Hello and welcome back to my blog 😊.

Todays walk began on a sunny day, however, a bitterly cold wind made it unpleasant when walking into the wind. Just when we thought spring had arrived, with temperatures rising, Mother Nature had a surprise for us!

Hotham is a pretty village situated on a Jurassic escarpment between the Yorkshire Wolds to the east and the Vale of York to the west.

I headed out the village along a tree lined tarmac road.

Dropping down from Hotham Hill I continued along tarmac road till I hit a bridleway into which I turned. I passed a farm called ‘Windy Acres’ – given the amount of wind about I thought that it was aptly named.

It was nice walking on the bridleway – dry and mud free. This soon led to a farm track and I joined this passing arable farmland along the way.

I had not met a soul so far. I was walking with a drainage ditch on my right and I found the route taking me over a cute bridge – far too grand for a drainage ditch!

As I followed my route I came to a waterway that looked suspiciously like a disused canal. I hadn’t realised that there was one in the area. I am a canal enthusiast.

I turned right and followed the path beside the canal. After a while I came to a old lock that had a bench nearby so I stopped for a much needed cuppa.

It turns out that the canal was the old Market Weighton canal and I was on part of the 11.5 mile walking trail from Market Weighton to Weighton Lock at the river Humber. https://www.mwct.org.uk/history/explore-the-rich-history-of-the-canal-and-surrounding-regions

I particularly enjoyed this section of the walk – it is nice to come across something unexpected. Leaving the canal I followed my route to a field but found myself unable to follow it because the field was bog.

I found my way around it and then had a number of challenges with locked gates, flooding and poor sign posting. It was getting quite stressful and not such a straight forward walk as I had hoped.

Eventually however, I was making progress and was walking in easier territory with nice views of the Wold’s in the distance.

I passed a field of oil-seed rape that was beginning to flower – that’s early?

I was soon entering back into the village, passing the church.

I was glad to get indoors and warm up. I was pleased that it didn’t rain and chuffed to have seen the canal.

Happy Walking😊🚶‍♂️