Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire 22 - 27 Apr 21

Our second post lockdown trip took us back to Lincolnshire. The company we bought this motorhome from, Becks in Norfolk, ceased trading. This was a massive shock and a great shame as they were a lovely firm to deal with. With Becks no longer playing, the warranty and maintenance tasks has now fallen to Camper UK in Lincoln and we had arranged to see them to discuss a few bits. Accordingly we made a weekend of it and stopped for a few nights in the Woodhall Spa Camping and Caravanning Club Site.

The journey was uneventful and we travelled down some very pretty roads through Lincolnshire. There ain't much around these parts and we were getting a bit desperate for fuel by the time we arrived, but we did find a nice garage in Horncastle, filled up, and then arrived at the site and pitched up and sat in the sunshine for a while, albeit the wind was pretty chilly. It is a very nice site, miles from anywhere and therefore very quiet, apart from the distant roar of jets at RAF Coningsby. We had a little walk through the adjacent nature reserve and enjoyed the absolute peace and tranquillity of this lovely spot.

On Friday we walked 3 miles into Woodhall Spa, an attractive little town with some lovely little shops. We stopped to admire the wonderful Dambusters memorial, shaped like a broken dam, and the more modern memorial to 617 Squadron. The sun was shining, the pubs were open, so we had an al fresco lunch in the Inn at Woodhall Spa and the food from the Lancaster Brasserie was absolutely delicious. What made it was having a Spitfire do a low flypast over us. St George's day, Spitfire, sunshine, English Pub and no lockdown - it was perfect. Our first proper meal out for ages. Stuffed, we waddled back to the van and then relaxed.

617 Squadron post 1945 Memorial 

A little bit of sanitiser on that?

617  (Dambusters) Sqn Memorial

Memorial to the men who left Woodhall Spa to fight at Arnhem

The following day, after watching Harlequins beat those dirty gits of London Irish in a niggly, frustrating game, we took to the bikes to cycle along the Spa trail to Horncastle. It was a pretty ride and Horncastle is quite a nice little town. It was a joy to watch cricket being played on the green.

St Mary's Church Horncastle

Sunday we took to the bikes again, this time cycling 15 miles along the disused railway line alongside the River Witham. It was dry but very cold and, strangely enough, we managed to find a pub (The Riverside Inn at Southrey) and enjoyed another pint in the great outdoors.  

On Monday we decided to have restful day after all that exercise and drove the van to the viewing point at RAF Coningsby to watch some Typhoons taking off. They were working nights that week and kept up the flying until the very early hours. Typhoons are very noisy.

Top Turret viewing

RAF Coningsby

Tuesday was an early start to drive to Camper UK for the assessment and whilst there they fitted another battery and a new solar regulator to ensure that the vehicle battery remains charged with solar power. We should be equipped for longer off grid now. Despite the rain, we walked into Lincoln. It was deserted. We did have a very nice pint in the Morning Star in Greetwell Gate - a lovely little pub - we must go back. After a call from Camper UK telling us that the van was finished, we headed back and then drove south to home, stopping off at Boundary Mills for a bit of retail therapy on the way.

Exchequer Gate

Lincoln Cathedral

The Roman Newport Arch

Steep Hill

Sutton on Sea, Lincolnshire 12-19 Apr 21

A proper beer

Mon 12 - The end of lockdown at last. We haven't been away since December and the months seemed to drag on forever, but at last the sites were open and so we headed off fairly locally to the Sutton on Sea caravan club site on the Lincolnshire coast, which we knew would be fairly deserted. We spotted about 15 motorhomes out and about on this first day of freedom and it was a relatively easy journey, despite the heavy traffic jams through Boston. The CAMC is eye-wateringly expensive at this peak period and we would normally avoid the rip-off charges like the plague, but we have been locked down for so long.........

We arrived and pitched under the new Covid secure procedures, but we found that the heating system had tripped due to overheating the boiler following a frost valve activation the day before. We learnt that the new van has the frost dump valve located away from the boiler so, whereas the old van was relatively protected by the heat of the boiler, this one isn't. It dumped, the boiler was trying to heat water that wasn't there and therefore tripped. We had big problems resetting it but a quick call to Truma and the judicious application of an allen key managed to get it sorted and we could have heat in the unseasonably low temperatures.

The Bubbles were poured to celebrate freedom!

Tuesday 13 was sunny, bright but cool, so we set off for a 5mile walk along the promenade to Sutton on Sea. There were a few people about and the shops had opened, but generally it was still very quiet. We had trouble finding a red pepper for our jambalaya that evening, so later on in the day we cycled back to  the Co-Op where we purchased the last red pepper in Lincolnshire. Cycling back we were scared by an idiot in a white van overtaking us at speed on a bend, on the wrong side of the road, narrowly missing the oncoming cars. I wonder if all white vans have an instruction booklet stipulating that one must drive like an absolute tit? 

Taking social distancing to a new level

Half mast for The Duke of Edinburgh RIP

After so long on lockdown it felt great to stretch our legs, so on Wednesday we walked to Farmer Browns for ice-cream, came back and then went for a cycle ride along the promenade to Huttoft.

Big skies in Lincolnshire

Huttoft 

On Thursday 15th it was off to  Mabelthorpe on the bikes to buy a new mallet, as we had forgotten to pack one. Mabelthorpe high street is still horrible, but there is a very nice camping shop. Chatting to the owner he stated that he was selling a lot of water pumps as they are failing after not being used for so long. Must get a spare.

Covid testing in Town

Mean Machines!

Fri 16 - Decided that we needed fish and chips so we walked into Sutton on Sea to find some. Sitting on the beach we munched away, albeit the wind was blowing in straight from Siberia and it was pigging freezing. That didn't stop those brave families playing on the beach. Tough lot us Brits!

Braving the freezing wind

On Saturday, exercise and ice-cream were needed, so another quick 4 mile trek to satisfy both. The afternoon was filled with booze and rugby and we retired to bed a little the worse for wear. In the middle of the night we were roasting hot, even though it was 0 degrees outside. The site power supply had tripped and our heating automatically switched to gas from electric, but the gas heating is far too effective!

Ice Cream at Farmer Brown's

Raw Ice Cream

The following day was was a lazy one. The weather was fine, we had a quick bimble to see the sea then back for a Sunday Roast and a relax in the sun.

On Monday it was up and home. Boy, was it good to be away again.