Tuesday 4th October 2011 - Saturday 8th October 2011

Market Rasen Racecourse, Affilliated Caravan Club Site (continued).



Tuesday, the plan is to walk into Market Rasen, visit the market (what joy), and then catch the bus to Lincoln.

The market is a disappointment, even to me. There is a burger van, a stall selling plants and a stall selling various secondhand stuff, which frankly was only fit to be thrown away.

Having exhausted the possibilities of the market, in about five minutes, we now had 55 minutes to wait for the bus. But much to our surprise a bus arrives almost immediately, indeed we have to hurry across the road to catch it.

There are four possibilities, the bus is very late, it is very early, our timetable is wrong, it is a different bus. No matter, we are on our way.

Lincoln is a pleasant surprise, a sort of smaller and hilly version of York.

This is the centre piece of the shopping centre, the River Witham, and more swans than I even remember seeing in one place.

A quick coffee, and in my case a slice of carrot and walnut cake to revive us, and we set off to see the cathedral.

Given thant Lincolnshire is such a flat place, it is surprising to find that the the Castle and Cathedral in Lincoln are at the top of a hill. Indeed the road leading up to the Cathedral is imaginatively called "Steep Hill".

We stop off part way up the hill, partly for a rest and partly for a bit of culture at the Usher Gallery, the rest is the main factor. 

It is a very impressive Cathedral, vast inside, and light and cheerful.

The weather is pleasant and we wander the grounds of the Cathedral and Castle until thirst drives us to a rather nice pub on Steep Hill.

Then on further down the hill, to eat an allday breakfast in a small cafe next door to the Jews Court. Excellent sausage and black pudding!, not health food, but very nice.

Now a period of shopping, quite why women wish to visit Marks & Spencer in (say) Lincoln, when we have a perfectly good Marks & Spencer in Newcastle, selling exactly the same things, is beyond me, but in the interests of peace and harmony, we stroll around the shops.

Wednesday, the plan is to do a walk featured in the May 2009 edition of Practical Motorhome.

The walk is supposed to be 7.5 miles long, it begins from Willingham Woods car park, about 1.5 miles from the racecourse where we are staying.

We reach find the carpark, and the path leading into the woods. At this point I switch on the Runkeeper software on my iPhone, to track how far we walk.

We soon find that the instructions are inadequate, even although we have the relevant OS map with us. The walk through the woods with the trees all in their autumn colours is beautiful, but we have to back track and improvise to keep heading in the intended direction.

Eventually we emerge from the woods onto the B1203, Tealby Road, and turn left as directed. We then come to "The Populars", farm and tea room. At this point we have walked 6 miles, the total walk is only supposed to be 7.5 miles and we have not even come to the second of six "points of interest" yet!

We pause at the tea room for refreshments, and to reconsider our plan.

Instead of following the instructions we use the OS Map to guide us through the next wooded area, to emerge on the A46, and then make our way back to Market Rasen. A pause at the pub, and then back to the campsite.

We have done 11.5 miles excluding the walk to the start point!

Thursday, is my birthday. I am instructed by kathleen to lie in bed, whilst she makes breakfast. Perhaps this is going to be a good day?

After a late breakfast we take the bus to Lincoln. It has become a tradition that on my birthday, Kathleen treats herself to something or other, usually new clothes. But today, try as she might she cannot find anything she likes. Eventually, we return to the pub we visited on Tuesday, "Widow Cullens Well", on Steep Hill, and have a very enjoyable lunch, with copious amounts of wine.

Friday, the weather is becomming more "seasonal", ie it is bright and sunny, but definately cool. In the morning we take the OS map and do a 5 mile walk through the Lincolnshire countryside. After lunch, we cycle for 6 miles. It is necessary to do some exercise to work off the excesses of yesterday.

In the evening, Kathleen gets very artistic with the sunset. 

We have never been TV watchers during our campervan trips, partly because we do take a TV with us in the van.

