Hello and welcome back to my blog 😊.

I find it very frustrating that the wet weather we have experienced for the past six months has continued into April. It feels to me almost like a lockdown situation because there are limited days for walking due to incessant rainfall.

Earlier in the week I was out doing a walk that involved crossing fields and it was soul destroying – mud and waterlogged fields a testament to our changing climate.

This morning it was a sunny start but windy (40 mph due to storm Kathleen which has hit the west coast of the UK) conditions would make my walk a struggle at times. Before deciding to walk I vowed to avoid wet fields as much as possible!

I set off from the Lincolnshire village of Allington aiming to pick up The Viking Way.

The Viking Way is a long distance trail running 147 miles from the Humber Bridge to Oakham in Rutland. I had a memorable visit to the Humber bridge last week.

This section of The Viking Way was dry and I soon hit a tarmac road which was easy walking. I was headed towards Long Bennington.

I crossed over the A1 using an overhead road bridge. As usual the traffic was thundering along and the noise was intense.

It was 18 deg C and probably the hottest day of the year so far. I was enjoying the warmth and the wind was at my back. As I was arriving into Long Bennington I came across some yellow flowers (weeds?) which made me smile because I like yellow – its a happy colour!

I passed St Swithun’s Church and left The Viking Way picking up a path across some fields, that were reasonably dry, heading towards Foston.

After crossing the fields I met the Foston road which was to be my turnaround point. I headed along the road back towards the A1 bridge picking up the Viking Way once more. The wind was now in my face and it was making walking more challenging – still, it wasn’t raining!

I was enjoying my walk as I huffed and puffed against the wind. There was some mud on the Viking Way but nothing horrendous. I could pick my way through the worst bits. I had lovely open views across fields for miles.

Once more I left the Viking Way and took a road towards Allington, my destination. The wind was less troublesome and not in my face.

The walk turned out to be 9.5 miles – a good stretch of the legs.

I fancy a canal walk tomorrow – I will check out the weather later and see how it looks. Currently 50 mph winds with thunderstorms in the afternoon .

Happy Walking! 😊🚶‍♂️