.  We were well ready to repair to the excellent Admiral Rodney in Horncastle for an early evening mean.  A fabulous day's walking once more..

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