Lincolnshire 15 -19 Aug 2016

At the Humber bridge http://www.humberbridge.co.uk/explore_the_bridge/bridge_history_and_detail/history.php we crossed over the worlds 3rd longest single span. In the middle Sally stopped to watch the dolphins before realising it was in fact a bunch of swimmers crossing just upstream with a support vessel. We found a campground by chance ( it was becoming a habit by now) and put up our tent for 5 pounds a night.

We plotted a route to Louth http://www.louthuk.co.uk/ which ran

down the eastern edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds. Until today it had been a big black hole which we had to cross to get to London. But today it became a fantastic day of cycling. The roads were wide, the weather warm, the villages just beautiful, the hills gentle and the traffic non-existent. It was full steam ahead for the harvest so we passed many fields giving up their bounty for another year, and were often passed by tractors and trailers. We loved it!

At Brockelesby Junction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brocklesby_railway_station we watched several trains of biomass snake their way through. The old station which stands miles from anywhere is being done up at the moment. As we came to the edge of Louth we noticed lots of hens on the road and discovered a free range egg farm was the source. Lots of eggs were to be seen under the hedgerows and we were tempted to

gather a few, but we just did not know how old they were.

Our hosts for the night were busy packing up house to move but had invited us to stay anyway. We went out for a meal at the local pub and put away a large helping of fish and chips and a couple of beers. It was an enjoyable night. He is building a small camp ground out of town and hopes to attract a few cyclists along the way.

Louth is a pretty Lincolnshire town with the stunning St James Church. We visited early in the morning. Not too many tourist came to this part of the world. Their loss really. We chatted to the local baker and I demolished an eccles cake so good I went back for a second. Turned out they were baked by an award winning chef from Manchester. In one small town we stopped for lunch on the church steps and a lady who had just locked up the hall asked us if we needed the loo and proceeded to unlock the hall again. We chatted

for a while and said farewell grateful of a pit stop along the way.

Our target was Gibraltar Point https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibraltar_Point where there is a new visitors centre but we were behind time so looked around Skegness
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skegness instead. It is your stereotypical English resort town and it was humming. Lots of sunburn and exhausted kids were on show. The town built a boating lake many years ago and it had been converted to a wildlife reserve for the local birds. The main street was packed with amusement arcades and souvenir shops. At the end of the main street a huge amusement park was going gang busters. We are so pleased we got to see a real English seaside resort.

So why on earth did we come to Skegness? Answer - to see The Wash. When I was at school I read a poem about a fisherman who got

caught out by bad weather and had to batten down the hatches to get back safely. The whole adventure was set in The Wash and I have only taken 50 years to get there. Yet another tick on the bucket list

The campground out of town was fantastic and we spent a wonderful night under canvas. When we broke camp the next morning I was overcome with excitement that for the second time in 2 days we put away a dry tent. Things are looking up!

The area around The Wash used to be sea and Dutch engineers were bought in to build dykes and drainage ditches. Much of the land we cycled over today was below sea level. They are also very proud of the wildlife along the coast and are re-flooding some areas with sea water to create a salt marsh for the birds. It is also designed to slow down tidal surges to which the Wash http://www.lancewadplan.org/Cultural%20atlas/UK/Wash/the_wash.htm

h.htm is prone. The day of cycling was uneventful until we reached Boston. http://bostontown.co.uk/boston-history.html The first thing I noticed was a sign “ Boston is twinned with Laval” the town where we stayed with a correspondent 5 months earlier. I sent the photo off to him and he was intrigued to learn of the link.

The town itself used to compete with London as a sea port, but these days the river has silted up and most of the trade has gone away. We visited Boston Stump and the guildhall where we learnt the history of the town. It is just fascinating. For example the Pilgrim fathers intended to set out from Boston for Holland but were betrayed by the captain of their ship and were imprisoned. Not in the jail. They were given the freedom of the Guildhall as the local judiciary were sympathetic to the cause. Eventually they did make it to Holland a few years later and set sail for the New World.

The night was under canvas just out of town where the camp ground owner bemoaned the fact that he had to leave the “Members Only” sign out or face expulsion from the club. We were charged a little extra for not being members, but it was still a good price. Next morning – dry tent again!

We followed a cycle route out of town and along the way we found some blackberry bushes to plunder. While pigging out a lady with a dog in her cycle basket stopped for a chat. He was a terrier of sorts and was very friendly until he spotted another dog in my mirror! What a character. Summer has definitely arrived for us and we need sunscreen every day. Our 2 litre water bottle is regularly used to top our our drink bottles and we have finally relegated our wet weather gear to the bottom of the bags.

Another day of getting from A to B was ahead of us and at Sutton St

James https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutton_St_James we stopped at the local church for lunch, just as the warden arrived to do some cleaning. She offered us the use of the toilets and then gave us a guided tour of the church. No-one could say for sure why the tower and the main church body were separated by a gap but the most likely reason is that the church was wooden at that point and had burnt down.

She told of the curtains that used to be over the window but until they were removed no-one knew why they were there. To protect the organist and the choir from the heat of the sun! There is no choir any more and the congregation numbers just 20 or so. She showed us the baptismal font which someone had found in a local farmer’s field being used as a trough before being returned to its rightful place at the back of the church.

I asked what the hooks on the windows were for. To keep the blackout curtains closed during world war two. They are long gone but the framework to hold them still exists. Over the years local handymen have made alterations to the building, sometimes for the better, sometimes to be undone later. They had raised some money to do repairs and repaint one wall.

The tower had a clock added after world war one as their tribute to the local men who gave their lives. It required some rework in the seventies and the local council who pay for its upkeep moved the mechanism to the bottom of the tower but the clock still functions. She wondered how long it would be before the church was closed for ever. It was a beautiful little church and I hope it lasts for another few hundred years.

We were invited for cakes and a drink at the daughter of my former

colleague, and after chin-wagging for an hour or so she gave us superb instructions on how to find our campground for the night. A little local knowledge goes a long way! Tomorrow Cambridge awaits!