[1] This walk begins in the Market Place, Caistor. Walk down Plough Hill and on to Horsemarket, with a Spar shop on the right. As the road veers right, notice the double red doors in the hillside.
(A) This once housed the town’s horse-drawn fire engine, and dates from 1869. The call out fee was £3, a huge sum on those days that only the wealthy could afford.
Continue now to a road junction and here, continue in the same direction crossing when convenient to a waymarked path by a lamp post.
Here, you will see the ‘Viking Way’ waymark. The Viking Way is a long distance footpath running 147 miles between the Humber Bridge and Oakham in Rutland. It was created in recognition of the influence the Vikings exercised over the county when they invaded in the 9th century.
Follow the path, emerging on a road by garages. Follow the road to its end and go left, keeping left to join a path behind a wooden garage, arriving via a ramp at a busy road. Cross with care and descend a steep and potentially slippery surfaced path, then go through a kissing gate into a field.
You now follow a number of field boundaries via gates (all well-signed) until factory units appear ahead. Here, go half-left, picking up the right boundary and going through a gate to a lane where you turn right, following the lane to a junction. Go left and walk through the village of Nettleton, then taking a left fork along a lane towards Nettleton Grange Farm. On reaching the farm, with the farmhouse up to the right, go left, over a substantial stile, then walk right, keeping to the lower side of the pasture with a pond right
[2]. Follow this pleasant, though sometimes boggy route keeping Nettleton Beck to your right. If you spot any white cattle with black muzzles, they will be British White cattle, one of the country’s oldest beef cattle breeds with a history going back more than 800 years. Eventually, you climb to reach a concrete driveway. Turn left and follow it, still climbing, to a signed right turn. Walk beneath trees now to reach abandoned workings
(B) These are the remains of iron ore mines, the bricked-up adits gave access to the ore seams. The ore was carried by tramway (you can see the embankment to your right) to the top of the hill, from where it went by aerial ropeway down to railway sidings the other side of the ridge. The ore was destined for nearby Scunthorpe and its steel mills. This lower mine opened in the 1959, the top mine on the far side of the Nettleton road up to your right closed the same year after working for 25 years. The opening of this mine was poorly timed, as soon after, cheaper imports with better iron content arrived, forcing closure in 1968. The area has now been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
[3] Your path drops down through the trees and a 2-in-1 gate into open country. Behind you is the closed off entrance to a tunnel through which the Viking Way originally passed. Follow the valley to pass through a further 2-in-1 gate, then continue to climb steadily half-right to the top right corner of the field, where you turn right through a gate and walk along a graveled field side track to the road
[4] Here, turn left and walk along this minor road, which keeps to the ridge for about 1 mile.
(C) Notice the wide grass verges along this road. There are many such roads across the Wolds and indicate that at one time, they would have been drove roads. On a clear day there are extensive views southwest towards Lincoln and the cathedral, some 20 miles distant. You are now very close to the highest point in Lincolnshire (551ft), which is across the field on your left as you draw level to the radar ‘golf ball’. The golf ball is actually Claxby Radar, owned by NATS (National Air Traffic Services). It first appeared sometime in the 1980’s visible as a normal rotating radar dish, added on top of the 1950’s Post Office telephones/BT microwave tower.
You eventually pass a road on the left and soon after as the road begins to descend, look for a kissing gate in the bank on the left.
[5] Go through and follow the left boundary to a corner, then walk ahead across the pasture to a gate in the hedge next to a property. Go through and walk left to a junction. Go right here and walk to the church – the highest in Lincolnshire, as is the village, Normanby-le-Wold. Pass to the right of the church where the road now becomes a track, and at the end, go through a gate into pasture. Follow the left boundary now over a number of fields to reach a dog-leg, where a bench offers rest for the feet and fine views across the valley to Walesby church.
[6] Continue on until after passing through the next gate, the path splits. Your route is ahead, keeping left and ducking beneath tree branches to reach a gate on the left. Go through and turn right, following the right boundary downhill, through a gate and over a footbridge (the ground is very boggy here) to reach a farm drive. Walk a few yards to a junction with horse paddocks ahead. Go half-left across the paddocks guided by fences to the far side and through a gate to reach a field. Walk ahead to eventually pick up the left boundary, then continue to a road. Turn right and walk into Walesby, passing the village hall on the left, then turning left at the junction
[7] Walk to another junction, go right and continue to the bend, where a track leaves left, signed to the Church. Follow this track as it climbs, bearing right to reach the well-known Ramblers Church.
(D) All Saints is a 12th century church, abandoned by 1881 as the village moved down the hill. (You can see the outlines of medieval Walesby in the next field when you resume the walk.) The church was restored the1930s and annual Trinity Sunday service for walkers & cyclists has been held since then. The ‘Ramblers Window’ was installed in 1951 by Grimsby & District. Wayfarers Association.
Continue the walk by passing through the gate into grassland, then walk boundary left to the top of the rise (noticing the aforementioned earthworks to your right). Go through a gate and follow the cross-field path to a tall kissing gate (designed to stop deer jumping over). Now look for the waymarks and descend a slippery slope to the valley bottom, where you can read about the deer farm. Pass through another kissing gate and start the climb (must be one of the steepest in Lincolnshire). At the top, continue ahead along the hilltop to reach Risby Grange, home of the Lincolnshire Longwool sheep breed. It’s worth spending a few minutes looking in the information hut if open.
