Thursday 19 May 2016

Viking Way, Stage 3: Nettleton to Ludford

Despite a very changeable weather forecast we decided to go ahead with our planned stage 3 walk along the Viking Way from Nettleton to Ludford.  Having met up at our endpoint we then drove back in one car to park at the Salutation in Nettleton.  We had driven through some heavy rain, but by the time we began the walk it had reduced to the weather forecast's euphemistic 'light rain'.  This, actually was as bad as it got and by coffee it had stopped altogether and it got positively bright.  The 'Way' took us up the remote Nettleton Beck.  This stretch passes through the area of the old ironstone mines and must at one time been a hive of industry as limestone quarrying went on here as well; most of the ingredients necessary for iron production.  Many of the houses in Nettleton are built of the attractive ironstone.  The valley is either too difficult of access or of poor soil quality as the land is uncultivated and used only for pasture.  Having emerged from the valley there followed a short road section to Normanby, the highest point in the Wolds where we had coffee in the church.  We then continued along the scarp slope of the Wolds with fine views to the west before dropping into Walesby and climbing up to the Ramblers Church high above the village where we had lunch.  The next village along is Tealby where we were pleased to discover that the tea rooms had been reopened.  The final section led us high up out of the valley with more expansive views to the west towards Lincoln and across the old Roman road of Caistor High Street, before following field boundaries to out finish at Ludford.
To view large, please click on an image.











































No comments:

Post a Comment