222. Stallingborough to Cleethorpes

I’ve decided to sit tight at the moment and wait to see how England get on in the World Cup, which means delaying my return to Skye. Which meant I could get a shortish single day in on the east coast; although it was slightly shorter than even I expected.

The high temperatures the UK is currently experiencing meant I needed to get an early start, so I drove and parked at the carpark near to Cleethorpes railway station. Things did not go well on the drive up, as on a near deserted M180, some bloody lorry sent a lump of metal across the central reservation and onto my windscreen, resulting a small crack! It had only been three weeks since I had a new windscreen fitted! Anyway, on my return to Telford I managed to get one of the those localised repairs with resin, which mad the damage disappear.

I caught the 05:59 train from Cleethorpes to Stallingborough. It was lovely and cool as I set off up the road through the village. I turned off down  a lane before following a green lane alongside fields of wheat to my first objective, the village of Healing. I re-crossed the railway line at the level crossing and proceeded along other fields following The Nev Cole Way – still high-lighted in a marker pen! By the time I reached the outskirts of Grimsby at Great Coates, the sun was well up and getting very warm. I been accompanied by the constant din coming from the nearby A180, which was very busy. I think it was very loud due to the fact that it is a concrete dual carriageway, which generally givet very noisy tyre roar.

The best part of the day – early morning and approaching the village of Healing

I re-crossed the railway line again at Great Coates and headed into a large industrial estate. The next 8 or so miles, well the less said the better. I could think of many disparaging words about Grimsby, but I’ll refine my language to describe it as a run-down dump…….and thats putting it mildly!

After a bit of a detour around some of the worst of Grimsby’s suburbia I headed towards the Fish Docks in the hope of picking up a path along the shoreline. I passed a multitude of Young’s Fish processing plants only to be confronted by a locked gate. I was quite angry with myself as I had intentionally kept away from the industrial areas of Immingham and Grimsby because of the poor footpath routes through the area. I followed an exit sign along a road that actually went under the road I had just entered the docks on and taking me in the opposite direction I had come. The long and short of it was that I had just done an extra 4 miles in the searing heat for absolutely nothing! I was not happy.

I rejoined the main road to Cleethorpes and arrived back at the station. I intended to either walk out to Tetney Marsh and a get the bus back or take a #17 bus, and then walk back to Cleethorpes. It was a good job I did the latter as after waiting 40 minutes for a bus I double-checked the bus times which indicated that the ~17 only ran during school holidays. This was counter to what traveline and my timetable said.

I decided to call it quits and walked the short distance back to the car and drove home. My next section along this stretch will just have to be a bit longer. At least I will not have to come back to the dump that is Grimsby.

Victoria Flour Mill, now in Council hands, plans are underway to develop the site

Grimsby Dock Tower from the Fish Docks

I passed-by alot of these buidlings

At Cleethorpes looking across the Humber Estuary

The Pier at Cleethorpes

Distance today = 13 miles
Total distance = 3,959 miles

 

 

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