(E) Sheep farming was the mainstay of the Wolds in medieval times. The coarse wool from this local breed was greatly sought after for the manufacture of worsted cloth, both here and abroad. However, in the 17th century, the government announced a ban on wool export, supported by manufacturers in Yorkshire and Lancashire, who wanted to keep the price of wool at a sustainable level. The principal reason for the protectionist law was to shield English clothing manufacturers from foreign competition, since England had a large supply of wool but a less successful textile industry. The embargo was particularly irksome to the wool producers of Lincolnshire, whose Longwool sheep produced coarse wool, unsuitable for most cloth weaving. Smuggling out wool became widespread and came to be known as the ‘owling trade’, (the term seems to have developed towards the end of the 17th century as the smugglers worked at night). The return cargo was equally illegal, for example avoiding tax on gin, tobacco and brandy. Although this breed was also kept for their meat, it was the wool that was of prime importance, so as this trade declined, so did the Longwool breed.
Continue on, passing through a couple of gates then climbing to the top corner of the pasture
[8]. Go through another gate and follow a shady path, then beyond a further gate, you follow a downhill path that crosses a boardwalk, with a path and gate right, which you ignore. Beyond, your route climbs half-left to a gate by a cottage; go through and walk to the road. Cross and walk left, going right with the road with the church opposite. At a junction, turn right onto Beck Hill and walk into the village.
Tealby is an attractive village with strong Tennyson connections. The 12th century church built of the local soft orange ironstone has many memorials to the Tennyson family and contains the crypt of George Tennyson, Alfred Lord Tennyson’s grandfather. Known as the ‘Tealby Tennysons, this branch of the family were wealthier than the more famous ‘Somersby Tennysons’ and they poured scorn on the future Poet Laureate and his depressive Rector father. The village hall, passed on the left was built in 1930 at the expense of the Tennyson d'Eyncourt Trust. Toilets are available here if the hall or the adjoining shop is open.
More recently, Bernie Taupin, Elton John’s lyricist was born and lived in this road for some years. The words to John’s ‘Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting’ relates to Taupin’s excursions to the Aston Arms pub in Market Rasen (where this walk ends).
Opposite the village hall, turn right into Front Street and follow it, eventually bearing left and at a fork in the road, go left passing the front of the King’s Head pub.
(F) The 14th century Kings Head, one of two public houses in the village, is one of the oldest in the country and the oldest thatched pub in Lincolnshire.
[9] Cross the footbridge and the field beyond to reach a track. Your route is to the right, but first look half-left towards the trees.
(G) Hidden in the woodland are the remains of Bayons Manor, once owned by Charles Tennyson, later Tennyson d'Eyncourt, and the uncle of Alfred, Lord Tennyson. The Tennyson family lived here until 1940 when it was requisitioned s a billet for troops. After the war the estate was purchased by a local farmer, primarily for the farmland as the house was already derelict and becoming dangerous. Because of its dangerous condition a subsequent owner had it demolished in 1964.
Continue right, along the track to the road. Turn right and walk for a short distance to a stile on the left. Beyond, cross the footbridge and walk ahead, boundary left, to the field corner. Here, proceed on a narrow path passing sewage works and bear left at a junction of the footpaths to arrive at a pair of kissing gates. Pass through the left hand gate then proceed half-right to another. Continue in the same direction across the field, through a further gate and onward to a stile in the field corner next to a house. Walk to the road and cross the bridge ahead, then turn right and in a few yards pass through a gate into pasture.
[10] Walk the length of the grassland to a kissing gate in the far left corner, then beyond, strike out across the field (half-right with your back to the gate) to reach a footbridge. Beyond, walk ahead with a ditch on you left initially, then keep in the same direction across this large field aiming for a pair of trees, and on again eventually crossing a track. In the following field, keep a straight path aiming for distant farm buildings, to reach a gate and track just before them. Cross the track following the waymarks, though a gate, then skirt the barns and buildings, going through further gates to reach the farm drive, which you follow a few yards to its end . Cross the woodland track and take the waymarked path ahead, with silver birch then conifers right and younger trees left, eventually arriving at a wide track. The remainder of this woodland stretch now requires careful navigation! Cross the track and follow the waymarked path ahead. Ignore a path running back left
[11]. Continue to reach a broad path going right, with a waymark post pointing ahead. Ignore the waymark and turn right on this grassy track, soon passing a track on the right.. Walk on to a T-junction where you go left, continuing to a right turn. Take this and walk without deviation to reach a major cross-track, continue ahead, going over a bridge spanning the River Rase.
[12] Now, as you walk on, look carefully for a small stream running beneath a second bridge. Immediately beyond on the left is an indistinct and at times a little overgrown path. Take this path and follow it as it meanders next to the stream. Eventually as the path broadens you reach a junction . You need to continue roughly in the same direction, so to do that, go left over the stream, then immediately right. Continue now on a good path to reach (with some relief) the edge of the wood by a field corner.
[13] It’s easy now! Turn left and walk to reach fields with a farm over to the right. Follow the clear path ahead across fields, beyond which the path continues between fences with lakes left . The path leads to a housing development; once on the Tarmac, go left immediately following footpath signs that lead you beyond the road onto a path that soon turns right, taking you behind gardens onto the driveway of a nursing home, thence to a road.
Cross to Waterloo Street and follow this, passing beneath the railway, to eventually arrive at Church Street on the right. Take this with the church visible ahead. On reaching George Street, cross to the church path and follow it, going left when possible to end the walk in the Market Square and the Aston Arms (remember Bernie Taupin’s lyrics?).