Captain's Log

Hornsea

Today was the first day on my Trans Pennine Trail (TPT) Venture. This is a trail that stretches from Hornsea on the east coast to Southport on the west coast and is 215 miles long. It goes through Hull, Selby, Doncaster, Penistone, Manchester and Liverpool on the way. For some reason Hornsea is deemed the end-point. I’d decided to section hike the TPT, by walking from Hornsea to Penistone (east to west) and Southport to Penistone (west to east). Today’s walk would be about a 15 mile walk from Hornsea to Hull.  

There was quite an impressive monument at the start/termination point at Hornsea. I’m not sure what it was meant to represent, but it was quite a high pole with the Trans Pennine Trail insignia on top (a bit like two waves), that could swivel about in the wind. I went out the onto the sand and dipped my boots in the sea. I picked up a sufficiently small pebble with me to carry me on the walk back to Penistone.    

The start of the trail proper was at the old railway station. The building has now been converted into housing. There was another large TPT  sign and also some stonework that informed me Southport was 215 miles away. It was quite an impressive entry point to the trail…well, certainly more overstated than say, the Pennine Way. I set off along the trail with a spring in my step. 

Line Walking

The trail followed the route of the old railway line. In fact, it would follow it for most of the way to Hull. Consequently it was flat and more or less straight. As with all railway lines that have been converted to walking/cycling trails, the vegetation on either side of the path may block the view and so it seems as though you are walking through a long tunnel of branches a lot of the time. Some might find this a bit tedious, but it does mean that when the views do open up, you appreciate them more. There were plenty of early morning dog-walkers about on the initial part of the trail, seemingly on bowel opening manoeuvres. That’s the dogs, rather the owners, but I guess you never know. By the time I was a kilometre outside the outskirts of Hornsea, I had the trail to myself. For about 10 kilometres I wouldn’t see anybody else. It seemed odd that on a sunny Sunday day, I would find nobody else on the trail. From past experience, I knew that the TPT around my local area would be full of walkers and cyclists on a Sunday morning. I guess the difference was that there were very few towns and villages around here. When the trail side vegetation did clear, all I saw were miles and miles of fields, with the odd farm dotted here and there. The trail didn’t even cross that many roads. After about an hour and half of walking I was ready for a break. I’d not come across one bench to sit on during all that time from Hornsea. I ended up sitting on a stone that formed part of a small bridge.   

The trail had been tarmac from Hornsea, but it then changed to grit. There wasn’t much give in either and so the trail was hard on the legs and feet. Eventually, I met one or two cyclists coming towards me. Presumably, some of these were Hull cyclists doing an out-and-back to Hornsea. I then started to see more walkers. A few carparks started appearing along the trail, which probably explained why I was seeing more people. I could waymark my progress by ticking off  the old railway platforms that still existed along the trail. 

BANG!

BANG! Bloody hell! I nearly jumped out of my skin. In fact I did actually jump forward. It sounded like somebody had set off a shotgun in the field next to me. BANG! There goes  another one. It still made me jump even though I was half prepared for it. I looked over the field next to me, but I couldn’t see anybody. Looking at the treeline at its far side, I spotted something orange that looked like a high-viz jacket. I got out my compact with a zoom lens to have a closer look. It was actually a large canister that appeared to be connected via a rubber hose to a tube like mechanism. It must have been an automated system to scare away the birds. It certainly scared this particular TPT user. I heard it kicking off every 5 minutes or so for another 20 minutes. 

It didn’t scare off the Seagulls following a tractor on one of the massive fields. I’m not sure whether the farmer was sowing seeds or ploughing the fields, but the Seagulls followed the tractor in a continuous wave. There must have been hundreds of them. 

On the skyline I saw the tall cylinders  that form the stem of windmills stacked in a line. I knew that these were on the side of the River Humber and so I figured I must be getting near Hull. I then saw a couple of cooling towers and some high rise flats. Oddly enough, none of these seemed to get any closer as I plodded onwards. In fact, the windmills disappeared altogether for a while. Even though the route seemed incredibly flat, there must have been times I was in some sort of imperceptible dip that restricted my view. Eventually though, I finally reached the housing that formed the outskirts of Hull. 

Hull Outskirts

Sometimes it was actually hard to tell that I was passing through an urban area. The vegetation on either side of the trail blocked views of the housing. There were certainly more people out now. There was more dog shite too. Every so often, the trail would cross a road and this brief encounter with urbanisation would confirm that I was indeed in Hull. The outskirts of Hull seemed reasonable enough. I came across some games and play areas that were completely deserted. A lot of money seems to have been invested in providing the facilities, but nobody seems to use them. Maybe kids just don't do five-a-side football, basketball and playground stuff any more. There was even an impressive outdoor gym that was begging to be used. As I got further along the trail, graffiti started to become more ubiquitous. A few people had put barbed wire along the top of their fence that backed on to the TPT. I spotted my first electric bike rider wearing a black puffa jacket and balaclava. The CCTV camera on the top of a high mast on the trail was surrounded in a metal cage. The area became more threatening. Large industrial complexes also started to appear along the route. 

Approaching The Centre

A gypsy pulled a small trap along the road and then veered off onto the TPT in the same direction I was heading. The trail was lined on each side by high security fencing for large industrial complexes. It was a perfect area for an ambush. I kept a good distance behind my gypsy friend. The TPT reached a park and the gypsy and his trap went into it. I followed and saw that there were two horses staked on the grassy area and the gypsy was attaching the trap to one of the horses. I moved on through the park and found yet another deserted kid’s play area. It was all a bit spooky. I left the park and reached some major roads leading into the city centre. It was a Sunday and there weren't many people around. Even though I was near the centre, there still seemed to be large industrial complexes. I saw one chap that I was pretty sure was trying to break into some shutters of a building, rather than lock them up. Further along the road I could see two youths kicking at a damaged wall of a building. Fortunately, my route didn’t take me towards them. I could even see the top of the Premier Inn building that I’d be staying in tonight. I made a mental note not to venture far from the building after dark. 

Hull Old Town

I turned off onto the cobbled High Street in the Old Town and seemed to enter a different world. The street was surrounded by wonderful, old buildings. By chance, I’d entered the Museum Quarter of the city. I stopped at the Chasing Caffeine coffee shop and had the best coffee and chocolate brownie that I’ve tasted for a while. I couldn’t believe the difference after crossing the Drypool bridge. It seemed like two different worlds. It was still too early to book into the hotel and so I decided to have a quick potter around the old part of town. I’d be coming back to Hull next weekend to have a more thorough look, but I thought I’d get a feel of the place today. The Old Town was very impressive with well presented streets. There were lots of old pubs to investigate. Hull Minster looked very impressive. I made my way along Silver Street to the Rose Bowl Fountain. I’d felt a bit despondent about next weekend’s visit, after my approach through the dystopian outskirts to the centre, but now I felt more positive that Hull had something to offer.    

I’d knocked about 15 miles off my TPT Venture. Only another 200 miles to go. I intended walking the section between Hull and Brough tomorrow and so that would be some more progress. Today had been a good day’s walk. The long, straight stretches along tarmac/grit tracks won’t be to everyone’s taste, but the advantage is that you do click off the miles quickly. I suggest that you shouldn’t get too despondent walking through the outskirts of Hull to the city centre, since the centre itself appears to be a lot more interesting.