Hello and welcome back to my blog 😊

This morning myself and Mick did a 7-mile circular walk from the South Lincolnshire village of Skillington. It was a walk that we had done earlier in the year and Mick fancied doing it again. The other Amigo, Chris, couldn’t make this walk due to an incident involving Covid – yes, its still about!!

Yesterday was very wet so we were expecting wet conditions underfoot and we weren’t disappointed. This morning there was no rain forecast so we were grateful for that – it’s a very disappointing Summer so far, but we live in hope for a better August/September.

After finding parking in Skillington (it was busy this morning) a car I didn’t recognise pulled up behind me and as I got out of my car Mick shouted up ‘Good Morning!’ and surprised me with his very nice new car 😊.

Walking through the village we found our intended path and we set off along it- the path ran at the side of fields of beans.

After crossing a number of fields we crossed a wide concrete road that followed the path of a dismantled railway line – Melton Mowbray line?

Crossing the concrete road we walked along a good track past a nice looking barn at Mere Barn farm and headed towards Saltby Airfield.

Our route took us into a field containing wildflowers including some colourful blue flowers – reference to my ‘Seek’ App indicated that the flower was Chicory.

We continued along to a spot for a short refreshment stop on a track called The Drift’ which is on ‘The Viking way’ and is also a Site of Special Scientific Interest containing some of the rarest wildflower rich limestone grassland in the country.

I had enjoyed eating my scotch egg and we resumed our journey to Saltby Airfield – site of Buckminster Gliding Club. We walked past the end of the runway.

During the Second World War the RAF handed the airfield to USAAF 9th Troop Carrier Command who were involved in preparation work for the D-day landings and then subsequent active service.

Mick spotted a sign for an air-raid shelter so we followed the path and found it. Carefully descending the stairs the mobile phone torch came in handy – inside it was dry and in good condition.

Coming away from the Air-raid shelter Mick spotted a cute tiny snail sitting on a nettle leaf.

Leaving Saltby Airfield we followed the very rutted Drift track for about 1.5 miles. It was very wet in places and both of us nearly came a cropper slipping on the muddy embankments. Both of us had wet feet by the end of the walk.

We had to remind ourselves that it was the middle of July and not April.

We were glad to leave The Drift and headed across pasture land to pick up Buckminister Lane which brought us nicely back into Skillington.

It was quite a tricky walk in places, with having to watch where you put your feet continually along The Drift, but enjoyable all the same, and nice to see the countryside and animals along the way (Hares and Muntjac deer)

Happy Walking!😊🚶‍♂️