Day 80 Skegness to Grimsby

 

 Date: Saturday 9^th July  2011   Distance: 52.19 Miles

 

We had an 8am breakfast and before we could leave Bob replaced the back inner tube- we’d had a slow flat still caused by that drawing pin on Wednesday.

 

At 9.30 “Skeggy” wasn’t busy and although I had a preconceived idea that it was going to be seedy- it wasn’t. Money had been spent on the sea side properties that were well kept and mostly white. There were signs in bright primary colours but no flashing neon signs (though we didn’t see it in the dark!) There were all the usual arcades, formal gardens, boating lakes and a model village. The 6 mile stretch of beach looked good for sandcastles and as the sea recedes the beach grows yearly. The pier is short barely reaching the sand.

 

 We were in traffic passing fun parks, Butlins and the like but as soon as we reached the Saturday Market, which looked like another fun park with an enormous roller coaster, the traffic turned in and the road straight on was much quieter. Skegness had become Ingoldmells and at the end of this road we took a coastal bridleway along the promenade.

 

Across, inland at the site of a lake, I thought I saw an osprey as we rode towards chapel St Leonards on what looks like a railway embankment but is probably a secondary line of sea defence. We had intended to visit the old pumping station now a museum but it wasn’t open. At Sutton on sea small children were on street corner trying to sell their drawings for £1 each!

 

We took the Sutton on sea to Mablethorpe promenade cycleway but we had to keep dismounting because the sand had drifted into mounds too soft to get through. It was sunny but windy with a good view out to sea.

 

At Mablethorpe we cycled on the road until we found the Ferryboat Inn by a Seal Sanctuary and Nature reserve. We had a sandwich but the lager was probably better than the beer.

 

Later we saw too late and missed a beer festival at Theddlethorpe all Saints. Then I changed into my new padded lycra shorts behind a bush- a change is as good as a rest they say!

 

At Rimac we stopped at the country park and walked up one of the dunes to get a sea view. There is an area designated to clumps of wild flowers that are labelled with interesting facts and rare natterjack toads can be found hereabouts.

 

The roads seem more exposed to the wind and we see only fields of cabbages today on our way through Saltfleet, then North Somercotes with a bit of village life at the 5 a side football and then a prestigious holiday village at the other end.

 

In the middle of nowhere, it seemed, there is Applebys Ice cream factory-farm at Cornisholme and we stopped here with many others ( maybe the 5 a siders) for an afternoon break. There were queues!  It is a lovely ice cream parlour, selling more than 20 varieties, but the buildings on site for making the product look weather worn perhaps used since the first ice cream in 1913.

Off the main road at Northcotes we saw our first thatched cottage in Lincolnshire and we noticed more trees and the roads changed direction more. At Tetney Lock Bob’s saddle came loose and as he fixed it large blobs of rain fell but petered out again luckily.

 

The long road to Humberstone went up 11 metres and even had  contour line on the map! Then it was into Cleethorpes on a cycleway beside the road until we got to the seafront which is really the Humber estuary. We were amused by teenage girls paddling - they had mud a long way up their legs!

 

We had a coffee at a kiosk at the bottom and chatted with cycling enthusiasts here who seemed impressed with what we had done today. For warmth and friendliness surely this is the county in which to live. There are lovely views to the sea and the sand, being dotted with grassy areas, makes great feeding ground for migratory birds.

 

The promenade took us past a very short pier, Discovery Centre, man-made waterfall and miniature railway. The promenade disappeared but we rode across the top of the seawall intermittently walking when it was difficult, passing building sites and industry as we came nearer to Grimsby. This route brought us out at the fish dock and we were comforted by the sight of tyre tracks as it seemed an unlikely thoroughfare. We followed signs for the Motorway, on factory roads now, past a lot of derelict buildings and Young’s Fish Factory. We emerged on the A180 immediately taking the footpath as it was very busy. Bob took us on a parallel road, to preserve life, that crossed the railway line twice and then the welcome purple sign of the Premier Inn meant we could soon put our feet up! The bike went in the laundry room.