Walking From Hull to Paull

Recently John and I decided to just start walking and see where we’d end up. The idea was to pack a sleeping bag, a bivvy bag, a tarp, food and water and then just walk. It’s as easily said as it is done so we put our plan into action last Friday. We chose to walk east along the Humber towards the North Sea in the hope of reaching the only riverside village downstream of Hull: Paull.

We set off at 5pm after the sun stopped burning everything in its path. I was a little bit anxious because I had already walked several miles that day in what might not have been the most sensible shoes. But I just put a plaster on the sore bit and decided I would just walk as far as I could.

Bird Gathering

The route to Paull is pretty easy to follow. Once you get to the Humber all you have to do is follow the river downstream. With the Humber on our right and the industrial area of Hull port on our left we walked past abandoned wooden ships, manky cats, old railway tracks and ramshackle buildings. At the ferry port we watched the Pride of Rotterdam being loaded for its trip back to the continent but despite walking through so much industry it was surprisingly green. Once you make it past the docks there is a wide strip of high grass and hardy wild flowers between industrial estates and the river. We saw a deer and a fox and watched a bird gathering.

We had to stop our straight route to get through Salt End Chemicals Park. It felt a little bit eerie and post-apocalyptic walking past these huge metal containers and buildings without another human soul in sight. The smell certainly didn’t help either! Once we left Salt End behind us we rejoined the Humber and were only a few hundred metres from Paull.

After some searching and indecisiveness we finally found a spot to camp between two lighthouses on the edge of the Humber at Thorngumbald Clough. The two lighthouses replaced the lighthouse in the village (it’s now a private residence) in the late 19th century. Navigating through the Humber is very challenging because the sand banks constantly shift. The two Thorngumbald Clough lights are “leading lights”. One is the low-light and the other is the high-light. When the captain saw the lights of both aligned one over the other he knew that he was in the deep water zone of the Humber. The lighthouses are still operational today.

The view over the river was amazing and I don’t think we could have found a more scenic place to sleep. We used two sticks we found by the beach to put the tarp up and the large rocks on the riverbank were great to tie the cord to. Smashing use of the resources available (mostly thanks to John)! Because we camped in quite high grass and didn’t want to get eaten alive by bugs we hung a mosquito net into the tarp. All snug with a great view and safe from bitey blighters we had dinner and a celebratory sip of whisky.

It was an early start the next morning. I had slept quite lightly but find that when I sleep outdoors I don’t need as much sleep to feel awake. The plan for the day was to visit the gun battery Fort Paull; commissioned by Henry VIII it is now a museum. It didn’t open until 10am though so I had time to watch some Spongebob on my phone and see the Pride of Hull arrive from Rotterdam.

It’s £6 per adult to get in to Fort Paull and it just so happened that we were the first visitors of the day. It is a popular destination for paranormal investigators, served as a training ground during WWII and was the place Charles I retreated to after he was denied access to Hull (a hub of Parliament supporters) during the Civil War in the 17th century. Fort Paull has a lot of underground tunnels and they smell quite damp and could do with some airing. In many of the rooms exhibits with mannequins have been put up. The general theme seemed to be military and Britishness.

Fort Paull

It is also home of the last remaining heavy transport aircraft Blackburn Beverley XB259. You can go in and climb around and the thought of the back hatch opening midflight to drop cargo was not at all appealing to me. Blackburn Beverleys were used by the RAF from 1957 until 1967. The Beverley sits in the middle of a large lawn area next to a brick building and a large plastic dinosaur. The plastic dinosaur marks the entrance of a playground for the kids. They had a blow-up slide! Alas, I am just a wee bit older than 15 so I wasn’t allowed on. Mean...

My favourite random object
we came across.

If you fancy a coffee or tea to sip on the lawn I’d recommend you bring your own. We visited the café and while I’m not normally too squirmish with my food I couldn’t even finish my cup of tea. The jug with yesterday’s milk was poured out in front of our eyes and immediately refilled with UHT milk and the spoons to stir our drinks with were sat in a mug of stale water. The whole place had the same damp smell to it as the underground tunnels and I insisted on sitting outside where the air was more breathable. My imagination provided me with vivid images of the state of the kitchen so we went to a pub in Paull to have lunch instead. After being full of food we felt too lazy to walk back to Hull and caught the bus.

Just walking is a great way of getting to know your surroundings and going to places that you might not normally get to. We had some terrific views along the way and found loads of little visual gems. And despite serving a terrible cup of tea, Fort Paull was a worthwhile experience. Can’t wait to get walking again!