Walking to Lincoln - 16th March ‘20

A gorgeous sunny day today - starting soon after 10am and only going down at sunset.

We had a lovely morning. Breakfast, putting up Bella and then sitting in the sun reading and watching  the ducks!

Bella was a great success this time. Normally it takes me a couple of hours from start to finish - today was about an hour. The main reasons being 1) it wasn’t freezing cold, 2) there wasn’t a 70 mph wind gusting, 3) the hard standing was pebbles on top of soil not the normal hard standing. And, I even managed the record time on my own - Kim was cleaning the van ready for Thom and Rach.

After the chores were done we had a smashing hour reading (and snacking!) in the sunshine at the side of the lake. In the mad world of record rainfall, floods, storms and Coronavirus it was like a little oasis of paradise.

We took the car to somewhere called 5 Mile Bridge - about 1 mile down the road at Fiskerton - on the River Witham. From here there was a lovely 5 mile walk (hence the name of the bridge!) into Lincoln along an old railway track.

The scenery was a bit boring - very flat - but the council had put things up along the track to inform and interest! It was also nice to see the huge imposing Lincoln Cathedral getting closer and closer as we approached the City.

See the Cathedral at 10 o’clock from Kim’s head!

We left the car at about 3.15 and arrived at Lincoln City Centre approaching 6pm - as everything was shutting!! We had a couple of stops for intake of food and snacks along the way with the last one being g particularly glamorous- under a railway bridge in an industrial estate!

After arriving in the centre we then walked another 1.5 miles to Morrisons - to make it easier for Thom to find us! We had some chips and coffee before the restaurant shut at 7. Thom and Rach arrived and picked us up at about 7.40.

We went back to Brunnehilda, picking up our car on the way. Talked Thom and Rach through caravan stuff and then left them to it. We are going back on Thursday morning to pick up Brunnehilda.

The journey home was slightly depressing hearing about all the new Coronavirus measures - our Spanish trip is now cancelled and it looks like Brunnehilda will be grounded for a few weeks / months!!

Seven Acre Campsite, Fiskerton:
Pros:
1) Nice position by the lake - good view
2) Great facilities - for such a small site
3) Easy hard standing surface for Bella erection
4) Very laid back and pleasant owners
5) Friendly caravan neighbours
Cons:
1) No walks from the site
2) Busy road - and quite noisy
3) Expensive for a small CL site

Gunby Hall & Skegness - 15th March ‘20

Another lazy morning and busy afternoon. That’s the great thing about travelling and NOT being on holiday ... you don’t feel bad about lazing about all morning and wasting all that valuable time!

That said, we left the site a little earlier this morning - about 11am. We planned a visit to a local National Trust property. The one we choose was Gunby Hall - about 25 miles away on the road to Skegness.

It had only opened for the season the day before! We spent a pleasant couple of hours looking around the House and gardens. I realise I’m very biased but the house wasn’t a patch on Canons Ashby - not as old, not as pretty, not as characterful, not as charming and the Room Guides, not as good!!

The family were called the Massingberds and the house dated back to 1700. We had a very pleasant cup of tea and slice of cake at the NT cafe before making our way to the seaside. Like yesterday, the rain of the morning gave way to the dry / sunny spells in the afternoon.

We had been to Skeggy a couple of times when Thom was at Lincoln Uni. It is a typical English seaside resort, reminding me of a slightly smaller version of Great Yarmouth. We were surprised at how busy it was- must have been Coronavirus driving people out to get some bracing fresh sea air?!

We walked along the beach some way and then back along the front to the Town Centre. Apart from lots of penny arcades / fun fair rides / fish and chip shops, there wasn’t a lot to see.

We had a cup of coffee looking over the sea and rows and rows of offshore wind turbines, before heading off back to Lincoln for something to eat.

We parked by the Cathedral and walked down Steep Hill to the High Street. We ended up at the all you can eat Chinese buffet called The Taste (aka The Laughing Buddha). We used to go there with Thom so it brought back lots of memories - there you go again, more food based recollections!

On the way to the restaurant we saw another famous face. This one was seen by both of us - not just Kim this time - so we were both confident who we saw ... Alan Johnson, ex Labour MP and Home Secretary.

We didn’t think we had overeaten at the buffet but the walk back up Steep Hill seemed to confirm that we had! It was a bit of a slog but very atmospheric- the Cathedral looked magnificent lit up.

When we got back to the site we got talking to our next door neighbours. Alan and Cindy from Newcastle were a lovely couple and kindly invited us into their van for a coffee. They were very Geordie and good fun to chat with. He was an ex lorry driver and gave me some caravan reversing advise. Luckily Kim had told them how inexperienced we were and how rubbish I was at reversing - I think I’m going to get a badge made up to save the current Mrs Pitts having to tell everyone we meet??!

By the time we got back to the van it was gone 10. Time for another episode of The Waltons then off to bed to blog, read and listen to more Coronavirus chat on the radio. Spain is shut down so we’ll be ringing the caravan club and insurance company tomorrow to see what is happening with our trip!

Our years travelling seems to be jinxed- first the wettest autumn / winter on record and then Corona-bloody-virus! What’s next??

A Lincoln Afternoon - 14th March ‘20

The weather man predicted rain first thing and then dry after 11 - he was right. We spent a leisurely morning on site leaving just after noon with a belly full of cheese and mushroom omelette (well I did anyway!)

After struggling around Lincoln’s one way system, we found our way to the car park we always used to use when visiting Thom (oldest son) at Uni. It was down by Brayford Harbour giving us easy access to the city centre by walking along by the canal.

We walked around for a bit before tackling the infamous Steep Hill up to the Cathedral / Castle. To build up our energy levels we shared a new veggie Rebel Burger at a Burger King - very good!

We wandered around both ancient monuments. It was nice to see everything again after 12 years. We were regular visitors when Thom was up here but hadn’t been back since his graduation in 2008 (?). Most things hadn’t changed - surprise surprise, we seemed to remember a lot of the eating and drinking establishments!  That said, after we had walked ourselves silly we ended up at an old favourite - Wagamama! Ironically it wasn’t there when Thom was?!

Interesting historical fact ... Lincoln Castle houses one of only 4 remaining copies of the Magna Carta - where are the other 3 (bragging rights for naming 2 of the 3).

Back to Brunnehilda via Boots to try and buy a thermometer. But along with pasta, paracetamol and toilet rolls that seems to be something that is in short supply in the post apocalyptic world we now inhabit. BTW, the thermometer was not for us but we thought it would be good to have one handy for all the family - although I don’t know who would want to use after it had been shoved up my bum?!

We settled down to watch a DVD we bought last night - Book Club. Not one that is going to get in my top 10 films watched this year - or even this month and it’s only the 14th! Kim’s legendary one word film review was “girly”. We agreed that the soundtrack was darn good though.

Canasta night tonight ... bloody close game but I’m pleased to say the right result was recorded in the end.

Interesting Fact Answer: Salisbury Cathedral, The British Library & Temple Church.