Scotland- Gretna Green to Spurn England

A quaint little town, or village, on the Spurn Peninsula.

Our zigzag across the English country side took us from 'wedding central' to a birders paradise.  The Spurn Peninsula south of the town of Hull on the river Humber on one side and the North Sea on the other.  There are several bird groups here, and we were booked into the lodgings at Spurn Bird Observatory, a hostel type accommodation.

We were watching for the big white line across the highway and almost missed this small quaint sign!

So, since were in birding central, Gordon and I were on our own... but that meant we had the car keys!

We dropped Tom off at the nearest wetland and bird watching area and headed out to explore whatever small little road we could find.

The following are a few of the photos taken over the two days, and about 80 miles!

A large number of fields with wheat, barley, beans, soy beans, oats and maybe a few we didn't know.  

The large number of fields with some sort of grain growing was surprising being that it was so close to the coast - about 1/2 mile away, if that!  There are many piggeries in the area and they are mostly self sufficient: growing their own grain for the piggies, and selling a bit that's left over. The colors of the fields reminded me of patchwork quilts.

The colors of the fields changed from the angle we viewed them. Of course,in the image above, the grain is still green.







This image has grain that is almost ready to harvest.



They also grow rapeseed, peas - bush and soy beans.  We think that while most of the homes are surrounded by lots of land, that many are 'gentleman farms'. Jobs to be done in the nearby city or small community and then tending the field in the evenings  and weekends.  A large number of fields were standing tall in the late afternoon, and mown down in the morning when driving by.

This is the tallest church steeple on the peninsula, visible for many miles.  It's in the town of Patrington.  Not to be disrespectful of those that are buried here in the church grounds, but there are a lot of really old dead people here!  I saw headstones from 1806 and 1809!  There were several where the writings had faded and weathered to nothing.  I've wandered in several church yards on this trip, and I was really glad that this was daylight with the sun shining!  It was a bit creepy, especially when I started heard organ music coming from the inside!

Telephone boxes are still around, but many have been re-serviced.  This one is now a book exchange for the neighbors, others have a community heart defibrillator in it.  We did see some way, way out in the nether regions of Scotland.  They always bring a smile!

I've collected a few images of interesting doors and window scenes.  Here are few from the past couple of days.