Captain's Log

Hull

‘Everything okay?’ asked the breakfast assistant at Hull City Premier Inn.
‘Yes fine’ I replied. Although it wasn’t. The baked beans were at best lukewarm. To be honest, I don’t really mind cold baked beans, but I guess I should have said something so that everybody else wouldn’t get cold ones. The Premier Inn at Hull was a bit odd. The first six floors were dedicated to car parking, the seventh was used for reception and the restaurant and the four floors above were for accommodation. This meant that I did get a good view of the River Humber yesterday evening as the sun set. It was black outside as I ate breakfast. Even so, from the few lights around I could see that rain was thrashing down. The BBC Weather forecast this morning indicated that rain would remain over the River Humber until late morning. This was bad news since my walk today was my second section on my Trans Pennine Trail Venture and would take me from Brough, back to Hull, alongside the River Humber. I’d take the train from Hull to Brough and then walk back. I put my wet weather gear on before leaving the hotel. 

The tourist fingerpost in the main square of Hull City centre had about a dozen fingers pointing in various directions. Not one of them said Railway Station. There was something called Paragon Interchange, but this didn’t have the rail network symbol next to it. Not only that, it pointed exactly at the middle of some offices that bisected two streets. It was too wet to get my phone out for Google Maps and so I took a  punt and chose one of the streets. It was wrong of course, but a helpful window cleaner put me back on to the correct track. I entered the Paragon Interchange (it was a railway station) and boarded a train for Brough. 

Brough

It was about a five minute walk from the station to the side of the River Humber. I say, the ‘side of the River Humber’, but that’s not always a tangible thing you can point at with the Humber. Due to the reeds, marshes, mudflats, tides and sandbanks, it isn't always clear what is the exact edge of the river. I remember reading once that somebody had waded across the river. I reckon you’d sink up to your waist in mud before you got a couple of metres. What about the deep channel that allows ships to sail upstream to Goole too? It would have been impossibe; I must have misremembered it. 

The rain was thrashing down as I made my way along the grassy embankment. The wind was coming from the southeast and so I could see waves of rain approach me from  the south bank of the river.  It looked like they were busy with new builds in Brough. I guess it is becoming established as a commuter town into Hull.    

The embankment ran between the river and a lake. Across the lake I got my first sight of the top of the north tower of the Humber Bridge. I reached another lake where anglers were trying their luck. I reached a fingerpost that indicated the TPT went away from the river. There was another public footpath sign pointing alongside the river. Which one should I choose? I vaguely remembered that there was some sort of difficulty with the riverside path. Was it something to do with the tide? It was too wet to get my phone out and check and so I decided to follow the official TPT signage and I headed away from the river.

North Ferriby

The path followed the edge of the lake and then meandered into some woodland. Industrial complexes appeared and the path found its way in between the various fences. I’d not seen any further TPT signs and I wondered whether I’d made the right decision. I then hit a road and saw a TPT sign telling me to walk even further away from the river. The road was busy with huge lorries going in both directions, to and from the industrial sites. I also crossed the railway line from Hull. Hmmm…I wish I’d just gone along the river now. I came to a roundabout and a TPT sign pointed to a footpath alongside a busy dual carriageway. The section along here was well signed which gave me some reassurance. I passed two massive Amazon warehouses, before a TPT sign diverted me from the dual carriage-way into North Ferriby. This turned out to be quite a posh village. The first house I came to had a grass tennis court and a fountain that wouldn’t have looked out of place in Trafalgar Square. The signs started directing me back towards the river and I passed under the railway line. Eventually I reached the river at a nature reserve. There was an elderly lady walking her dog. She said that she was a local and so I asked whether she knew why the TPT was diverted away from the river. She said that it had been a while since she walked that path, but she remembered that there was a particularly muddy section. I guess the other reason the TPT diverts away is because the cyclists wouldn't be able to cycle along the footpath. The Humber Bridge was a lot closer now and I set off towards it. 

Humber Bridge

The views of the Humber Bridge just got better and better, the more I progressed towards it. The span of the bridge looked impossible. I sat down to have my lunch near the north tower. Four cyclists turned up and we started chatting. They were cycling from Hull to Beverly. One of them had cycled the TPT and so I asked a few questions as to how he found it. He rated it highly.    

