The
Kingsway’s cooked breakfast isn’t great, but it’s filling and is served from 7
a.m. so we’re finished, checked out and on our way by 8 o’clock. As we continue
along the seafront and a section of beach, we cross back into the eastern
hemisphere with the meridian being marked by a very smart looking blue globe. The
question is raised as to whether we’ll return to the west before we reach the
Sussex coast. The answer would seem to depend on how far inland we have to
travel to get round/over the River Welland before starting out along the North
Norfolk coast. In the more immediate term, we realise that we’ve walked for 4
days (and nearly 70 miles) since leaving the Crown & Anchor pub at Kilnsea,
and we can still see the Spurn Head lighthouse only a few miles away across the
estuary. After leaving Cleethorpes and passing the Humber Mouth Yacht Club, the
next few miles are along paths and raised embankments which pass around and
through the salt marshes which stretch back from the sea shore. Fortunately,
two potential delays along this part of the route don’t materialise. First, the
online blog/diary created by Charles (the guy we met in Hull at the end of next
year) mentions some embankment works just after the yacht club which
necessitated for him a diversion around a golf course. Those works have clearly
been completed during the last few months because the embankment is now clear.
And secondly, we find that the sluice gates at Tetney Lock have access to
walkers, so we can cross over the narrow canal and don’t need to spend an extra
40 minutes on an inland diversion. Once past the marshes, our path is closer to
the shoreline. Charles apparently faced another difficulty in this area near
North Coates where a section of path had been closed/fenced off by more
construction works. It may be that the fencing has been made less restrictive since
Charles was here because we have no difficulty in using the nearby beach as a
route around the works which, according to notices, relate to a project called
Hornsea 1. The nature of the project is not immediately apparent but, as with
yesterday’s mystery of the Cleethorpes bagpipes, we learn more about it later
today. For now, we need to get through an area called Donna Nook. This is
another area of salt marsh (and a nature reserve) but, immediately offshore,
it’s used by local RAF stations for bombing practice. Not surprisingly,
therefore, there are a number of restrictions to observe and, on a couple of
occasions, we check with rangers that we’re going the right way. This turns out
to be somewhat over-cautious because the route is pretty straightforward along
the edge of the beach, and sand paths through dunes which are helpfully marked
with the tyre tracks of tractors and other vehicles. Indeed, as we’re leaving
the area, a car and land rover come towards us along a sand path leading to the
RAF base which we’ve just passed. Somewhat surprisingly, the land rover stops
and a smiling uniformed soldier wearing a light blue beret (which we later ascertain
is that of the Army Air Corps) jumps out of the back seat, shakes Gary’s hand,
and asks what we’re up to. We tell him how, and for how long, we’ve been doing
the walk – which he describes as “hardcore” (not sure how he’d have reacted to
Charles’s efforts). He doesn’t say why he’s visiting the RAF base and, still
smiling, gets back into the land rover. He probably doesn’t hear the comment
which one of us makes to Mike (who hadn’t spoken during the conversation) “Well
done Vladimir”. We’re now left with about a couple of miles to Saltfleet, most
of which comprises a straight walk along another grass embankment. We reach a
road, wiggle through a caravan park and, shortly after 1:30, arrive at the
Crown Inn where we’ve arranged for Colin to meet us at 2:15. However, as John
feared might be the case, the Crown is closed, as is the nearby New Inn. Both
have an opening time of 4 pm. John therefore rings the cab firm to ask for a
pick up as quickly as possible, and we sit outside the New Inn to wait. Fortunately,
Colin has already arrived in Saltfleet (he’s been parked behind the Crown) so
the wait is one of only a few minutes, and we get to Cleethorpes station around
2:15. We say to Colin that we’ll be in touch to arrange a return journey to
Saltfleet when we resume our walk in four weeks and he says that, shortly after
that trip, he’ll be doing the GB Three Peaks Challenge and that, because he’s a
member of (or somehow affiliated with) a Scottish pipe band or organisation,
he’ll be doing the climbs in full piping regalia. John’s razor sharp mind
immediately spots a connection and he mentions the bagpipes which we heard when
walking along the beach yesterday evening. Colin says that it was probably him
practising. So there we are. We’re at the station rather early, and the 1424
will be leaving soon. John – who has a flexible rail ticket – spends an
unnecessary amount of time debating whether he should catch that train, or have
a cider and, as was always the plan, catch the 1524 with the rest of us. Big
surprise, cider wins. There are two bars at Cleethorpes station (rather
prosaically called Number 1 and Number 2) which could appear excessive given
that there are only two departures and arrivals per hour namely a trans-Pennine
express to/from Manchester and a local rattler to/from Barton-on-Humber
(possibly stopping at New Clee). But having chosen Number 2 as our nestler for
the next 45 minutes, it’s apparent that the clientele is not so much weary rail
travellers, but rather Cleethorpes residents who use it as a local – and some
of whom are getting increasingly “weary”. We have plenty of time for a couple
of sharpeners, and a few bags of crisps, before catching the 1524 which leaves
on time. At Grimsby a bloke boards the train and sits opposite Ben. After a
short while, he strikes up a conversation from which it emerges that he’s
working as a support manager for a huge wind farm which is being constructed in
the North Sea about half way between England and the Netherlands. It transpires
that the construction project is called Hornsea 1 and he reckons that the site
which we saw earlier today would have been involved with cable laying for the
project. So there we are on that one as well. He leaves the train at Doncaster,
as do Ben, Mike and Gary to catch their connecting trains home. John remains
aboard and, having spent much of the Cleethorpes to Doncaster leg asleep,
manages to be awake at Sheffield to catch his connection to Cheltenham.