But I did "invest" in a USB Digital TV Receiver, which with the aid of a £6 ariel (from Wilkinsons) we find converts the laptop into a very acceptable TV. So Friday evening will be home from home for kathleen at least, ie an evening of TV watching!

Saturday, home again.

Sunday, October 2nd 2011 - Monday October 3rd 2011

Market Rasen Racecourse, Affilliated Caravan Club Site.

It is my birthday this week, that plus the excellent weather we have been having, has decided us that we will have another outing in the campervan.

Lincolnshire has been selected on the basis that it should be good cycling country, since it is flat!

Sunday morning, as we are due to leave, it has been glorious sunshine for the past week, this morning it is raining!, but as we head south, it clears and by the time we arrive at Market Rasen, shortly after lunch, it is another beautiful day.

We spend the remainder of the afternoon exploring Market Rasen, looking for good pub(s), and/or places to eat. This is not exactly successful.

Monday

Armed with our OS Map of the area, we set off on a cycle ride. The plan is to cycle to Horlton-cum-Beckering.

From the beginning almost, things do not go smoothly.

According to the map there is a "byeway", which will save us from cycling along the road.

Initially, due to my poor map reading skills, we cycle past it and have to retrace our steps.

We do not know it at the time, but cycling back to find it was not really a good idea. It starts well, but soon becomes this rough overgrown track.

It is impossible to cycle much of the time, because the surface alternates between deep ruts, and large irregular stones.

Kathleen plods on, with no complaints, this is ominous, she is not normally so cooperative.

Eventually we emerge from the overgrown byeway, at a small village called Linwood.

Here we see, there is a perfectly good cycle track, all nicely signposted and surfaced, which we could have taken from Market Rasen.

Still Kathleen is calm about it, no recriminations, what can the problem be?

We cycle on, following the cycle route signs, until we come to Wickernby.

By now, it is nearing times for elevenses, or at least  a coffee. So far we have not even seen a shop, nevermind a pub or cafe. At Wickernby, we stop for a rest and a drink of water (this being all that is on offer). We notice a group of people outside the church, they dressed as if they have been attending some function, but are having a picnic, we will soon find out why.

We continue on our way, soon we come to Wickerby Airport, don't get carried away, it is  not exactly Heathrow. It is a former WW2 RAF airfield, now used by light aircraft and helicopters, plus there are a few factory units.

Most interesting of all, there is (according to a sign) a cafe in the former control tower, we make our way there. Closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. The place is like a scene form the film "Battle of Britain", ie a few empty chairs and a bowl of water for the dog, but no coffee or tea, I had even hoped for a bacon sandwich.

We pause and watch this helicopter take off, I have never been this close to a helicopter taking off before.

We now reason, if this was a former RAF airfield, there MUST be a pub nearby, I mean, in all of the best WW2 films, the pilots return from an "op" and go straight to the pub. We cycle on to Holton-cum-Beckering.

There is a pub, the "White Hart" we peddle to it briskly, "closed on Mondays", the sign says. Who ever heard of a pub which was closed on Mondays? Perhaps there is another pub in the village, but no, we cycle right through the place and emerge from the other side, no pub, no cafe.

We decide we will head back toward Market Rasen, before we die of dehydration, we can see from the map, we can return via a place called Lissington, it looks to be a reasonable size, perhaps....

that is right, no pub or cafe in Lissington.

On to Middle Rasen, here there is a fine church.

There is also a Bowls Club, a shop and a post office.

It even has a map and information board, showing "places of interest", nothing that interests us, no food, no refreshments.

Until now, we have been lighthearted about this, having a laugh as we pedalled along, the joke is beginning to wear thin.

Soon we are back in Market Rasen,  where we quickly find the Aston Arms and order ourselves pint shandies.

Refreshed, we return to the racecourse and caravan site.

We have cycled 21 miles this morning, after lunch, we spend the afternoon soaking up the sunshine.