Kesteven (1)

Walk Details:
Date: 23/7/2005
Total ascent: 5m/ 16ft
Total distance walked: 0.92 miles
Walk difficulty: 1/10
Enjoyment rating: 2.5/10
Best bits: Reasonable views
Worst bits: Path besides the A607 very awkward to walk on
Walkers: Anth, Jim
Car Parking: There’s a layby on the A16 at SK 855 308

Top details:
Name: Big Wood
County top number: 86 of 207
Grid reference: SK 85187 30989
Height above sea level: 152m/ 499ft
How nice was the top? 2/10
Views: 3/10
Description/Notes: Big Wood vies with Buckminster Water Tower for the title of highest point in the former county of Parts of Kesteven. The high point at Big Wood is an indeterminate point on the Viking Way footpath south of Big Wood.

The Walk:

We could tell at once when we left the Parts of Holland and entered the Parts of Kesteven. Immediately we started to see low hills around us. After the bizarrely flat, almost alien-looking landscape of Holland, Kesteven was almost shockingly different, but disappointingly nowhere near as dramatic.

We had to cross the whole former county to reach the highest point, which was located on the western edge. Knowing that the top would not be a dramatic one, we parked as close as possible, in a layby on the A607. We faced a short walk along the A607 to get onto the Viking Way, but Jim found us a footpath just inside the field boundary to the left. This turned out to be a mistake – The vegetation along the path had recently been half-cut back, meaning that you still had to force your way through it but at the same time there were plenty of dead bits to drop inside your shoes. The hard ground was incredibly bumpy underfoot, making it easy to turn an ankle (in the dry conditions with such short flat walks we hadn’t yet felt it necessary to put on walking boots).

Soon reaching the the Viking Way, we turned right and followed it across the A607. The wide, heavily rutted track of the Viking Way now headed very gently uphill for about half a kilometre, with good views opening to the right and pretty rose bay willow herb all around. The track was just inside the county boundary, and so nearly flat that it was almost impossible to determine the highest point, but we had a go anyway! We also took an altitude reading to compare against the other potential Kesteven top near Buckminster (there was no spot height on the OS maps here, but the path did run above the 150m contour for a couple of hundred metres).

On the way back down the Viking Way we encountered a couple of cyclists who were having enormous trouble with the ruts (one of them fell off as we watched!). We returned to the car via the A607 rather than the awkward parallel path, and drove off to Buckminster for the second Kesteven top.