The Road goes ever on and on; Down from the door where it began;
Now far ahead the Road has gone; And I must follow, if I can;
Pursuing it with eager feet; Until it joins some larger way;
Where many paths and errands met; And whither then? I cannot say.

[JRR Tolkien, Lord of the Rings]

Saturday, 27 August 2011

East to West Photos: Day 13

Mick:

1 April (0805-1800)

Distance: 22.5 miles (but felt further*) (Barnetby le Wold to before Brantingham)

Gayle:

Saturday 23 April (0650-1600)
Distance: 24.5 miles (Barnetby le Wold to Brantingham)
Weather: wall-to-wall sunshine, v hazy, no wind, ridiculously warm

We both took lots and lots of photos on this leg of the walk. It’s been a job to whittle them down, and even now I’ve probably reproduced too many. For this day I’ve split them into Mick’s photos (first) then my photos (below).

Given my partiality for signs, how could I resist reproducing this one. I’m sure there must be a story behind it:

Day 11-1Mick had a good view of the Humber Bridge** on his approach:

Day 11-2

When he got there he had the bridge almost to himself. He chose the east walkway and crossed in the company of a chap that he met on the way. That chap was the only person he encountered in the 31 minutes it took him to get to the other side.

Day 11-3 

He had a good view from the other side too (with a noticeable lack of people in this photo too - the difference between a cool, damp mid-week day, and a sunny bank-holiday weekend is evident in my photos below).

Day 11-4 

It was Mick’s first solo wild camp that night. The main feature of his report of that experience was that Susie Superlite is absolutely huge when you have her to yourself!

Day 11-5

My day was a little different from Mick’s. Most notably mine was a lot hotter and a little bit further (and, in fact, not entirely following the same route as Mick had taken).

It was a hazy day again when I set out from Barnetby le Wold, but it was clearing a bit by the time I got to South Ferriby. I think this was the church in South Ferriby. Wherever it was, it was very pretty.

Day 11g Pretty Church 

Heading towards the Humber Bridge I came across this sign. I particularly like that the public footpath sign is pointing in exactly the same direction as where the ‘Danger’ sign is telling you to keep out.

Day 10-4g  

It was a very hot, but very hazy day, such that I didn’t get a glimpse of the bridge until I was pretty close. Even then I could only just make it out.

Day 11g Bridge

In contrast to Mick’s experience three weeks earlier on the east walkway, I passed no fewer than 75 people on this fine day on the west walkway.

Day 11g On Bridge

I should have taken a self-photo when I found the ice-cream and cold-pop vendor on the far side of the bridge. I reckon I must have had a big grin on my face at that point. As it went, the next time the camera came out was as I reached the riverside, by this ex-windmill (or at least, that’s what it looked like to me):

Day 11 windmill 

Looking back in the direction from where I’d just come, it was still a tad hazy.

Day 10-6g 

I walked along the waterside for further than Mick had, as I took the ‘low water route’ along this section of the Wolds Way, and having left the river my way took me through some woodland, where I noticed that the trees were well and truly bursting into leaf.

Day 11 woods

Did I mention that it was a ridiculously hot day? By the time I took the photo below, of the village pond in Brantingham, I had walked over 24 miles in that hotness. I reckon that if I’d stopped and immersed my feet in that pond then you would have seen the steam rise and the water level drop…

Day 11 village pond

The original posts for the day can be found here and here.

(*As it turned out, it felt further because it was further. I reckon that Mick walked a mile further than he thought.

**As I was typing this blog post I had a little bit of an aberration and couldn’t remember the name of that huge bridge. I turned to Mick and said “What’s the name of the big bridge we crossed at Barton-on-Humber?”  Doh! I did laugh a lot as soon as the last word was out of my mouth and I realised quite how ridiculous a question it was. Mick laughed more.)

2 comments:

  1. 'Senior Moments' catch up with us all...

    ReplyDelete
  2. It seems to me that I've been having these senior moments for far more years than is reasonable!

    ReplyDelete