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Thursday 9 February 2017

Bridges and Landmarks



These are the bridges that I encounter on my walk around Dovecot Dell, Butterbump Splash and back home to Little Bunting.   Of course the villages are not really called those names, they are for blogging purposes, but they are perfectly apt.

The route I took (the one I use most often) is about three miles long and these are most of the footbridges which I have to cross.    There are a couple more, plus stiles, but I forgot to photograph them.   You get the general idea though.

Deep drainage ditches and beautiful chalk streams which bubble up through the earth to become a small river.

The one with metal sides is an interesting one - a number of years ago, during bad weather, the original bridge became weak and collapsed under the weight of the local farmer's car, it took a nose-dive into the waters.   This is the much sturdier replacement.  Ugly, but I imagine that he feels much safer using it.

The bridge which goes over the lane is the final bridge before I get home.   It is the old railway bridge and trains used to run along it from about the mid 1800's.  They ran up and down the East Coast until Dr Beeching saw fit to close the line in about 1960.


It is not a completely wet and watery walk, there are lots of beautiful things along the way - the old watermill buildings, the Manor House on the hill, the dovecote of course, and some cottages in beautiful settings.

The weather may be dull, the ground may be sodden, but there is always something beautiful, or interesting to look at.
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10 comments:

  1. A wonderful country walk! Must be a very fertile area with those streams and bridges. I do like those small wooden ones

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    1. Definitely good farming land for both crops and livestock. Good Wellington boots are absolutely vital though. By the time you have slipped and slithered through some fields you can have about half a stone of mud on each boot. It has been a wet winter.

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  2. So glad you took lots of pictures as it would be just the kind of walk
    I enjoy! You need to write a story based in Butterbump Splash! Great name!

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    1. I'm glad you like it! The walk never fails to make me happy, gentle landscape, animals and a few beautiful buildings which are steeped in history. Even on the soggiest day there is something to enjoy.

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  3. Thought Unrecognised one as an old railway bridge, afraid Breeching did the same round here has well, I like following the old lines. We have a preserved railway going from the village to the next town. The rest of the bridges are not dissimilar to onesnyou here.

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    1. My alternative walk is along the old railway line. Trees and shrubs have almost enclosed the line now, but once a year some of it gets cut back for a motor-bike race and the most wonderful cathedral-like spaces are created. That poor old bridge took some damage from a skip lorry, about a year or two ago. The road was closed for ages while they agreed a repair plan...it was bliss with no traffic going past our house!

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  4. I found your new blog a couple of days, ago. I am chuffed. I have missed you and your blog.
    So much fun going into your archives and catching up.

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    1. Hello SAS and welcome! The names have been changed, but that is about all. I missed the world of blog too much to stay away for long, but I still get really cross when I find my old PTL blog posts pinned on someone else's blog and presented as their work. I got a lot of them taken down, but the process is a long one and I realised that I was never going to eradicate them all!

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  5. Sorry no need to post the last one of mine or this. I found the places on Google earth I see they are from around Claythorpe, looks a nice area if a little flat around there.

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    1. Hello Bill, Gentle undulations just about covers it! We are on the edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds so we can just nip across the A16 to take in some truly hilly countryside. Now that the sea of mud is receding walking is becoming much more pleasant.

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Lovely to hear from you.
I will try to answer comments in the next post.