The end

So, this is the end of the Viking Way. 200 miles, I had to go back to the car every-time, in effect I walked it twice. I have set up a small website as a side project with usual musings https://spark.adobe.com/page/6qT6lYFam1TlG/  - enjoy...








Dog fisher

Rocket base

Lincolnshire's secret rocket base turns out to be a replica of Thunderbird 3 at Humberside Airport.

The white cliffs

Lincolnshire's secret rocket base turns out to be a replica of Thunderbird 3 at Humberside Airport.

Brocklesby show

It's country show season again. Part of the Police Anti-wildlife Crime Unit display at Brocklesby country show.

Is it farming?

Farms are really starting to look like factories these days, they just get bigger and bigger. Though it's difficult to tell at ground level, this one looks about the size 20 football pitches. Often it's not possible to tell what is inside them, could be chickens, pigs, cows (for milk).

Some of us have a big moral problem with the treatment of animals in this way. The farmers (can they still be called farmers?) know this. Most of these 'factories' are built in out-of-the-way places and are often hidden at ground level by the planting of high hedging. This one, being new, can be seen clearly from the road.

"The Independent has identified dozens of such farms operating across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, pinpointing - for the first time - at least 50 confinement units, and 20 CAFO-style facilities. More are understood to be in the pipeline. The largest units hold over 2,000 cows, in comparison to the average UK herd size of around 125." The Independent

BUY FREE RANGE!

Horses in purdah

Horses can suffer from nasty fly afflictions during the summer and sometimes need to be covered. It makes them look a little weird, as though they were in purdah, but they seem to be able to go about their business as normal.

NO FORNICATION

Adding to my collection of landowners officious signage... It's the first time I have seen a sign that prohibits fornication and the throwing of dogs into lakes!

I think that if it was legal, some landowners would class ramblers alongside rats, crows and wood pigeons as vermin and shoot them on sight. Or, maybe even hunt them like foxes on horseback with hounds.

Normanby le Wold Radar Station. Just added this one as it's nearby and I like the way the lollipop trees mimic the radar tower, a kind of visual pun.

Where buzzards mew

I have a habit of mocking Lincolnshire's landscape. It's a kind of self mockery, loving and not malicious. I concede there are parts of Lincolnshire that are beautiful to walk through, where skylarks sing, buzzards mew and cows moo. Though, it's still a landscape shaped by agriculture and the leisure industry. There is conflict here between the past and the future, between the haves and have nots, between the landowners and the tourists. This landscape is still an industrialised and social landscape.

Walesby beacon

Walesby beacon - Lincoln Cathedral is on the horizon 20 miles away just right of the beacon though, you wont see it at screen resolution.

4 miles of boring

The first four miles of the Viking Way between Woodhall Spa and Horncastle is a straight (it's an abandoned railway line), beautifully manicured footpath through the woods. The first 20 minutes is wonderful echoing bird song and leaves rustling in the breeze. After that it becomes a little boring as you can only see forward and backwards.

Occasionally you come across the inevitable piece of public art. At least this is relevant and well made... and it breaks the boredom.