South Kirby Howell Wood RFM Blue Line Walking with Peter

 South Kirby Howell Wood

 RFM Blue Line

Walking with Peter

03/01/2025

On the coldest day of the year this short walk was a breath of fresh, very fresh air. Admittedly 2025 is only 3 days old but it was cold though luckily bright, dry and windless, The crispy mud with a soft centre was a treacherous surface to cross and we duly slipped and slid but stayed upright. 

The free car park at Howell Wood was well placed at the end of a short lane. Into the dark woods, then past a still pond, the route started dry but soon changed into a muddy track. My OS map app was playing up as the GPS seemed to be misbehaving. It was all over the place. At one point it had us walking at 23 mile per hour. We are quick but not that quick. Luckily Peter has the same app so we continued on our way with Peter guiding.

These are really pretty woods and some dog walkers were enjoying it. We met one large soft dog called Foz. Both Peter and I immediately recalled the man who ran the paper shop from which we had our paper rounds, Foz Hart. Short for Forrester. He was a top clay pigeon shooter.

Leaving Howell Wood we headed over the hill towards Bird Lane. The light was very clear and bright.

Following the muddy paths towards Clayton the long views were a massive contrast to last weeks foggy gloom. We were close to last weeks route but could not recognise any of the land marks. We met a chap who had lost a tractor on his way to Clayton. He carried a flag and had been at a shoot. We helped him with directions and chatted briefly.

At Clayton we found a bench opposite this house. A Starling on the roof of the house was mimicking a mobile phone whilst a small waddling of ducks was quacking and marching around the garden. We could see them through the hedge.

A very nice bench in a ageless Yorkshire village in the cold of winter, perfect for a flask of coffee and a trail bun. An old couple passed us and we chatted across the road. As we left the bench a tractor appeared towing a crew cabin which looked like a prison van. It headed towards where we had left the man with flag. We exchanged amusing comments with the old couple again as we passed them chatting over a gate with a villager. Folk in Yorkshire are just so ..well...Yorkshire. It makes a walk.

On towards Challenger Wood the ground did not get any better.

Great views.

As we left Challenger Wood we crossed a stile which was splattered with drops of fresh blood. There had been no sign of anyone on the way to the stile or beyond it but the blood was fresh. We did have a look around but there was nothing to be seen.

It was not hard to follow the path back towards Howell Wood. We spotted a Kestel hovering as we crossed the open space.

As we went through the woods the dog walkers, ramblers and even family groups started appearing in numbers. It really is nice to see so many enjoying the woods kids to grandpas. 

Back to the car and this short walk was complete.