Baumber Walled Gardens 19-01-2025

Sunday dawned cold and grey and was expected to remain so, today’s top temperature nudging 3 Degrees Celsius. Never the less it was encouraging to see stalwarts Ty Harness, Steve Croton and John Rickett turning up at Louth’s Leisure Centre to join Tim Newbery on the scheduled ride to Baumber Walled Gardens, having just re-opened after the Christmas and New Year break. We were booked in for lunch at 12 noon with an ETA back in Louth about 2.30 pm. We were also very pleased to have had a chat with Paul Linder who had pedalled in from Alford to wish us a safe journey. We’ll hopefully see Paul on next Sunday’s ride.

 

Heading to the Bluestone Heath Road we’d this time take Donnington Road via Welsdale Bottom. A bit of a challenge at any time of the year let alone mid-winter but Ty’s bike sporting new tyres and low gears performed admirably. Roads were frost and ice free and we even met up with a number of other cyclists out for a spin.

 

Having successfully crossed the Wolds and for once with good visibility, we’d continue through the marshlands via Panton and Minting.

Minting – “Place of Mynta’s People” (recorded as “Mentinghes” in the Domesday Book) has a lot more than you might initially think it does. Perhaps most famous for its two Benedictine Priories given by Ranulph de Meschins, Earl of Chester before his death in 1129. It began as a land grant to the Abbey of St. Benoit Sur Loire at Fleury and included the Manor and Church at Minting. The Priories were often seen as a disgrace with incumbent Monks having a reputation for disobedience and wandering abroad!

 

In later times, Minting almost had a railway station, which might has transformed the village. It was proposed that the Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway Company build a line through Minting but it never came to fruition.

 

Not long now to Baumber Walled Gardens where a couple of cyclists whizzed past to connect up with Sturton Lane. We would instead head to ‘Montagues’ within the wedding venue for much deserved refreshment. Arrived 30 seconds ahead of schedule.

 

By now we had covered over half the mileage with just 16 to go before arriving back into Louth. Red Hill our major challenge. Winding our way through Hemmingby and Goulceby we would encounter a number of birds of prey and 'buzzed' by a buzzard on the search for a tasty morsel.

Red Hill loomed ahead of us and it was Steve who took the lead wondering what all the fuss was about. For Tim and Ty, an engagement of the lowest gear and a steady plod to Pewlade, altitude 500 ft AMSL.

 

Arrived back to Louth just before 2.30 pm having covered 37 miles with an altitude gain of about 1800 ft. Many thanks to all for the company. Tim’s Relive’ video fly-through: https://www.relive.cc/view/vXvLoQNLD1q