Hello and welcome back to my blog 😊.

Today myself and Mick ventured into the South Holland district of Lincolnshire and enjoyed a 9-mile circular walk across typical fenland landscape adjacent to the river Welland. The highlight was seeing the remains of Crowland Abbey and the historic village of Crowland.

Mick found us a good parking spot in a layby and off we set. It was a grey day and very cold in the wind. We first saw the roughly inscribed stump of the ancient St Guthlac’s cross close to the parking spot.

We followed a grassy embankment with long views across the still flooded fields passing drains and ditches along the way as we walked towards Crowland.

We noted that there were a lot of Environment Agency folk dotted about on the walk looking at water levels in ditches and checking pumping equipment. There were also quite a few diggers clearing silt from ditches – all important work to maintain flood defences.

We stopped for a chat with a dog walker, who had two nice Labrador dogs, and was interested in our walk today. He lived in Crowland and pointed us in the direction of the Abbey.

The remains of the Abbey are very impressive. Originally founded by King Ethelbald of Mercia for St Guthlac in 716 the abbey had an eventful history, being plundered, burnt and rebuilt several times. It was dissolved by Henry VIII in the 1530’s and the west front and nave of the church are the main surviving portions. The north aisle is used as the parish church.

We took a walk around the grounds then found a bench for a break. It was a nice peaceful spot. The town grew up around the abbey and, until the draining of the Fens, the rivers ran along the main streets. This explains the presence of the unique Trinity bridge in the town centre, an impressive piece of 14th century engineering (made from Ancaster Limestone) that is now redundant.

On the bridge is a figure thought to be that of Christ or King Ethelbald and is possibly from the west front of the Abbey.

We both agreed that the village was a lovely little spot. We left the village following a road that had numerous small walkways to cross along the side – to allow water to drain off the road.

We reached the river Welland at Fen Bridge and headed along the embankment. The river Welland is a lowland river some 65 miles long rising in the Hothorpe Hills in Northamptonshire and ending at The Wash.

After a section of path that was good we then had a much more tricky section to walk along where you had to watch where you put your feet.

There were a few wild birds spotted along the way which was nice to see. The wind was in our faces along this stretch so it made a chilly walk. We both wondered what the walk would be like in the summer? (summer feels a long way off at this stage!). Towards the end we passed a heritage sluice which I just had to photograph.

We arrived back at the car and could feel the walk in our legs. It was a good day out and particularly good to visit Crowland – highly recommended.

Happy Walking! 😊🚶