{"id":606,"date":"2013-03-23T01:44:19","date_gmt":"2013-03-23T01:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=606"},"modified":"2013-03-12T17:04:06","modified_gmt":"2013-03-12T17:04:06","slug":"walesby-and-the-lincolnshire-wolds-lincs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/?p=606","title":{"rendered":"Walesby and the Lincolnshire Wolds, Lincs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A blustery cold day at the start of spring, with bursts of snow racing across the Lincolnshire Wolds. <script type=\"text\/javascript\">window.onload = setupZoom; function popwalk(walk) {var url = \"\/Walks\/amap.php?f=\"+walk; varwalkwindow=window.open(url,\"walkwin\",\"height=750,width=1030,resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes\"); if (window.focus) {walkwindow.focus()}}<\/script>First published in: The Times <a href=\"javascript:popwalk('Walesby.gpx');\" rel=\"nozoom\" title=\"Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window\">Click here to view a map for this walk in a new window<\/a><\/script><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4047\/4428539495_d701415231.jpg\" title='Ramblers Church, Walesby - faces'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4047\/4428539495_d701415231_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4031\/4428539373_a170c2df74.jpg\" title='Ramblers Church, Walesby'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4031\/4428539373_a170c2df74_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4017\/4429305678_55819ff6c4.jpg\" title='Lincoln long-wool sheep drinking at Risby Manor duckpond'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4017\/4429305678_55819ff6c4_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4006\/4428538927_b0da199ffe.jpg\" title='Lincoln long-wool sheep'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4006\/4428538927_b0da199ffe_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4046\/4429305270_3f460012e4.jpg\" title='shape of the Wolds'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4046\/4429305270_3f460012e4_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4032\/4429305166_fdcb49c176.jpg\" title='Ramblers Church, Walesby - stained glass window'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4032\/4429305166_fdcb49c176_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4046\/4428538427_86ce20a000.jpg\" title='Castle Farm'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm5.static.flickr.com\/4046\/4428538427_86ce20a000_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2703\/4429304902_61f4bd02ed.jpg\" title='deer near Risby Manor'><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2703\/4429304902_61f4bd02ed_s.jpg\" alt=\"picture\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nFacebook Link: <script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"http:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/wordpress\/?p=606\" layout=\"button_count\" show_faces=\"true\" width=\"200\" colorscheme=\"dark\"><\/fb:like><br \/>\nSeen from afar as a modest green bar on the horizon, the Wolds loomed, close-to, as a considerable wall. This long whaleback of limestone and ironstone rises some 300 feet above the Lincolnshire plains, a height lent grandeur by the flatness of the surrounding landscape. <\/p>\n<p>\u2018Tealby, Claxby, Normanby, Otby, Walesby, Risby\u2019 said the map. So many \u2018-by\u2019s in this part of the world &#8211; the Norse word for a farmstead, denoting where 9th century Danish invaders settled and beat their swords into ploughshares (to some extent). Outside Tealby the Viking Way long-distance path handed me over to a footpath at the feet of the Wolds, running through Walesby and on through the wind-whistle fields. From Claxby I went steeply up the grassy escarpment, picturing the village\u2019s founder, one Klakkr \u2013 rather a fierce fighter, I guessed, carrying the smack and clatter of swords in his name. Up in the wind on the wold top at Normanby, I rejoined the Viking Way and followed its horned helmet symbols down to lonely Otby on its ridge, then back to Walesby tucked into the valley below.<\/p>\n<p>Walesby folk have not always dwelt in the vale. In the Middle Ages the village lay high on the Wolds, but when the Black Death arrived in 1348 the inhabitants fled their plague-blasted settlement and its church. I found snowdrops and daffodils growing on the ancient foundations of houses and fields around St Andrew\u2019s \u2013 known to generations as the \u2018Ramblers Church\u2019. It became the focus of local walkers\u2019 expeditions in the 1930s, when it stood in romantic ruins. Nowadays there\u2019s a most beautiful stained glass window depicting a red-robed Christ beckoning across a cornfield to a trio of clean-limbed young ramblers of the old school, while a brace of 1950s cyclists waits to attract his attention.<\/p>\n<p>Medieval masons carved a jostle of cheeky, coarse-featured faces among the stone foliage of the nave pillars. I took some snaps and had a chuckle, then followed the Viking Way on along the ridge. Near Walesby Top a herd of 40 red deer watched me pass. The flock of pedigree Lincoln long-wool sheep at Risby \u2013 hefty beasts with a llama-like hauteur \u2013 stared through their floppy fringes as if mesmerised. And I stared back beyond them, out west to the edge of sight, where an apocalyptic sunburst sent Blakean shafts from blackening clouds to pick out the two towers of Lincoln cathedral on their ridge some twenty miles away.<br \/>\nStart &#038; finish: King\u2019s Head, Tealby, Lincolnshire LN8 3YA (OS ref TF 156905)<\/p>\n<p>Getting there: Tealby is on B1203 near Market Rasen (A46, Lincoln-Caistor)<\/p>\n<p>Walk: (10 miles, moderate, OS Explorer 282): From King\u2019s Head, left to T-junction; right up street. In 200m (156907), up Church Lane to B1203. Left for 50m; right on Viking Way\/VW (fingerpost). In 2nd field, fork left (152911; fingerpost) across fields to Catskin Lane (142917). Forward for \u2153 mile; right (136919) on footpath (fingerpost) into Walesby. Follow VW out of village; right (130924; \u2018Mill House Farm\u2019). Left at fork (129926; \u2018Byway\u2019); in \u2153 mile, left off VW (127931); follow \u2018Byway\u2019 for 1\u00bc miles to road (113942) into Claxby. Right up Normanby Rise; in \u2153 mile, right by reservoir (118948; footpath fingerpost), up side of wood, through 3 gates to road (123949). Right past Normanby church; follow VW. After 3 fields, leave VW (125936); ahead (fingerposts, yellow arrows) to valley bottom. Left (130930; fingerpost) to end of paddock (133933); uphill to Otby House drive (139935). Right to road; right into Walesby. From crossroads by village hall (134924) follow VW for 1\u00be miles past Ramblers Church (138924), Risby Manor and Castle Farm to Tealby.<\/p>\n<p>Lunch: King\u2019s Head, Tealby (01673-838347; <a href=\"http:\/\/thekingsheadtealby.co.uk\">thekingsheadtealby.co.uk<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Accommodation: Advocate Arms, Queen Street, Market Rasen (01673-842364; advocatearms.co.uk) \u2013 stylish and very welcoming<\/p>\n<p>Info: Lincoln TIC (01522-873256); <a href=\"http:\/\/visitlincolnshire.com\">visitlincolnshire.com<\/a><br \/>\n<A HREF=\"http:\/\/www.ramblers.org.uk\/\">www.ramblers.org.uk<\/A> <A HREF=\"http:\/\/www.satmap.com\/\">www.satmap.com<\/A> <A HREF=\"http:\/\/www.LogMyTrip.co.uk\/\">www.LogMyTrip.co.uk<\/A><br \/>\nClick on Facebook &#8220;Like&#8221; link to share this walk with Facebook friends.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A blustery cold day at the start of spring, with bursts of snow racing across the Lincolnshire Wolds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-walks","category-3-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/606\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.christophersomerville.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}