A very nice walk yesterday from St Andrews Quay to Hull and back, but the rain chased us back to the car on the return journey…
This is the old wooden dock which would have been bustling with activity over a hundred years ago now left to be reclaimed by the river…In the distance you can just make out the Ferry Terminal and the large construction of the Siemens Wind Turbine Manufacturing factory…
Hull, the city of culture and very busy for a Friday afternoon, fortunately there were still plenty of seats available in the ‘Secret Garden’ restaurant where he had lunch…
A bit like you Foxy, I rediscovered Hull, previously it was a place I avoided but it’s slowly growing on me. I may just do a small part of the walk into Hull, it would be good if there was a coffee shop after about a mile, have a rest then walk back again! Got to save a bit of energy for shopping!
Pick a nice day Val when the weather is fine and you will love it. The shopping in Hull looks brilliant, sometimes it’s hard to get Mrs Fox to leave without first looking round the shops…
[CENTER]The Boroughbridge Circular – Friday 4th August 2017
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About an hour’s drive away straight up the A1 lies Boroughbridge on the river Ure and the location of today’s walk. But first we needed somewhere to have breakfast and take on supplies. We left the motorway and immediately found directions to a ‘Superstore’ It turned out to be a Morrisons with a very ample cafe’ so after a sausage sandwich and a piece of fried bread – Mrs Fox had the full English but she doesn’t like fried bread so I took it off her hands – We stocked up and left the store to find the car park, situated at the far end of the very pretty town and by the side of the river Ure.
The car park come picnic area is free to park as long as you like, but no overnight parking is allowed, I’m hoping an eight mile walk won’t take us twenty four hours. We soon picked out the lane that leads us down by the side of the river and under the trees all the way to Milby Lock. A canal runs side by side with the river to this point and the lock allows canal traffic to join the river, which is navigable all the way to the river Ouse to the North of York.
We pass through a kissing gate and the decent path we had been following suddenly disappeared and we were faced with a wall of vegetation. I have done this walk a couple of times in previous years and the vegetation was nowhere near as overgrown as it was today, and the main culprit…Himalayan Balsam.
Himalayan Balsam was introduced to this country in 1839 as an ornamental plant, but since then it has taken over most river and canal banks spreading rapidly after producing over 800 seed per plant and scattering them over a wide area, with some seeds being carried by the water and infesting the whole length of the riverbank. It is now considered an Invasive species.
After fighting our way through the tangle of vegetation for a couple of miles we eventually regained the clear path at the top of the riverbank that took us to the convergence of the River Ure with the River Swale. We arrived at Myton, the scene of a terrific battle in the twelfth century. On the morning of 20th September 1319 William de Melton (The Archbishop of York) assembled an army of 20,000 clergy, Farmers and Townspeople to stop an advancing army led by Thomas Murray (The Earl of Moray) and Lord James Douglas who commanded a well organised Scottish army of 15,000. The inexperienced English army were no match for proper trained soldiers and were soon backed into a corner with the River Swale at their backs. Some accounts recorded over 4000 drowned as they tried to cross the river, and the rest were slaughtered where they stood.
After taking lunch overlooking the battle field we resumed our walk around the perimeter of a large field until we located a waymarked footpath in the far corner, where once again we were surrounded by Himalayan Balsam. It was even beginning to take hold away from the river, and I doubted that this walk would be possible in the future if a solution to the problem plants cannot be found. The footpath gave way to a wide lane which passed through the yard of Clott House Farm, a dairy farm where many curious cows lined up alongside the fence and observed our passage while chewing their grass. We were now walking along the tarmac service road from the farm with the sun on our backs, the weather had been perfect for walking, sunny for most of the time with fluffy white cumulus clouds sailing across a clear blue sky.
We survived the short stretch on the busy Boroughbridge road and found the lane back to Milby Lock, just half a mile down a tree covered towpath by the side of the canal and back to the car park…
What a superb write up of a wonderfully well-spent summer day! I particularly appreciate the history and photos; every place seems to have it’s own story and beauty. Nice legs, too :-D. While you call them “car parks”, we refer to them as “parking lots”. It certainly sounds as if your cars have a much better time of it that ours. This blog is a treat!
Yes I have an ongoing fight with Himalayan Balsam it’s a nightmare, problem is it’s a pretty flower so it’s a devil in disguise. Great blog OGF, so many places I know, nice to be reminded of them.
Thanks Myrtle, I might do even better than that, I think the National Trust use volunteers to go out and clear the Himalayan Balsam, so I think I’ll check it out and maybe offer my help. Sounds like a good day out in the country…
Thanks Mags, yes, weather was kind to us and it’s far enough for Mrs Fox these days, although we both struggled with the Balsam. Walking alongside a river doesn’t need many navigational skills, so I can look at the scenery instead of the map…
Thanks Muchly Surfermom. Doing a bit of research and finding things of interest certainly adds a new dimension to a walk and especially when you’ve got people who read and enjoy the reports. Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read them and comment (even those who looked in and didn’t comment) it is very much appreciated…:-p
And thanks for the comment about me legs Surfermom, you’re not the first…
Thanks Summer, it would seem that Himalayan Balsam is almost as much of a problem as Japanese Knotweed and is well up on the list of ‘Invasive Species’ I can’t believe that in just a few short years since I did this walk it has spread as fast as it has.
I’m glad that you could relate to some of the places we visited and It makes you realise just how beautiful Yorkshire is…
It felt a lot fresher on Sunday morning as I embarked on my second eleven miler this year and as a result managed to cleave over three minutes off last weeks time. Before you start with the back patting and congratulations I must point out that I did take it very cautiously last week so it was a soft target.
I decided to jog down to the surgery yesterday, it’s just a about a mile and a half round trip, but I found myself doing a speed session and I liked it…So I might just try one mile faster sessions on my days off and see what happens…
My legs did feel tired on this mornings six, but it turned out to be faster than I expected, no records were broken or anything but well satisfied with the result.
Just Thursday’s Eight miler to do and then it’s off to Guernsey on Friday. For a small island there are plenty of hills and it’s difficult to do a run without having to scale at least one of them. It’ll be a nice change for Mrs Fox after losing her Dad in June, she hasn’t stopped working since he passed away, sorting out his stuff and cleaning his flat, woe betide anyone who got in her way, but I think it’s her way of coping.
Just a few jobs to do now before we go so I’ll catch up with the forum later…
Thanks Mags and Val, I’ll report on all the highlights, if there are any, but there’s only so much relaxing I can do before I’ll need to make use of the pool or take advantage of the beautiful Coastal paths…
