Thursday 27 March 2014

A walk from Goxhill to the Humber

I woke up to sunshine this morning, it should be a nice day for a walk, I thought. So I quickly got myself ready, packed my small rucksack, picked up the ,map I printed off last night, just in case, and set off towards the Humber Bridge. I didn't go over the bridge this time, but headed east and carried on to Barton, then to Barrow, and parked next to the church at Goxhill. This is All Saints Church. 

I saw that there were some workmen busy inside, so me being nosey I asked what they were doing. Apparently the roof has been stripped of it's lead by robbers, and they were there to make repairs because the rain is coming in. They are using a different material, so it shouldn't get stolen again. This seems to be happening a lot. I reckon that the parishioners should start removing their own lead before the thieves get it, then sell it and use the money to repair the roof. With the price of metals being quite high, they would make a few bob on the side to go in the church collection box. 
I didn't expect to see Cliff Richard in church today, ha ha.
Heading out of the village I came across this red telephone box, only it's not a phone box any longer.
It's a mini library. Help yourself to any books you need, and bring your unwanted books to fill the shelves. What a good idea. It could do with a clean though, the windows were a bit mucky, and the floor needed sweeping. A bit of polish would spruce it up a bit. 
I left the village via North End and walked down a very long straight road towards the River Humber. This brought back memories. I used to drive my cement tanker down this road, to make a delivery to the tile works. I wondered if it was still operating. I got my answer when a lorry load of roof tiles came towards me.

It was very overcast, I could only just see across the river to the docks at Hull. It started raining, then the wind got up, and the rain came harder. In the distance you can just about make out the ferry boat at Hull docks.

I walked along the waters edge for about an hour, hanging onto my umbrella. There was nowhere to sit down for lunch, so I had it standing up propped up against a concrete wall at East Halton Skitter. The Skitter is a bridge that goes over East Halton Beck where it joins the river. My makeup free selfie.

My original plan was to carry on further down the river bank towards North Killingholme, but by this time I was getting fed up with the rain and wind, so I turned inland and took the long road to East Halton. What is this I spy in the hedgerow, surely not, it can't be, yes I believe it is. It's the very rare Achillea Filipendulina Gold Plate. Now that is an unusual find, these rare herbaceous perennials don't usually come into flower until mid summer. I have no idea how it has found it's way from Norway, to take root in a hedgerow in North Lincolnshire. It's amazing how the wind has carried the seeds all those miles, they must have blown onto a ferry and landed on our shores :o))

Look, there's the ferry.
Time for a sit down in the park at East Halton. It has stopped raining, finished my sandwich and the second boiled egg. There's a shop round the corner, I fancy a lovely Magnum Infinity ice cream. Yum, chocolate and soft caramel. Haven't had one for months, must treat myself.

The pub at West Halton.

I left the village across the fields, went through a wood, past a pond, across a little bridge over the Beck, and joined the road through South End, back into Goxhill.

I was back at the car by 4pm. That was enough, the rain had started again. Just a short walk today, a little over 11 miles. There isn't a lot to see in this corner of North Lincolnshire. It's very flat, all farmland with massive fields, no animals all crops. Goxhill is a large village with a lot of big posh houses with huge gardens. It's a bit too far out on a limb for me, nice if you want a quiet life and don't want to wander too far afield. I would rather have easy access to a motorway so I can get out and about.
That's it for tonight. Catch you tomorrow. Toodle pip.
PS. Picked up some yellow stickers on the way home. Added them to the Reduced page. Link at the top.

10 comments:

  1. A good rainy walk!
    I hope the new roof keeps the metal thieves away from the church. It`s sad when water soaks in after lead has been stolen off a church roof.
    I like the way that villages are determined to keep their old red phone boxes, even if it means they have to do another job!

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  2. I'm giggling...the roof lead,the no make up selfie and the rare plant.Hehehehehehehehehehehehe!
    Jane x

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  3. Wonderful! I love the town names and old buildings. We have nothing like that here.

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  4. Yeah very nice thanks for taking us along I laughed at the no makeup selfie and I've never seen a red ph box in real life :) Louise

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  5. That phone box swapping library is such a good idea. I'm already enjoying your walking diaries, Ilona and looking forward to may more of your adventures throughout the next few months.

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  6. Wonderful idea for that red phone box! Every village should have one, I think. Towns and cities could also have them in various intervals. That would be lovely! Shame about the led thefts from church roofs. An unfortunate sign of our times.

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  7. I've just tracked your walk on google maps and learnt something new. I never heard of a beck before. It's not a word we use here. It was almost gobbledygook for me - obviously English but I couldn't get any meaning: "used the skitter to cross the beck". We don't have becks here - only rivers and creeks. And given my iPad wants to autocorrect becks to necks, I'd guess they don't have becks in the US either.

    Thanks for the walk around your part of the world. I just love your walks and all your photos.

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  8. you have so many lovely places in which to walk in Great Britain. Not so much here where I live in North Carolina. Too citified

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  9. A lovely walk in the rain, but you made it fun. We have that species of flower here too all the way from Norway.
    Loved the library phone box a whole lot.
    A magnum ice cream was a perfect way to end the day.

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  10. I'm enjoying your development as a writer so much. Your words paint a picture making me feel as though I'm almost there, seeing it all.

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