Barnetby-le-Wold to Walesby: E2 Day 77

A sunny day walking in the Wolds. 

This morning the route took me along the western edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds by several villages with names ending in "by", Bigby, Searby, Grasby. Apparently there are 161 place names in Lincolnshire ending in "by", a Danish suffix meaning farmstead or village it was a sign that Vikings invaded and occupied this area back in the 9th century. 

As I found yesterday the route involved straight paths between open arable fields or by hedges, alternating with quiet roads with periodic 90 degree changes of direction. There was some woodland but not much. By lunchtime I had reached Caistor, a small town where I found a café looking onto a central square. On leaving the centre I stopped to look at a notice about the poet Tennyson outside an Art Centre. It revealed that his grandmother was from the area. While reading the board a man approached me. He wore a yellow gilet emblazoned with the words "Caistor in Bloom". Noting my interest in the sign he declaimed a few stanzas of Tennyson's "The Brook", which he had learnt at school and could still recall every wood sixty years later. We agreed pupils are not taught to recite poetry these days.

A passing dog walker told me this column commemorated a marriage.

Typical path between fields.

At Nettleton Bottom I came across some bricked up adits, tunnels once driven into the side of the valley. I assumed this was related to the extraction of iron ore in the area from horizons beneath the chalk. The route then entered a long, grassy valley, following its bottom for a considerable distance. Rich clay soil meant a lot of mud to negotiate. Once at the top, the Viking Way followed a quiet road with excellent views for many miles over the plain to the west. Another golf ball radar dome stood on a stalk to the east of me.

Coming down from the hillside on my approach to Walesby I caught up with two brothers, also walking the Viking Way, backpacking and camping each night. Before heading for the Walesby Woodland Caravan Park for the night we walked up to the "Ramblers' Church", on a hill to the west of the village. A simple structure with robust, rounded arches dating from the 12th to 15th century. Abandoned by the villagers, despite its architectural merit, due to the climb up the hill, worship moved to nearer the village centre, most recently to a church built in 1913. However the Ramblers' Church was restored and became a place of pilgrimage for walkers. A stained glass window in the depicts walkers and cyclists. Although not used for regular worship the bells were still in use, chiming that it was time head for the campsite.

As I pitched my tent, the forecast rain began. I felt fortunate it had not spoilt my walk.

Stained glass window showing ramblers (male and female) and cyclists approaching Jesus.

Inside the Ramblers' church.