Weather: Fine, warm, breezy
Distance: 16.5 km
(10.3 miles) Total Distance: 2773
miles
This was
a strange day’s walk to say the least.
Margaret and the boys dropped me at Sailor’s Home before going off to
explore Skegness. I headed for the sea
defences and began walking north. The
area was full of arable land growing vegetables. Teams of people were in the fields, hunched
over picking the crop.
I soon came to
yet another bombing range. I was used to
the form now and strode past the watchtowers believing that I was clearly
allowed to walk on the sea defences as long as I did not stray onto the mud
flats. The sun was shining and I was
shocked to meet a man lying in the grass near a bike miles from anywhere
looking more like he lived out there rather than was out for a ride – he didn’t
acknowledge me.
As I
went further north the bombing practices started but the vegetables kept on
growing! I had asked someone earlier
on about whether I could cross the Steeping River and he told me he thought I
could but he did not say it with any conviction.
As I neared the River I very much hoped that
I could find a way across or it would mean a long walk up river over seemingly
private land. I was relieved to find a
rickety old footbridge over the river but it had a gate with spikes on it that
tempered my optimism. Fortunately when I tried the gate it was open so I was
across – or so I thought – I had ended up in a compound again surrounded by
high fence and a gate. There was a house
nearby and a dog that I had disturbed was barking. I was very unsure if I was in the right or
not or more importantly if there was a way for me to get to Gibraltar Point
where I had planned to meet Margaret. A
woman appeared and it transpired I was inside a water company’s compound and
she didn’t have a key for the gate but I was welcome to climb over and go
onward to Gibraltar Point.
I
walked around a lake and then to the visitors centre to rest out of sun. I treated myself to an ice cream, took off my
boots and waited. When they arrived they
went for a walk down to the beach and I joined them later on their way back
after resting further in the car.
Went
back to the house to get a bath and have a cup of tea etc. We tried to go to a pub in Skegness for
supper that I had seen in the Good Beer Guide but when we got there it
looked a great place though we were disappointed when we were told that
that they were not doing bar meals that night as they were going to have a
bar-b-q later.
We traveled around
Skegness trying to find somewhere to eat. We ended up in another pub – a huge
place advertising children’s meals etc. We tried to eat in the bar but we were
told that if we had children we had to go into the adjoining large hall where a
kid’s karaoke was about to start. We
ordered our food and sat among people we thought we had nothing in common and a
lot of noise. When the food did
eventually arrive they had run out of cutlery. I had to eat my Chicken Kiev by
hand! The meal from hell eventually
finished and we left hastily. Back at
the house I went for a beer in the bar at the campsite and went to bed at the
same time as the kids.
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