Well I’d finally bitten the bullet and bought a ‘decent’ camera. At over £200 it is the most I have ever spent on a camera. The compact digital I bought can do lots of things, but I have it set to Intelligent Auto mode at the moment, which means I can just point and click. I’ll try to learn the other features as I go along. I had decided on just another single day out to the east coast, as I had been preoccupied in doing substantial structural repairs to my large garage roof over the last two weeks.
I would be heading east along the Humber Estuary which meant having to contend with a lot of industrial areas. I had read other reports of people confronted by high fences or blocked off paths around these areas and so I looked to take a safe and trouble-free route. I could see from Google Street Maps that an Oil refinery, Power Station, Docks, Quays and other industrial premises prevented easy passage eastwards. There was also the A180, which although looking good as a direct route into Grimsby, was a high-speed dual carriageway without a verge in places. I opted therefore for a safer and more sedate inland route.
I drove to and parked in the Station car park at Barton-on-Humber. Because this was a Sunday I had decided to walk to my end-point and get a train back to Barton. I set off at 06:15 and immediately headed for the grassy footpath that continued eastwards along the Humber. Although it had rained the night before the grass was remarkably dry, which was good because I had only my walking trainers on. It was grey and overcast, with a occassional breeze, great walking weather.
As the Humber Bridge receded into the distance I came to my first physical obstacle, the small creek of Barrow Haven. A footpath, alongside the railway crossed the Creek. I then had to head through a large lumber yard. A Public Footpath finger-post pointed through the yard, but the main gate was padlocked. Fortunately there was a small pedestrian side-gate that I passed through. As this was a Sunday the yard was empty , but on a weekday I should image it would be quite busy.
My next obstacle was the industrial area of New Holland. Again the path turned inland and followed a fenced road towards the railway crossing and the docks/factory entrance. Again the main entrance gate was locked but a open side gate allowed access to walkers. I followed the pedestrian markings on the ground through the site. However, I came to another locked gate and wondered how I could proceed. Fortunately, I had missed a wooden footpath post 10m back, which lead me down an overgrown path back onto the shore.
I continued to follow the footpath, called the Nev Cole Path, although this seemed to have been written on the occasional marker post in a marker pen! As the Oil Refinery and docks drew closer I knew the point where I needed to move onto road approached. At East Halton Skitter I transferred onto a minor road, which I would be on for the next 5 or 6 miles. I had only gone half a mile down the road when I came across a dead snake on the side of the road. It was a grass snake and it had been run-over. The snake was well over 1 metre long and was probably a female. Only last month, on Skye, I had found a small Adder which had also been run-over.
I continued along a dead straight road through East Halton, North and South Killingholme. At South Killingholme, I could see a large amount of groundworks going on. One of the workers told me these were underground cables for a Wind Farm, which was obviously linked to the Hornsea Project One Wind farm – a huge and ongoing development.
I headed down a B road towards the small village of Habrough. There was no footpath, but the verge was ok. I had previously decided to turn towards Immingham , but decided that I would continue into Habrough and head towards the railway line. I crossed over the busy A180 and could see that it was not safe to walk along. At Habrough station I popped into the nearby Station Inn for a quick pint of Bateman’s Centenary RAF Ale. I don’t normally drink during a walk, but as I had just 3 miles to go to the end of my walk, so I thought why not?
The last three miles of the walk was a good grassy footpath that lead in a dead straight line alongside the railway line all the way to the small village of Stallingborough. I had 15 minutes to wait for the train back to Barton-on-Humber.
Distance today = 21 miles
Total distance = 3,908 miles
Walking the Coast of Great Britain 
I didn’t enjoy this stretch especially, too much industry, though the first few miles out of Barton-upon-Humber were quite nice.
I love the “New Cole Way” signposts of the walk, no expense spent there for sure!
I followed the same route as you, but kept on the coast path beside the Humber to South Killingholme Haven (just past the two lighthouses marked on the map), then followed the track then minor road down to the A160, then alongside the A1173 into Immingham. Although part of that road is a dual-carriageway there is a long layby and grass verge and I found a tarmac path alongside further towards Immingham.
You did well to have so little time to wait for the train, I did the train journey to Barton first, because the trains were so infrequent.
I split your walk into two. So next I resumed from Immingham and followed the A1173 (Queens Road) to it’s end, then a path beside a thin strip of woodland and followed the path alongside the Humber to Pyewipe. I was aprhensive about this section because it is indsutrial and I feared I might find the path closed or blocked. I was also a little concerned about security and if there might be some dodgy characters hanging about, as there was only really a way off at either end I think. I saw a couple of dodgy looking characters, but they didnt bother me. A few fishermand along there too and one motorbike riding along the path at one point, but overall it was better than I’d expected.
Grimsby though, wow. All I can say is that the first 4 letters of the towns name are certainly well deserved! I was glad to reach Cleethorpes at the end of that day.
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Hi Jon, thanks for the comprehensive comments. When I do my research I generally look at the experiences of others that have gone before me. Unfortunately, I could not find your Trip Report, which I suspect is still to be written up? I know you are working your way up the East coast with your TR’s. I’ll have a look at the your route through GRIMsby for my next section.
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