Kingston Upon Hull (2)

Walk Details:
Date: 4/12/2005
Total ascent: 1m/ 3ft
Total distance walked: 0.34 miles
Walk difficulty: 0/10
Enjoyment rating: 0.5/10
Best bits: Surprising (although still not that great) views considering it’s still only 11 metres above sea level
Worst bits: A thoroughly miserable top – on the roadside at a completely indeterminate point, with cold and gloomy weather to match.
Walkers: Anth, Jim
Car Parking: You can park freely on any of the roads in the nearby housing estate; on a quiet day it may even be possible to stop on Wawne Road itself. We parked on Pennine Way at TA 097 358

Top details:
Name: Wawne Road, Bransholme
County top number: 109 of 205
Grid reference: TA 09660 35923 Map
Height above sea level: 11m/ 36ft
How nice was the top? 0.5/10
Views: 2/10
Description/Notes: Bransholme vies with East Mount for the title of highest point in the unitary authority of Kingston Upon Hull. The high point at Bransholme is an indeterminate point along Wawne Road (although a mound in the adjacent school grounds may be higher)

The Walk:

From looking at the maps we’d pretty much decided that our previous top at East Mount was the “real” Hull county top – it had a trig point and everything. However, as the OS maps showed spot heights equal to the trig point in Bransholme we felt we should go there too for completeness.

The Os maps showed a spot height of 11 metres in two different places. The 1:50,000 map showed the spot height as being just south of the junction between Wawne Road (which somehow looks mis-spelt) and Pennine Way, whilst the theoretically more accurate 1:25,000 showed it as being to the north. We parked in Pennine Way and walked briefly up and down Wawne Road. It was fairly flat, and their was certainly no clear highest point. Watching the GPS flicker between 10m and 11m, we decided that the point where it was most on 11m was to the north of the junction – but not as far up as the spot height shown by the OS map. From here there were, somewhat surprisingly, views across Hull to the west. With heavy cloud having moved in, even this view was gloomy and depressing.

The true top of Hull may not actually be on Wawne Road. In school grounds on the eastern side of the road there was a small scrubby mound that looked higher than the road. However, the school was surrounded by sturdy iron railings, and we couldn’t find a way in – we felt very dubious about breaking into a school anyway. As it wasn’t marked on the OS map as an antiquity it wouldn’t count under Alan Dawson’s hill-bagging rules, and frankly we weren’t too bothered anyway – the trig at East Mount still made for a better top! We were grateful to get back to the car and head out of Hull for more exciting county tops.