Walks in May
On 3rd May myself and Mick did the circular Gunthorpe circular walk of 10.18 miles. It was a lovely sunny day – I wore my shorts for the first time this year! There were cows along the banks of the river Trent and at one point, close to the old mill, we were challenged by a couple of aggressive geese.
On 6th May myself and Angela did a 6.6 mile circular walk starting at Branston taking in Croxton Kerrial, Harston, Knipton and back to Branston. It was very quiet out and we started very early in order to get back home for the Kings coronation.
On 7th May, myself and Angela did the Denton reservoir walk of 9.25 miles. It was very misty and showery at the start of the walk but brightened up halfway around.
On the 10th May I got up early and drove to Woolsthorpe to do the Denton Reservoir walk – started walking at 07:30 on a lovely sunny morning.
On Friday 12th May I met up with Mick and we did the circular walk starting at Branston taking in Croxton Kerrial, Harston, Knipton and back to Branston. It was a dull day and chilly but we enjoyed the walk and particularly the stop for coffee at the Knipton Post Office.
On Tuesday 16th May myself and Mick planned a walk where we would leave one car at Woolsthorpe and then walk from my house on a route along The Viking Way that finished at Woolsthorpe. However, halfway around I remembered that I had forgotten my car keys and the car parked at Woolsthorpe was therefore of no use to us to return to Allington. After consulting the map we changed our planned walk to a modified route. While doing the return route I managed to slip off the step while crossing a stile and ended up on my back in a muddy mix of cow manure/urine and mud. 9.8 miles. All in all things didn’t go as well as they should have.
On Saturday 20th May myself and Angela did a 7.83 mile at Rivington, Chorley Lancashire. We were early and had a good walk – it wasn’t too busy. We stopped for a coffee in a converted church hall on the way around.
There was an old castle to view and some genuine foot -stocks in the village of Rivington.
This was the area that Angela had helped pupils from her school with the Duke of Edinburgh bronze award on a couple of recent weekends.
On Sunday 21st May we were again up early and drove to Crowden (Peak District) and did a lovely 6.95 mile circular walk from Crowden passing by Torside and Rhodeswood resevoirs and then climbing 1,550 ft up to Millstone Rocks which gave a spectacular view across Langendale.
On Tuesday 23rd May myself and Mick did a 10 mile circular walk starting at Woolsthorpe. It was a good walk along some unfamiliar paths.
On 26th May Angela finished school for the half term break. We had booked a cottage (Plough cottage) at North End Farm in Kelk as we did at Easter. Angela had a terrible trip over from Manchester due to heavy traffic – 4 hrs! On Saturday 27th May the day started clear with good weather forecast. Our planned route was from Thixendale to Wharram Percy medieval village.
It was a fantastic walk following the Yorkshire Wolds Way. The hawthorn trees along the banks of the Wolds were still in bloom and the Rape fields a vibrant yellow. Angela wore her shorts for the first time this year!
We walked to the famous deserted Medieval village Wharram Percy and had a look at the remains including a historical church.
On Sunday 28th May we walked from Wharram Percy to Sherburn along the Yorkshire Wolds Way- 15.34 miles. It was a lot cooler than Saturday. Towards the end we had fabulous views over the Vale of Pickering.
On Bank Holiday Monday 29th May we went on a local walk passing through the villages of Harpham, Burton Agnes and Kilham. The walk was supposed to be 7.5 miles, however, we got blocked by an inaccessible Rape filled field (thank you Mr Farmer!) which meant we had to do a detour leading to a total mileage of 10.17 miles. Angela was not happy with the route being blocked. We had a nice stop by the village pond in Kilham. On Tuesday 30th May we walked from Londesborough to Huggate 11.86 miles. It was a demanding walk with plenty of up sections. The weather was grey so unfortunately we didn’t get the good views over the Vale of York
Angela had hoped we could get a tea from the Huggate tea room’s but they were closed (again!).
On the 31st May we tried to walk a route that would visit some wolds and remains of Medieval villages. We were one mile into the walk and found the way blocked by a locked gate. The local farmer will have done this to deter walkers even though we were walking on a public right of way. It was annoying and a shame. We went back to the cottage and did a walk from the cottage instead.
Data – How am I doing against my 2023 target?
- A total of 192 miles were walked in May against a target of 83 miles.
- During the month I breached 700 miles walked giving a total of 729 miles YTD.
- I walked on 29 days out of a possible 31 days with the mean distance being 6.62 miles.
The graph below illustrates how my walking in 2023 compares to 2022.
The mean temperature in May when I walked was 13.27 Deg C (cf 14.4 deg C in 2022).
The chart below shows the walking temperatures recorded from May 2022
Outlook for June
We have now walked 37 miles (from Londesborough, which is near Market Weighton, to Sherburn) of the 79 miles length of the Yorkshire Wolds Way. We will complete the remaining sections at some stage this year. We will return to the holiday cottage hopefully during Angela’s summer vacation.
Happy Walking,
1/6/2023
My Walking Journeys 