For newcomers

At the bottom of each post there is the word "comments". If you click on it you will see comments made by followers, and if you follow the instructions you may also comment and I always welcome that. I have found many people overlook this part of the blog which is often more interesting than the original post!

My blog nick-name is SIR HUGH. I'm not from the aristocracy - my middle name is Hugh which relates to the list of 282 hills in Scotland compiled by Sir Hugh Munro in 1891. I climbed my last one (Sgurr Mor) on 28th June 2009

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Tuesday 14 January 2020

OS Grid 38 (northing) SD 305 380 to TA 269 379 - Day 12

Sunday 12th January 2020 - Skipwith Common to Froggathorpe (SE 755 373)

Although it was raining when we set off our walk through Skipwith Common was perhaps the best part of this three day trek. Surprisingly this area was the site of a WW2 airfield but it is now scattered with mature birch and Scots pine carpeted with golden bracken and heather  - it is all reminiscent of wonderful Cannock Chase and according to the information board home to a wide variety of wildlife including nightjars.

To the south we could see trails of emission from Drax power station  drifting horizontally in puff ball clouds blown by the strong wind.

North Duffield had a pretty duck pond and a chap with a shed making bespoke woodcraft items to what appeared to be a high standard and we chatted a while.

If Skipwith Common had been the best part so far our next two and a half kilometres of road walking on the A 163 to Bubwith was the worst. There was only a narrow grass verge and a fair amount of traffic but thankfully it was not as intimidating as we had been anticipating.

From Bubwith we were able to follow the disused railway track which was much more attractive than many I have walked on. North West tonight a few evenings ago had an item announcing the improvement to the planned round England coastal path. I have walked on most of the section they described from Morecambe up to Arnside and beyond and apart from one or two short missing  links I see no need to spend lots of money unnecessarily "improving" existing ancient tracks which seemed to be implied. Much better to seek out sections of our country where at the moment there is no alternative but to walk long distances on busy roads and so provide alternatives. This adoption of the railway track is a good example to follow along with negotiating permissive paths with landowners and the like.

We left the railway path at Froggathorpe to pick up our parked car and head back home after a thoroughly enjoyable three days.

Click first photo to see slideshow
This landscape across Skipwith Common gives me a lift. What a transformation from a WW2 airfield

Drax power station - eleven kilometres to the south

North Dufield

Interesting man in his man-shed. Everything was immaculate and in place

Derwent Bridge - Bubwith


Bubwith church - we lunched on a stone bench by the photo below in the grounds of the church

River Derwent

Looking back to our route over Derwent bridge as seen in photo above

Old platforms on what would have been Bubwith station

Pleasant walking, good underfoot on this disused railway



8 comments:

  1. Yes, this time our posts on S to F have been almost identical despite our efforts to have a different view.

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  2. BC - I think that was something I copied from you! Just looked at it properly and I reckon the title should read:

    OS Grid 38 (northing) from SD 305 380 to TA 269 379 - Day xx

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  3. Oops! I thought I had copied your SD 38 but if you put in a grid ref. commencing TD it seems to place you in the sea off the Hook of Holland. See also my comment on your Skipwith Common to Foggathorpe post.

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  4. This part of the Grand Plan makes your East Anglian journey look like an Himalayan expedition - but good to be out in such sunshine so early in the year, I'm sure, but storms might make it another matter entirely unless you have a raft in your knapsack.
    Bonne continuation !

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  5. gimmer - Driving to our start at Skipwith Common I would have stopped the car if I could have done safely due to a massive deluge - I could not see the road ahead. It was still raining but easing when we started walking but within an hour or so we had sunshine and blue sky.

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  6. Heello mate great blog post

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  7. Hi Eva - welcome to my blog. I much appreciate new commenters. I wonder how you found this backdated post?

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