Introduction
We have used the Macmillan Way as part of our walk from Lands End to John O’Groats. Over the last two years we have walked from Abbotsbury to Oakham. This year our major end-to-end project took us, in April, northwards on the Midshires Way. This left a task unfinished, the last leg of the Macmillan Way from Oakham to Boston. So after the summer monsoons had died away, we spent three days completing the route.
Sunday 21st September 2008
Starting on Sunday is no problem unless public transport is required, so we took the car to Oakham and parked it up at the railway station. A most amenable station master was watering his plants but took our registration number and made a note that we would be returning by train in three days time. So perfectly parked we set off on a beautiful morning, clear sunny skies and a cool nip to the air. Mike had pointed out the advantages of choosing the southern route round Rutland Water. And it was a great decision although it put a good few miles on the day’s schedule. We used the cycle way to get round to Manton where a long road section took us onto a delightful path round to Edith Weston and Normanton. Here we stopped for a cup of tea at a little wooden cabin. It was getting hot now as the sun glared down from a cloudless sky. We paused briefly on the wall of the dam before turning away and down a field path towards Ketton. The quarry to our left was encroaching onto the route and we came to a long and complex diversion to the right. This got so artificial and pointless that we took to the road and entered Ketton past an old windmill. A man collecting blackberries beside the road turned out to be an LDWA stalwart, someone Mike had seen on several LDWA 100s. Ketton village was beautiful, especially the lower part near the magnificent old church. We could not resist a quick look at the inside where we were entranced by a large map made up as a huge framed tapestry of quilted material.
Then we crossed the railway on a hidden footbridge and set out along the road and up a newly ploughed field. Thank goodness it had been dry. A trod in the soil took us uphill and along the crest of a ridge to another peach of a village, Easton on the Hill. We did not stop at the church this time but hurried on and down the fields, seeing for the first time the magnificent roofs and spires of Stamford. We crossed under the A1, complete with stationery traffic, and passed into the lovely water meadows beyond. We were soon in the lower parts of Stamford and amongst the beautiful stone buildings. We carried on to the main church, St Mary’s (there are lots of churches) and then got the instructions out as to how to find our bed and breakfast. It was only a short walk off route to find our accommodation, a rambling old house with a steep terraced back garden. No-one will ever believe me but it was a complete coincidence that the pub next door, the Green Man, was having a beer festival. So we called in on the way to town for a Chinese meal, and we called in again on the way back. A great end to a near perfect day. Beers were Tipples Lady Evelyn (4.1%), Oakhams Bishops Farewell (4.6%) and Cheltenham Festival Gold (4.4%).We stayed with Mrs. T. Averdieck, 5 Rock Terrace, Scotgate, Stamford, Lincs, PE9 2YJ
Tel: 01780 755475
Oakham dep. 10.38, Stamford arr. 16.45
Walking time: 5hrs 53-53, 19.43 miles (GPS)
Monday 22nd September 2008
The weather was not so good in the morning. The skies were grey, a cold wind had got up, and rain was definitely in the air. After a magnificent breakfast, we walked back into the shopping streets and got maps, money and sandwiches. So it was quite late before we got going, a mile of town before turning up a track between some industrial buildings and into the meadows of the River Gwash. A small footbridge led us across the river and the route then climbed up a grassy field grazed by sheep. Little did we think at the time that this would be the last hill we would encounter. A long bridle way between trees led us to the highest point (150 ft above sea level). Then we were on tarmac, a flat road that led us to a level crossing. We had to stop and wait for a train. Then the barriers went up and we started across, half way across the lines two things happen simultaneously, Mike’s phone went and the training warning lights came back on. To my amazement, Mike stopped to unpack his phone. I suggested with some urgency that instead we should run to get off the lines before the barriers crashed down again. Mike then phoned home as another high speed train flew by.
