Lincolnshire Wolds near Nettleton
James from backpackingbongo’s blog was interested by my comment on this blog about waist high snow in the wolds. I saw on a Look North news item that there was snow waist-high on the tops of the wolds. On Sunday afternoon after a weekend spend shifting snow at home and at the top of our lane, I went in search of this depth of snow. I headed for the highest area of the Lincolnshire wolds a few miles from home. I parked the car at my parents place in Nettleton and heading up the valley towards the disused iron mines.
The snow was knee-deep and hard going on along the Viking Way, as it looked like no-one had walked here since the heavy snowfall earlier in the week. I was using the “post holing method” and it was hard work all the way up. The scenery was beautiful and I didn’t see a soul the whole of the walk.
After walking , through a short section of wood, I reached the disused iron ore mines, now blocked up. These mines were worked from Roman times until the early 1960’s.
woodland near iron ore mine
disused iron ore mine
I also took the chance to do an initial test out on the Spot 2 Messenger device which I will report on later.
Spot 2 Messenger
Looking back towards Nettleton
Despite walking around this area – I only found snow to the depth of 24 inches (70cm) !
24 inches (70cm) of snow
After a long slog through the snow I was rewarded with a great sunset across the wolds, a fine end to a great little walk.
Sunset over the wolds - looking towards Normanby Top
By the time I got back home, it was minus 8 C. Incidently the overnight low at home that night was minus 16C, only beaten by this morning’s temperature of minus 19C ! The first time the hairs in my nostrils have frozen. Was I in Lincolnshire or Finland – what a week it has been here for snow and low temperatures !
Only 24 inches of snow? I am very disappointed mark!
Sorry – James, searched high and low for you to take a photo, but couldn’t find the waist high snow : )
Mark
You have a lot more snow than us but seem to have stumbled upon the “exaggerate depth rule’
Being keen on skiing and walking etc , depth and snow type are of interest so on average Ive noticed 1foot of snow = 6 inches , 6 inches = possibnly 3 inches. Happens all the time around here.
Greg – you may right, although it looked that depth on the local news – may be it was a snow drift.
The news reports from that area looked horrendous, we miss most of the snow here on the Cheshire plain.
There was a big buzz about the Spot a while back. I thought it might be the device I was looking for and I posted about it, unfortunately the reports about it were extremely polarized.
Geoff I have been surprised, by the amount of snow and the very low temps. Minus 19 C seems hardly believable,following the previous nights of minus 11 and minus 16. In our village we are at the lowest point and we have a beck running through our land. Cold air will settle in these spots.
Like you I have read the reports on the Spot Messenger. I have purchased the 2nd version, which is reported to be more reliable and has a custom button as well as the Help, OK and SOS button. I am testing this at present and so far every OK message has come back as an e mail and text, so far so good. Will need more testing but hopefully it will give my wife peace of mind as I go solo and avoid me having to find places to call her within the cell network when setting up camp.
Will do full report after further testing.
Mark
What a beautiful sunset! Looks very snowy indeed, and the temperatures surprise me – I always thought you have mild winters there 🙂
We got lots of new snow during Sunday and Tuesday – they say that we in Helsinki now have the deepest snow in the whole of Finland. Not very usual that either.
Maria – we tend to have mild winters – although not the case over the last couple of years. This cold weather is caused by a Winter Blocking event stopping the normally mild Atlantic weather and allowing cold weather from Siberia to come to the East, where I live. What has caused the heavy snow fall is the cold air hitting the relatively warm North Sea and creating a lot of moisture and this being dumped on the east coast area of England and Scotland. Accumulations in the West have been small.
Here ends the weather lecture 🙂
I didn’t realise the Lincolnshire Wolds were so obviously hilly.
Lee, I am not a native of Lincolnshire and moved here 14 years ago. When I first went out for a walk in this area, a few miles from home, it looked very much like parts of Derbyshire. Lots of people think that Lincolnshire is flat as a pancake, but up around me and on the Lincoln cliff it is quite hilly. In Lincoln where the castle stands, the lane up to it is called Steep Hill and is a long 1:4 and many people have difficulty walking up and often pause because they are short of breath trying to get up to the top.