Walking the Wolds Way

[philaw]

It looks like I'll be walking the Wolds Way this half term; probably hitting the road next monday.

It's 79m long and supposedly takes about five days, so by the end of it I should have totally forgotten about work. It follows on from my walk from Beverley to to York along the Minster Way, but is a fair bit longer.

The plan is to do it backwards (Filey on the East Yorkshire coast to the Humber) by myself, travelling light with a tarp. I expect to borrow a digital camera so I'll have pictures to post this time.

All tips welcome!


http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/YorkshireWoldsWay/

 

[Jackdaw]

Hey there, based in Hull and will eventually get round to doing the Wolds way myself.

Just be aware that there are not too many places that you can legally camp out along the way. Don't suppose you'll get many problems whilst your out and about, but there are some places that come close to, and even cross some shooting estates ie, Drayten etc.

You'll be better off not bothering with open fires and taking a stove. You'll loose some of the appeal but will certainly limit the amount of trouble you'll have.

That said, have fun and let us know how you get on.

Jackdaw

 

[Seagull]

Best of luck, Phil.

If I ever dream of doing it again, after twenty-some years, I would plan on it all hanging on the weather outlook.
The last 20 miles can be a right pain ,for mud.

At least, going at this time of year, you wont be crowded out.

regards

Ceeg

 

[Pignut]

Nice one mate good luck!

 

[Seagull]

If , as you planned, you are indeed legging it down the Wolds Way, I hope you remembered to take yer John L's with you...it was near freezing last night.

WX forecast for tomorrow, indicates you,ll have 30 knots of wind, blamming in from 2points on your starboard bow.

That should bring more than just a touch of colour to your chops, eh?

Never mind, Phil, its mostly down hill...


Ceeg

 

[Seagull]

Where you at, Phil?

Lost ,in the lost village, or what?
Did the Drewton buzzards get you, laying around with a busted fetlock?

Looking forward to your write-up

Ceeg

 

[philaw]

Thanks for the interest, Seagull. In the end I only walked about half of it, because I wasn't in the right frame of mind. I'd left some work and things behind that were knawing at me and stopped me enjoying it as much as I should've done.

The walk was still enjoyable enough, though, and some of the scenery was very nice. There were lots of places were you looked down from the wolds to the sea, or across broad valleys. I used my tarp for the first time, and it'll take some getting used to! The next day people told me they'd seen frost in the morning, which explains why my face felt like it was going to freeze and drop off. On the planning front I was happy with myself because Iｋｅｐｔ　ｍｙ　ｂａｇ　ｗｅｉｇｈｔ　ｖｅｒｙ　ｌｏｗ　ａｎｄ　ｐａｃｋｅｄ　ｅｖｅｒｙｔｈｉｎｇ　Ｉ　ｎｅｅｄｅｄ　ａｎｄ　ｎｏｔｈｉnｇ　Ｉ　ｄｉｄｎ't.

Perhaps the highlight would be when I walked twenty minutes in the morning to get warm before stopping for breakfast. I sat on a bench at a viewpoint and made porridge (with fruit and nuts added to it) with my trangia, and sat there taking in the massive view and the sun crawling up into a blue and orange sky.

I also saw a bird of prey that I'd like someone to identify. It was brown, had a pointy beak, and was hovering with intent. Any ideas?

 

[Seagull]

Phil, you got back without any weather damage and that,s the main thing.

It can really be a bu88er of a walk at this time of year, I regularly do the lower 20 and stop when it really snows up.

The bod you saw, are you up for a bit more of a description and location? it just may have been Geordie Girl and her mate....riding the Wolds winds, its summat Ive seen them doing on the WW.......(if the brown was a gorgeous one, its a good sign, and maybe a forked tail perhaps?)

Ceeg

 

[philaw]

I'm afraid that I got a very good look at the bird, but wouldn't have a clue about identifying it. It was a medium brown; a very nice shade. It had a pointed beak, and the tail wasn't forked as far as far as I could see．It wasn't particularly big. It was hovering about 10-20m up in the air over pasture land in a gully. I just looked at a kestrel's picture, and it could've been that. They're among the most common, I think, so it would make sense.

 

[capacious]

...it was near freezing last night.



Ceeg

Every morning this week I have been walking to the gym at 6, and it has been either -4 or -5.

I thought Yorkshire was supopsed to be cold, and I'm on the coast!

As for the Wolds way - I can't wait to hear your experiences of it, I've been thinking of doing it for ages (although I'd probably do it in a weekend, there's nothing stopping me doing it tomorrow, really!) so it would be great to hear how you get on.

Good luck, enjoy it,

Jake.

 

[capacious]

I just read a bit further, seems you've finished it already.........was it worth doing?

Jake.

 

[Jackdaw]

Seagull, I think you a me was thinking along the same lines for a moment there (Red Kite?). Think you're pretty much on with the kestral though Phil. Supprised you didn't see any red kits as there are quite a few along the way.

Will be doing it over Christmas I think myself. If you're up for another go then drop me a PM.

 

[philaw]

Capacious, I'd say it's a pretty nice walk, and worth doing, but I live locally so a lot of it overly familiar to me. That said, walking into wharram percy was nice, and so where the villages. I think that it's not as highly regarded as many of the national trails, but there is still nice scenery. You don't go onto any moors or high hill tops, so if you want isolation you won't find it, but having villages on the trail every day or two (just enough for pub meals and resupply) suited me. I didn't like it when we followed a beautiful valley parallel to a main road and you could hear the racket coming from it from 400m away, but like I　said the view was great.

My biggest problem was that I'd left behind stuff that needed doing during my week off work, and spent all my time thinking about how to cram it in when I got back, to the point where I realised I didn't really have time to be away. Mix that in with a full afternoon of heavy rain and getting slightly lost, and you'll see why I came back.