Post Industrial Rambling

I suppose that it was a bit of an industrial walk.

It was through many of the old areas of the city but also quite hard work.

It started off on the course of one of the long since discontinued railway lines which, at one time, criss crossed the urban environment. It used to go from Hull to the East Coast town of Hornsea but Dr Beeching saw fit to axe it because out of the holiday season it was not frequented that much. Now it is just a smooth tarmac path demarcated in red and black surface dressings to segregate cyclists from walkers.

There are very evident signs of the railway heritage, no more so than the remains of the old platform and former Station House. The way is strewn with wind blown debris, a good potential supply of recyclable metals in beer can form for the developing economies (if anyone could be bothered to pick it up) and a variety of white goods, stolen motorcycles and discarded shopping trolleys.

A few busy main roads are negotiated being congested with saturday shoppers heading into town. The only others heading our way are mums with push chairs and a few fluorescent clad workmen going home from the early shift on creaky bikes.

The old railway course cuts along the back of modern council housing which will have taken the place of the dilapidated  late Victorian back to back and terraced dwellings which fell down, were bombed or demolished and cleared to satisfy to the whims of urban planners.

A bit further along and houses make way for industrial sheds, a school sports hall and a travellers camp. One of my most favourite structures looms up in the form of Wilmington Bridge, rebuilt in 1907 to replace an 1853 structure. The elevated control room is occupied today as the door is open and I can see the newly established early season tomato plants begin to flourish behind the large glazed hot-house style windows. In a few minutes the bell will ring to announce that the red metallic bridge will soon swing open to allow a low fuel bowser barge to pass underneath on its way out to the Humber.

To the north is one of the few surviving grain silos which at one time lined the river corridor. It bears the name of "British Oil Extraction" picked out in brick some 200 feet above the ground. In contrast is the low and glazed atrium of a tile and bathroom showroom which sits on the main road frontage.

There is a smell in the air. Roll back 100 years and this would have been from a myriad of manufacturing processes such as leather tannery, chemical works, fellmongers and paint makers. Today, it is just the Municipal Tip.

The route so far has been level and true to be expected for an otherwise gradient sensitive railway. Just off is a graffitti daubed underpass which is entered with a bit of trepidation as it is dark, dank and waterlogged. The daylight on the other side is welcoming but not the bleak post industrial landscape of vacant plots and wasteland. The public footpath runs between high palisade fencing and I feel hemmed in as though skirting along a no-mans land. It is a lonely place and the wind whistles a mournful tune through the "Keep Out" signs.

The complex of the Reckitt Benckiser Factory is reassurance that there is still employment to be had and even for a saturday there are vehicles in the staff car park so business must be good. Back now to a small cluster of houses, the few survivors of a large thriving area but looking a bit out of place in mixed surroundings. The face of Colonel Sanders looms up on a newly built KFC outlet and behind glows the bright green signage of an Asda superstore. It takes a few minutes to cross the busy retail park entrance before reaching Newbridge Road and the densely populated terraced streets which run off. There are a few dead ends down footways which have been gated and locked to frustrate the activities of  ne'er do wells making it necessary to backtrack as though in a maze.

The houses are left behind as another path opens up along the course of another disused railway, this time Hull to Withernsea. This runs paralell to one of the still active Dock lines and a freight train moves slowly along pulling a long procession of wagons carrying imported steel or coal from the quaysides. The copper roof on the tower of Hull Prison is a landmark on the route, then under a rusty road bridge and up and over a footbridge to follow a wide and deep storm drain.It is one of those bridges where it takes three times as long to negotiate it on the ramped sections than the more direct up and over steel staircasing.

The watercourse runs due south and for the first time on the walk there is an awareness of a bit of a gale blowing. The dirty water, rather than running out to the estuary seems to be flowing in the opposite direction from the force of the wind. Another large piece of wasteground marks the site of the old Hedon Road Maternity Hospital in which a good proportion of the East Hull population were born. There is nothing to show for this important role apart from the vague outline of footings in the undergrowth.

Hedon Road traffic thunders past. It is a very busy corridor into and out of Hull to the rural areas and towards the east coast. At a roundabout junction there is the entrance to the Docks complex and articulated lorries of many northern european haulage companies dash to board the ferries to Zeebrugge and Rotterdam. Norbert Dentressangle, Willy Betts being the best known. In a compound are parked the green liveried John Deere tractors and combines ready to be loaded up and distributed to dealerships. Opposite are row upon row of shipping containers being held for customs or another scheduled sailing. The river is now in sight and a fine spray sends a mist over the footpath and car park as waves pound the flood defence wall.

The next stage of the walk is into the very face of the storm.