Market Rasen to Grimsby

June 19, 2018

a train from Lincoln & riding over the Wolds

After over a week in Lincoln doing normal odds and sods and a few short rides, it's time to hit the road for a few days. My panniers are packed.

The sun's out and once I've briefly Skyped home to chat with Debbie, I wheel my bike into the warm air and cycle the 5km or more along the narrow riverside path to Lincoln and go into the train station and buy my ticket. There's over half an hour early to kill before my 10.25 to Market Rasen, so I ride up the High Street to Starbucks.

maybe it's a hunch, but for some reason I sit with my hot drink wondering where I've stashed the ticket and search through my shorts, the back pockets on my cycling shirt and then go out to my bike and search in my bar-bag. It's nowhere to be found. Maybe I left it on the station counter.

Back there, the lady looks around behind the desk and says she must have given it to me, so I scour the concourse in vain and eventually have no choice but to pay another £6.20. At least it wasn't an expensive ticket up to Scotland or down to London.

Once off in Rasen, I cycle down the station's drive then work my way up the town's main street. People in Lincolnshire just call it Rasen and there are a few charity shops and I pick up a shirt for just a quid. It's too small for me, but maybe Dave can wear it. It's a subtle pink checked one by Paul Smith, which is a pricey British brand. For some reason I also buy a small towel for 50p.

The main road goes east and I look out for a small turning on my left which then takes me through woods. It's cool and shaded, but annoying little black flies swarm around my head and torso when I stop to take a snap. They're so bad that I soon give up and just keep pedalling. They clearly love the bright orange of my cycling shirt.

Once out into a clearing I have another go and it's a bit better, but the sun feels hot now. I ride along the track for 20 metres or so then go back to the camera and tripod, detach them and sling the camera over my shoulder.

When the track ends I make a right on the tarmac and head to Tealby and when I get near I ask it a guy standing outside his house about local shops and he tells me to ride down through the village, so that's what I decide to do.

I recognize the place from a year or so ago as I cycled here with Dave and Debbie. There's a nice thatched pub called the King's Head and I decide it's a good place for lunch. The pub dates back to the 1300s and sells a range of decent beer, but I'm not in the market for a pint right now and just order a coffee and a ploughman's lunch.

Initially after ordering I go to sit at an outside table, but then know that those pesky little flies with soon start hovering around, so go back inside to the cool interior, with slabs of stone on the floor. Three men are sat at the bar and they're all pretty old - around 80 - and appear to be regulars. They chat about their friends and what's been going on while I sit at the far end of the room where there's a window seat.

The blue sky has gone when I step outside and make my way out of Tealby. There's just one lane and at a junction there's a wooden shop that looks like something from the 1930s. It's about the size of a large domestic garage and the owner looks at my OS map and I show him the off-road track I want to take and tell him I'm heading to Binbrook and he says it's just down the lane and over the stream, adding that it'll be much better than cycling along the main road, which climbs up quite a hill.

The farm track is pretty rough with loose stones on the surface and as it inclines more my riding becomes hard work and I begin to feel hot and sweaty, so take my hat off. For 40 or 50 metres the bike gets pushed before it levels out and eventually the B 1225 appears. I go left and look out for a right turn that's just another track. It's not far.

This track goes past a large farm complex and then starts to drop. It's also badly rutted and I wonder if my front wheel slips it'll be painful and it's a case of steering a path along a narrow strip that's a bit smoother. The bumping is over once I squeeze past a metal gate and get back onto tarmac. There's a short hill in front of me to go up, but what you expect this as this is now the Lincolnshire Wolds.

During World War II, RAF Binbrook was a base for bombers, but the military camp got closed in the 80s and it's to the north of a T junction, but I veer south and drop towards the actual village, keeping to the B 1203.

Another short hill takes me to a bit and after it crests there's a sizable mill stone standing upright at a grassy intersection with a farm track and the spot seems like a good place to pause and get my breath back, have a drink and take a snap. Across the road there's a hand-made steel sign that's welded to form a silhouetted landscape incorporating a church spire and a windmill, with a couple of birds flying over ploughed fields and capital letters painted white spelling Binbrook. Someone local probably made it.

The sky is overcastand it feels muggy as the B 1203 keeps taking me towards Grimsby. I reckon this is called Grimsby Road and once it gets close to the port town a small detour takes me to a windmill near a place called Waltham, but my quick snap of the structure doesn't look great.

Stopped at a red light, I ask a woman behind the wheel of her car where the centre of town is and she tells me that this is it and points across the road, so I go over but all there is is the back entrance to a shopping mall. A guy in his 30s tells me to just follow the path through a pedestrian tunnel, but there's a nearby sign for a hotel so that's where I head instead.

The young receptionist quotes me 78 quid for a single but I'm not too surprised as the St James Hotel looks like a nice swanky kind of place. After saying I want something cheaper and begin walking back out to my bike, an older woman asks me what my budget is - I tell her around 50. She can't go that low, but offers me a room for 58 and I take it. My bike gets locked up in the spacious boiler room outside.

The sun comes out while I have dinner in the dining room and I enjoy a couple of pints of Guinness with it before watching Egypt loose their World Cup game back up in my room.

Today's ride: 40 km (25 miles)
Total: 469 km (291 miles)

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