Day: 214 7/8/99 Gibraltar Point to Chapel St Leonards

Weather:  Misty, cool

Distance:  17.5 km (10.9miles)    Total Distance:   2784 miles

Not very cheerful weather for walking and Margaret and I had already decided that we would go back to Coventry today rather than stay on till tomorrow.  We checked out of the B&B and drove to Gibraltar Point car park again.  I headed down onto the sands and turned north. 

It was bleak to say the least with a breeze in my face, and hardly anyone to see out and about all day. The sand was relatively firm and apart from having to dodge a river or two as they weaved across the beach and the odd flock of annoyed gulls, it was straight forward till Skegness. 

A few people were out braving the weather and Margaret and the boys were in the town trying to find a decent coffee shop to wile away a couple of hours.  She found somewhere eventually and was kept amused by listening to a couple of men talking about the male talent walking past the café window. 

North of Skegness I took more to the promenade, past the holiday camp protected by the usual wire fences.  I stopped at an unmemorable café full of people escaping the inclement weather and hoping it would clear up. The map looked like there would be open country before I reached Chapel St Leonards but it turned out to be caravan parks upon caravan parks.  I was pretty unclear where I was looking at the map.  I stopped at the PC in Chapel Point and then headed north again to the car park where I had arranged to meet Margaret.  The last stretch was on the beach and it was difficult to see over the tops of the dunes as to where the car park actually was but I made a good enough guess.  There was no sign of Margaret but she turned up some half-hour later having got stuck in traffic. 

I had come up with the idea of stopping in Lincoln on the way back for some afternoon tea.  We got there with about an hour and a half to spare before closing time, and found a third-world craft shop.  Margaret disappeared in whilst I stayed outside with the boys.  The next thing I saw was a commotion inside with a shoplifter being caught trying to escape with her stash.  When it all calmed down we all went inside and found a few throws and an earthenware pot for our lounge.  We then went and found a pleasant tea shop – much better than last night’s evening meal from hell!