Lincolnshire is often dismissed by regular walkers as being flat and uninteresting but this is far from the full story. True, there is a lot of flat country around, but as a county the region has much varied walking to offer the outdoor enthusiast. Most people who think of the region remember the Lincolnshire Wolds to the west of Louth and these provide plenty of scope for hilly type walking and are the probably the best area for the outdoors in the county. The Wolds are a forty mile stretch of chalk uplands offering peaceful days on rolling hills and lovely tree lined valleys. And as Lincolnshire does have a lot of flatland, the Wolds appear much higher than they really are and offer a delightful contrast to the flatter surrounding Fenland and the more distant salt marshes of the coastline. The Wolds are timeless walking country and give endless days on peaceful tracks.
The Fenland is flat and intersected with dead straight drainage ditches. Footpaths are few and it can be a great challenge to work a way through the region linking up quiet lanes and odd tracks.
Lincolnshire is one of our biggest counties (about forty miles wide and seventy miles long) and the Wolds are only one facet of walking here. The Lincolnshire Edge is close to the city of Lincoln (a delightful place to visit and walk around) and provides more upland walking on a delightful tree lined edge that again contrasts with the flat plain beneath to give great views. Then there are the lakes and reservoirs, the sleepy canals and the rolling countryside to the West.
And it would be remiss to finish without mentioning the counties wonderful Long Distance Footpath, The Viking Way. This well marked and easily accessible route is a delight to walk on and explores the very best the county has to offer, running for 140 miles between Oakham and the Humber Bridge and if you come to Lincolnshire to walk you will almost certainly find yourself using it in one form or another.
All in all this is a great area to visit to walk or cycle (or both) and enjoy a real ‘get away from it all’ experience where you will find few other walkers. It’s a well kept secret!
