Here you can see the report from our latest walk and also some of the pictures that were taken.

Unless otherwise stated, report by Paul Coates and pictures by Keith Bilton.

Thursday 26th. February 2009

Thixendale, Cow Wold, Vessey Hill, Toisland Farm, Birdsall Brow, Birdsall, Birdsall Grange, Clombe Wood, Car Nab Wood, The Hermitage, Burythorpe (Bay Horse), Leavening Brow, Acklam Wold, Hanging Grimston, Wold Farm, Thixendale Grange, Milham Dale, Thixendale (12 miles).

Cloudy & cold with a raw wind at times.

John, Paul, Chris, Col, Keith, Dudley, Ray, Jack.

Dudley & John.

Missing today, but busy elsewhere, were Stu (hanging wallpaper), Sherlock (hitting things with spanners), Craggsy (teeth extraction, preferable to the more painful (for him) wallet extraction) and Bob (jetting off to the Indian sub-continent).

At least today we would be spared the sight of one spoon Stu tucking into his sweet at lunchtime, Sherlock's road rage and Craggsy & Bob demanding money with menaces.

Seven of us set off from Hull while Keith was travelling to Thixendale from the Manchester Airport direction. Having dropped off a relative at the Airport, who was Australia bound, the plan was to meet up at Thixendale hopefully around the same time as the Hull party arrived. And with military precision, and not a little help from John Cleese and his SatNav, Keith arrived at Thixendale just 2 minutes before the Hull contingent.

Dudley turned up in his new car today (or as Chris would have it, nearly new). Dud had earlier complained that he'd had to wash it after it's inaugural journey to Odsal Stadium just days before.

Apparently the parking area was more akin to a field than a car park and Dud's vehicle ended up splattered in mud. So as he drove along the (very) narrow lanes towards Thixendale he was confronted by a delivery van coming in the opposite direction. There was only one thing for it, Dudley would have to drive onto the muddy grass verge to allow the van to pass. Still now he's semi-retired he has plenty of time to wash it.......again.

There was quite a chill in the air as we set off but we soon had the blood circulating as we made our way up the steep, and aptly named, Cow Wold.

Around the Toisland Farm/Birdsall Brow area we were relieved to find that the usual herds of mean looking cows, that seem to dislike walkers trampling over their pasture, were absent today.

In the past these future pie fillings have been known to stampede in an attempt to frighten us off, but not today. Plus we were going down Birdsall Brow for a change so all was well in the world.

St. Mary's, Birdsall

Around St Marys Church in Birdsall there was a fine display of snowdrops.

Further along our route at Car Nab Wood we came upon some very boggy ground. Apart from John, the rest of us managed to skirt round the worst of it but as we approached a gate we had no option but to wade through it.

There were various protruding stones and pieces of wood lying in the mud and bog just inviting the wary walker to step on them. Again most of us got through unscathed with only John opting for the muddy trousers option.

As we steadily made our way towards Burythorpe village we were entertained by Jack's tale of woe regarding his new door bell. It appears that not only is it useful for alerting the Rhoades family to visiting friends and family, chiming out the tune of Greensleeves, but it has also been known to ring out Greensleeves when cars pass by his gate. We did speculate that a more appropriate tune would either be the Theme from the Dukes of Hazzard, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang or even Hello John Got a New Motor.....!

It was our first visit to the Bay Horse in Burythorpe and all agreed it was not a bad place at all. It seems to mainly cater for the motoring eater but they made this gaggle of walking drinkers very welcome.

There was one little misunderstanding as we arrived at the pub with the landlady quickly laying out menus on our chosen table. Sadly we had to decline her offer of sustenance as our ever generous treasurer Paul Craggs was missing today. He would have liked it at the Bay Horse though as there were plenty of newspapers lying around, indeed it was Craggsy heaven.

From Burythorpe it was a long steady slog up towards Hanging Grimston. As we got higher the cold wind became stronger. We decided to take our afternoon break alongside Wold Farm with the surrounding trees giving us shelter from the cold raw wind blowing from the North West.

Ready for a pint or three in the Bay Horse

Later, as we made our way down Milham Dale and Thixen Dale towards our start point, Keith came up with the idea of possibly having a quiz at our annual Christmas bash in Millington.

A few ideas were kicked around as to who would set the quiz and what sort of questions would be asked. There could be general knowledge and sport and Paul even suggested questions on walks during the year gone by. Top of the list would have to be what tune does Jack's door bell play when a car passes by his house? All together now de daw de daw de de daw da da.............................