Day 116 – Killingholme to Cleethorpes
Successful
rendezvous at Barnetby station – Ben and Gary arriving on a train from Newark,
which enables inspection of and purchases from Barnetby’s limited retail
opportunity (i.e. a post office) before John and Mike arrive from
Sheffield/Doncaster. A pre-ordered Colin gets us back to Killingholme, and we
set off shortly before 11:45. There’s an element of Groundhog Day in that, as
with the start of our 2018 walk from Hartlepool, the 2019 equivalent is
unlikely to be the most picturesque of routes. Conversely, whilst it’s perhaps
not possible to have a positive Groundhog Day, we’ve again managed to schedule
our walk for the week after a country-wide storm (this one named Gareth). It is,
in fact, a warm and quite sunny March day as we leave the docks area at
Killingholme, cross an extremely new looking bridge over one of the rail lines
through the complex, and progress inland to the Lincolnshire road network. And we’re
faced by pretty major roads for about the next 90 minutes, including a dual
carriageway on which the inside lanes are closed for some form of repair or
utility work. This would ordinarily mean that the roadside path is further away
from the traffic but, along a few stretches, the works have also blocked the
path which leaves the central reservation as the only option for what are
thankfully short sections of the walk. Anyway, the roads get us around what
remain of Killingholme docks, and also the port at Immingham. After passing the
port gate – 6 miles and 2 hours from our start point – a track through some
trees leads us back, at long last, to the Humber and a path alongside the
estuary wall. However, the coastal scenery remains very industrial with a
couple of chemical works, and one of the overriding impressions of the day
namely some huge compounds containing rows and rows of new cars from Europe
(e.g. Audi and Seat) presumably awaiting delivery/distribution around the UK.
As we follow the path, something emerges which has rarely happened during the
previous 115 days. It looks as though our actual mileage today is going to be
lower than our original estimate. The estimate was something over 16 miles but
assumed the estuary path ending short of Grimsby and an inland diversion being
necessary to reach the town. As it transpires, the path continues to the roads
outside Grimsby docks. We can’t go through the docks but follow some narrow
lanes behind fish warehouses and along the landward side of the railway line towards
Cleethorpes. We pass a small station called New Clee which, for some reason,
causes Ben almost as much excitement as the next landmark, Blundell Park, the
home of Grimsby Town, and the first professional football ground which we’ve
seen since the Riverside Stadium on our first outing last year. We’re soon able
to cross a bridge over the railway and complete the day with a bit of beach
action. Rather strangely, this is accompanied by what sounds like the skirl of
bagpipes on the sea air – the explanation for which emerges, coincidentally,
tomorrow. We pass under Cleethorpes pier and arrive at our overnight stop, the
Kingsway Hotel, shortly before 6 o’clock. From the outside, this looks like a
very traditional seaside hotel with a row of dining room windows overlooking
the seafront, tables laid for dinner and napkins neatly folded in glasses. This
initial impression is confirmed when, after a welcoming check-in, an even more
welcoming couple of beers/ciders in the lounge, and showers in clean and
comfortable rooms, we reassemble in the lounge for a pre-dinner drink. There
are two or three couples there who have dressed for dinner, and our menus are
delivered and orders taken by a gentleman in DJ and bow tie. But the service in
the dining room is friendly and the food pretty good, although a bit overpriced
compared with what we’ve eaten of similar quality on other recent trips. Not
surprisingly after the first outing of the year, everyone is a bit weary, so
liquid refreshment at the table is restricted to just the two bottles of red,
and no stickies. We ascend the stairs shortly before 9:30.
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