The sun was out now and the day had transformed from this morning’s washout. Flood barriers had been erected along the river bank near to the bridge. I’m not sure I’d want to live in any of the nearby houses. The river must be terrifying if it reaches that height. The trail near to the Humber Bridge was well defined. As I got further away, it became less distinct and obviously less used. At one point I ended up diverting away from the river again into yet more industrial complexes, before being diverted back. The path then went alongside a busy dual carriageway. Heavy lorries thundered past just a few metres away. For long stretches there was no crash barrier and so if any vehicle had come off the road, any walkers wouldn’t stand much chance. It wasn’t a pleasant section.   

I  read with interest an information board about a man who waded across the river. This was the very same man I’d been thinking about at the start of today’s walk and had come to the conclusion that it was infeasible and I’d misremembered it. I'd been right after all.  The board indicated that Graham Boanas had the benefit of a diving suit, which is why he was able to ‘walk’ unaided through the deepest part of the river. I still don’t know how he achieved it with all that soft mud. The suit must have made him heavier too. 

The dual carriage way drifted away from the river and it became quieter. I came across plenty of fishermen casting rods into the Humber from the path. I reached the St Andrew’s Quay Retail Park that seemed to drag on forever on my left hand side. I’d not seen a TPT sign for ages, but I assumed I was okay since there was only one path running alongside the river. Things then got rather tricky. 

Plan B

The retail park ended at last. Further along the riverside path I could see a derelict building. My map said the path went between the building and the river, but this had been blocked off by barriers.  There was no signage for an alternative TPT route. This felt like a very dodgy area. There was graffiti everywhere. My OS map indicated another public footpath on the left side of the derelict house. I headed over the wasteland in that direction. I came across even more derelict buildings. I didn’t like this at all. I went a bit further to where the footpath should be and saw high security fencing. I then noticed some dodgy looking men near one of the entrances of one of the derelict buildings. I decided to backtrack. As I did, another fellow approached with what looked like a wolf on a lead.
‘How do you do?’ I said to him, but I received  nothing in reply.
I found my way back to the retail park and relative safety. I looked at my OS map and couldn’t see any obvious way to progress using footpaths. The dual-carriageway ran parallel to the retail park and it was so busy there was no way I could cross that. I just had to retrace my steps until I found a way to go under or over the dual carriageway. This was a bit frustrating and I had to backtrack quite a distance. I found an exit from the retail park and this led me to a road that went under the dual carriage way. Well, that was some sort of progress. I’d given up any idea of following the TPT into Hull now. I decided to just follow the main roads towards the city centre. It wasn’t exactly thrilling, but there was no alternative. Even following the main roads wasn’t easy. Hull city centre was surrounded by a maze of dual carriage-ways, bridges, roundabouts and anything else that can hinder the progress of a pedestrian. I was grateful when I recognised familiar buildings of the city centre. I’d reached safety at last. 

Hull

A footbridge took me across the dreaded dual carriageway way to the marina area. There were dozens of boats moored up including the Spurn lighthouse boat (I’d be visiting that in a few days time!). Tourists wandered up and down the pavements of the marina without a care in the world. How different this place  was to the derelict hell that I’d tried to get through earlier. I noticed a TPT sign pointing along the riverbank upstream. Maybe the route finding is easier if you approach the derelict area from Hull? Who knows, I wasn't going back to find out (*). I crossed over more bridges to reach the Premier Inn from where I’d set out this morning. 

There had been nice parts of this walk, particularly around the Humber Bridge. The bridge was definitely the highlight of the walk. There had been other sections though that weren’t as pleasant, such as the odd diversion through North Ferriby, walking the long stretch next to the busy dual carriage way and that nightmare derelict area near Hull city centre, where I had to go quite a distance out of my way just to finish the walk. I just hope when I complete the TPT sections through Liverpool and Manchester, I don’t encounter similar problems.    

(*) -  1/11/26 Update - A week later, I was back in Hull and I decided to investigate whether you could progress along the TPT from the city centre to the dreaded derelict area near St Andrew’s Quays. I found out that the trail was fenced off at the west end of Wellington Street West, about a quarter of a mile  from the marina. Basically, the stretch from the east end of St Andrew’s Quays, along the old William Wright and Albert docks, to the west end of Wellington Street West was unavailable to pedestrians/cyclists. I didn’t get the feeling that the situation would be remedied soon. Unless you are brave enough to go into the dystopian derelict area near St Andrew’s Quays,  and find some way along the south of the dual carriageway, I’d suggest that you follow my Plan B route and head for Hessle Road to lead you into the city.