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.