Forgot to say yesterday that it was our 33rd wedding anniversary, not that we did anything special. Today, we get up early again and the lovely team at Humberside airport Hampton by Hilton provide us with bread, ham and cheese to make sandwiches free of charge as they can’t provide any and there are no open nearby shops. They even give us paper sandwich bags.
We make our way back onto the A18. Even on a Saturday morning, it’s busy and has very little verge: the worst A road so far. We soon turn off and make our way along an unclassified road for a short way, past quarry works and onto a bridleway.
The bridleway immediately takes us into farmland again and the customary hare appears and scampers along the path ahead of us. This whole area is very rural despite its proximity to heavy industry. We amble up a rise and glimpse our first sighting of the Humber Bridge. It looks delicate and modest from this distance but, to paraphrase Father Ted, it’s not small, it’s far away. It was, in fact, the longest single span suspension bridge in the world for sixteen years and remains the eighth largest. It accompanies us intermittently for most of the rest of the day.
It’s a surprisingly sunny day and I unearth my sun hat, which has remained in my rucksack for the last couple of days. We carry on along the chalk ridge following our own plans ( well, Richard’s really) because the Viking Way adds a few extra miles on this section as it is quite indirect. Our unique route is lovely with lots of countryside and, even though we are so close to civilisation, the only noises we hear are the screech of a buzzard and the chatter of yellow hammers. We even spot a lesser black-backed among the herring gulls. We gradually descend into the pretty town of Barton on Humber and approach the Humber Bridge itself.
The east path on the bridge is closed so we go under it to reach the west and climb some stairs to start our crossing. At 2.2km long, the Humber Bridge is the longest single span suspension bridge in the world that you can walk across and it is magnificent. It’s high enough that ships can pass beneath and it just has a simple handrail (somewhat to Richard’s vertiginous chagrin). It’s also the only walkway I’ve been on with a SLOW sign. Even better, as we walk towards the first pillar, a curlew flies beneath us!
Leaving the bridge, we enter Hessle Country Park to walk to the Hull West Premier Inn. We descend a steep staircase into the park only to discover that there is no far exit, so we complete a circuit of it, including ascending the steps, and go via the road instead. We arrive at our destination, still exhilarated from our bridge experience and, of course, entering Yorkshire.
Total distance so far: 167 miles
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