Then it was off the road and round the fields to the village of Greatford. Mike’s adventures had not finished. He pulled out his reading glasses to read his new map and the arm fell off. Luckily the tiny screw was still in his pocket so he was able to rescue it and store it carefully away. But map reading would become a problem, to be resolved shortly when we walked off the edge of his map. I and the gui
debook would then be our only navigational tools, the high risk option. At Kate’s Bridge we debated whether to turn off the route to see if the garden centre café would provide us with a cup of tea. But it was still early and the large breakfast was till fuelling the efforts so we crossed the busy A16 and turned onto the flood wall of the River Glen. If we had realised then that we were to follow this for 17 miles, I think we would have turned back to the café. An initial loop of the dyke to get round a flood meadow was the only departure from a straight line along the river. Occasional features stick in our minds. We drove a flock of sheep for a couple of miles until a fence turned them back, then the same scenario with some cattle except that this time there was a huge fierce looking bull that kept stopping to eye us up. We saw lots of birdlife, kingfishers, herons, and hawks as we passed through linear nature reserves based on habitats probably similar to the original fens. I began to understand what had really happened in the 17th century when the fens had been drained. The main rivers have nothing to do with the surrounding land drainage. They are just raised waterways taking run off from the midlands to the Wash.To add to the dreariness, the clouds got greyer and lower and it started to rain. So out came the umbrellas and I could no longer peer into the surrounding gloom. All things come to an end and the riverside tramp finished at Pinchbeck West. Here the route continues down the quieter of roads that run down each side of the river. Still the rain came down and we were relieved to reach Pinchbeck itself and get off the road for the final mile to our farm accommodation. Mr Rowell very kindly took us down to the Bull where we had a plate of plaice and chips and then a marmalade bread and butter pudding. This was washed down with a couple of pints of a Cambridge brew. It was pitch black when we walked home and we trod in all sorts of mud as we slither back along the wet roads.
We stayed at Manor Farm, Langhole Drove, Pinchbeck, Spalding, PE11 3XP
Mrs M. Rowell, Tel: 01775 762027,
Stamford dep. 0915, Pinchbeck arr. 16.30
Walking Time: 6hrs 50-00 21.75 miles.
Tuesday 23rd September 2008
Our farm was right on route so 30 seconds after saying our farewells we were back on riverside bank of the Glen and heading for the main sluice. We passed a church that was tilting into the sinking fens so that its spire leans farther than the leaning tower of Pisa. The sluice itself was a very impressive arrangement of lock gates and pumps. It seemed strange to suddenly be aware of the tidal nature of the river beyond. As we turned onto the sea wall of the River Wetland the rain came in and forced us to fight under our umbrellas against a cold northerly wind. This river was massive compared with the old friend we had follwed for so long. It was like walking along the Ship Canal. We crossed another major road, the A17 at Fosdyke Bridge and then set out onto a remote section of sea wall around the Welland Estuary. We could see boats now coming in and out of the river. A
bench of the leeward side of the sea wall provided us with shelter for a very brief lunch-stop, and then it was off again towards to distant profile of the Boston Stump. Eventually we turned the corner and headed north up the Haven, the major river into Boston. Here larger ships were passing. An amazing sight was the bird life round a waste landfill dump. Then it was through the docks and into the town proper. Traffic again after so long in the sticks. A complex road junction took us across the river and up to the church that was the end of the walk. We had seen the Stump, the huge church tower for the last few hours. Now all that remained was to climb it. Ten minutes was enough to see all around and then it was down for a cup of coffee and the train back to Oakham.Pinchbeck dep. 08.35, Boston arr. 14.40
Walking Time: 5hr 50-51. 18.2 miles (GPS)
So that was it. A three year project was finished. The whole concept, from our annual adventures in spring, my mother’s last few weeks in the hands of the Macmillan nurses, all came together as I climbed the steps of the Boston Stump and looked out over the fens. A part of my life was behind me and it was time to move on, back to the hills and the north.
