The Nev Cole Way. Stages 2a and 2b

 Our second session on the Nev Cole Way today.  As there were 6 of us involved in the second half of the walk it involved 3 vehicles and some serious car shuffling.  We split the walk into 2 in order to miss out a couple of miles of very busy road past Reed's Island and South Ferriby Sluice where the off-rad path has been closed.  The first stint of 3.5 miles took us from Whitton to Wintringham and then, after regrouping and collecting our extra personnel, the second section was from South Ferriby to The Sloop at Barton, reversing the start of the Viking Way and passing the LWT reserve of Far Ings.  I again found these sections interesting and enjoyable, being particularly fascinated by the large reed beds.  Although not birding as such, I heard whitethroat, willow warbler, chiffchaff, blackcap and green woodpecker and we had excellent views of three marsh harriers over the reedbeds.  Walking past Far Ings the call of a cetti's warbler exploded from the undergrowth.  These secretive warblers seem particularly common this year.  The sloop, despite a change of ownership, came up to expectations on both the beer and food front.

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The Ropewalk and the Humber Bank

 As there were a ccouple of exhibitions at the Ropewalk Gallery in Barton that we fancied seeing we decided to drive over to Barton and check them out and have a walk along the Humber Bank.  Tea and stickies was tempting as well.  We haven't visited any galleries or had tea out much so we were interested to see how we found the Ropewalk.  As it turned out all was extremely well organised and we felt very safe.  The weather was fine so we also enjoyed our walk.

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A Walk on the Humber Bank

 A quick walk along the Humber Bank today with Heather and Brian.  When the ladies turned back, Brian and I continued and completed a circuit of Far Ings before returning to the car at Water's Edge.

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A Walk Along the Humber.

Friday was bright and breezy; a fine January day.  Brian and I walked from Water's Edge at Barton, along the Humber bank with excellent views of the bridge and river, before returning via the old clay pits.  Curlew were busy out on the mud flats and the occasional burst of bubbling, melodious song sent shivers up my back.  Another sign of spring on the horizon; before long most of these birds would be heading to the moors and dales to breed.  Hazel catkins were fully out, their lamb's tails waving in the breeze.  The old pits had plenty of wild fowl: pochard, coot, gadwall, mallard, tufted duck and, best of all a couple of groups of golden eye.

The Viking Way. Stage 1 – Barton to Barnetby

Although we have walked several sections of the Viking Way Long Distance Footpath, especially in the Lincolnshire Wolds and between Horncastle and Lincoln, we have decided to walk the whole route during the summer with friends Dorothy and Steve.  Consequently we set out today, with a relatively good weather forecast, to meet up at Barnetby-le-Wold.  Here we left one car and then drove on to Barton-Upon-Humber, where our walk was to begin.  The route initially followed the Humber past Far Ings Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust reserve and on to South Ferriby.  Redshank were calling from the mud of the river as we walked along and the haunting cry of a curlew came to us from nearby fields.  It was good to see the marsh harriers over the reserve reed bed.  The regular female is this year being courted by two males, the long established bird and a darker young bird.  Coltsfoot, cowslip and primrose were in flower; later cowslips were seen flowering in profusion on the verges of the A15.  Marsh marigold was flowering on the edge of one of the reserve lakes and goat willow was everywhere covered with pussy willow flowers.  The hedgerows were now greening up as the hawthorn comes into leaf and in places were frothy with the white blossom of blackthorn.

At South Ferriby our route left the riverbank and headed up onto the Wolds by way of the intriguingly named Piggery Lane and past the chalk quarry belonging to the Cemex cement works down below us on the Humber Bank.  Hoping for the forecast day of reasonable weather, we were less than happy to note that the forecasters had yet again got it wrong as it began to rain and did so persistently for the next couple of hours.  Despite this skylarks and chiffchaffs were both in song.  The Viking Way led us across the top of the Wolds, over the A15 and then back towards Barnetby, crossing over the busy M180.

At 15 miles 3 miles longer than the guide book predicted, but an excellent day finished off with an excellent meal at the fine hostelry, The Sloop, the official start of the Viking Way.

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