Articles from the Newsletter May/June 2008

Easter trip to Skeggy!   by Gordon Winrow

On Good Friday morning we all set off for sunny (!) Skegness. Marian's sister Janet and her husband Alain, had come over from France to join us for all the joys of early in the year English cycling. We loaded up the cars and set off to the Dartford tunnel to take the road to Starnford in Lincolnshire, where we were meeting David, Keith W, Linda and Stephen for lunch at Truffles, and to have a short ride before going on to the East Coast for our Easter break. It was very cold, and during lunch we discovered (by mobile phone) that we had in fact missed L and S, so we arranged to meet them later at the hotel, and mounted our bikes. Before we had even left the car park the sleet had started, but undaunted we followed David for our ride. A few miles on we found that one of the bridges over the A l was closed to traffic. However, Alain managed to remove one of the fences slightly and we pushed our way through taking great advantage of the workmen's portaloos on the other side. By now, wet through and frozen to the marrow, we went back to the cars. There were many level crossings on the A 16 towards Skegness, and at just one of the National Express train crossings we counted four trains going through before we could move on. Arriving at the “Craigside" hotel we received a hospitable welcome and Marilyn, Keith B, Linda and Stephen had already booked in. Janet was very amused at the stair lifts on all floors, and said she had already felt the need to use them after our ride. Later we braved the cold weather, went out to a restaurant in the town and we felt fortunate that very few people were holidaying in the area at this time. Saturday was very grey and doubtful, and after breakfast David suggested we take our bikes by car to Tattershall Castle in case the weather proved impossible for cycling. The castle was built in 1440 by Lord Cromwell, has a 130ft tower and has six floors, from cellar to battlements. During the twentieth centuty demolition became an imminent threat, but Lord Curzon bought the castle in 1911 and transformed it back to its rightful glory. It reminded us of Bodiarn Castle in Sussex, and it transpires that the same Lord Curzon bought Bodiam in 1916 and embarked on its restoration, which fact is noted at Tattershall. Both castles are now National Trust properties. Nearly lunch time now and with the exception of Janet, Alain and Keith W, who all decided to forsake a bike ride and go by car, we rode to Woodhall Spa where we met up with them at a cafe called "Teas in the Woods". It was marvellous to get warm again, the ride (although not according to Keith B) was horrendously windy and it was one of those two steps forward and one step back occasions. Next to the cafe in the middle of the woods was an old cinema called "Kinema in the Woods" or "The Flicks in the Sticks" - of which Keith W presented a photo in the last newsletter - and was full of memorabilia of all the old black and white movies with large posters of the famous stars, “From Here to Eternity" being one example. They showed a film each afternoon, where more modem performances could be seen. For fun, I bought a wall plate of Laurel and Hardy! Leaving the Kinema the snow/sleet had started to come down again, so we cycled back to our cars at the castle and then drove to Skegness, where later we went out for another gourmet meal. Waking up on Sunday morning, we were greeted by a snowy white landscape. Cycling being out of the question, David suggested we took the cross country bus to Lincoln to look around the Cathedral. It was a scenic journey via all the villages with lots to look at - and ever competitive Linda and I had a "count the snowmen" competition on the way. I'm sure that I won by 14 to 0! We walked through the town up to Lincoln Cathedral and Keith B told us that it was where one of the well-known cycling competitions took place, a race up the cobbled streets, which were very hilly. At the Cathedral we learnt that William the Conqueror was crowned as King of England on Christmas Day 1066. He built a network of strong royal castles across the land, and Lincoln was one of the first to be built in 1068. In fact the Cathedral has been used as a court and prison for more than 900 years), We had lunch in the lovely Cathedral cafe, after which we visited Lincoln Castle which was one of the first the Normans built, two years after the defeat of Harold at Hastings. Housed within is a copy of the original Magna Carta sent from Runnymede, currently on loan from the Cathedral , which has its own dedicated exhibition. Then, back on the bus to our hotel, ready for our last supper. On the way home, Janet, Alain, Marian and I stopped at Crowland near Peterborough to look at Trinity Bridge. Today, it's a bridge to nowhere - high and dry. The triangular bridge stands in the centre of Crowland on dry land. Built between 1360 and 1390 it has three arches, but one over-arching structure. Originally, two rivers used to go through when the area was mainly marshland and the village was almost isolated. We also walked round Croyland Abbey, which speaks of a certain time in history - the Middle Ages - and which is interestingly spelt differently from the town. For lunch we went to Mountfichet Castle near Stansted overlooking the Stort Valley, which represents a Norman village built on the original site. Smell the log fires burning and experience an ancient bygone lifestyle, mingling with the animals roaming freely throughout the grounds! There are numerous huts depicting life at that time, and we took photos (nobody else was around!) of each wearing the helmets displayed in one of the huts. Our four days produced very little cycling due to the bad weather, but thanks to David the “wet weather" programme was great fun!