In Horncastle: the Lincolnshire Wolds

August 13, 2024

We’re staying three nights in Horncastle mostly because of what I remember from our tour of England two summers back. Then we stayed for two nights in Louth, a market town about twenty miles north of here. On our layover day the two of us took a loop ride through the Lincolnshire Wolds AONB, one of our favorite rides from that part of the tour. It was earlier summer then, the fields were greener, and weather conditions were ideal. Here’s one of my favorite photos from the day:

Almost a plaid look. Lincolnshire tweed.

Our flat ride yesterday isn’t enough to tempt Rachael to spend her layover days on the saddle just yet, so she opts for a pair of hikes while I explore the Wolds on my own. I’ve got a pair of overlapping loops mapped out for myself, which together with the one two years ago will give me pretty good coverage of the area that looks a little like a ragged Venn Diagram.

Also, an educational note. When we were here two years ago this area was known as the Lincolnshire Wolds AONB, but that’s inoperative now. All the AONB’s got renamed as National Landscapes, because whatever. Shakespeare would have something to say about that, I think.

The Lincolnshire Wolds loops. Green is from two summers ago, red is the plan for today, and blue is on tap for tomorrow.

Rachael leaves for her walk midmorning sometime, but for no earthly reason it’s nearly an hour later before I finally get my lazy butt in gear. Something to do with trying to not fall behind on this blog, I think. When I finally do get started I get held up because the woman at the desk isn’t sure about where my bike is or how to access it (she’s not the one who led us to the shed out behind the hotel when we arrived). I describe its location to her and she writes out the code for the combo lock on its door, and tells me if I have an issue to come back.

There are three storage rooms, and they each have a combo lock securing it. I didn’t really notice which one our bikes got stashed in, so I try them all. Frustratingly of them open so I go back inside to beg for assistance. I see that the woman from yesterday is tending the bar, so I head over to her first but she’s slammed with drink orders and asks me to wait a few.

I do wait a few, until eventually the other woman sees me standing there, goes to confer with the woman at the bar, and then comes back to tell me to follow her out to the units. When we’re there she uses the combo, and like magic the lock pops open. It turns out there’s a trick - you have to push a button on the base of the lock for it to open. It’s a kind of combo lock I’ve never seen before so it never occurred to me.

I thank her for the education and the access and then go on to say it will be nice that I can let myself in when I get back. No, that won’t do she says - it’s better if you come to the desk and ask us to help you. And with that in mind, please hand over the post-it note with the four digit combo code written on it. I do so, and then try my best to purge 3142 from my short term memory so I won’t be tempted.

And then, finally, I’m off.

I’m just leaving town when I pass through a pocket wetland on the edge of it, a beautification of a former refuse site. Nice to see a moorhen family making use of it.

The Wolds aren’t like the other scenic areas or parks we’ve biked through over the past eleven weeks. There’s not a great deal of contour in the terrain, with only about four hundred feet elevation difference between the lows and the highs.so the climbs aren’t as long, and not as steep either. I don’t see a 17 percent slope all day, or one that tempts me to get off and push. The worst top out at around 10-12% and are quite manageable. If you go up and down enough small hills though they add up, and I’ll put in around 2,000’ feet of climbing before I make it back.

The first part of the ride is pretty tame though, as I gradually gain elevation as I bike past pastures planted in a variety of crops until I near the AONB boundary (and yes, I know AONB is out now, but it’s a more convenient handle and easier to type than National Landscape).

Well, this is ironic. The whole time we were biking in Yorkshire I had my eye out for one of these but never saw one. But I guess it’s not that ironic, it’s my own ignorance - I’ve always thought of these as Yorkshire cattle for some reason, but they’re Highlanders.

It’s good country for raptors, or a good day at least. I’ll see half a dozen buzzards and a few kestrels before I make it home.

Now this makes me think of the dales - a flooded ford, with a bypass. I could probably bike it, but if I’m wrong and ruin the camera when I take a bath I’ll never hear the end of it from Rachael.

The land starts getting more contour as I get further away from the Witham.

The first part of the ride is pretty and pleasant enough, but not really what I’d think of as an area of outstanding natural beauty. That changes when I turn east toward the coast and start climbing up the first consequential grade of the day. It’s not much, but it holds at around 8-10% for a solid mile and lifts me up to the high point of the ride at around 500’. At the top there’s some sort of radar or electronics tower, a feature that’s not identified on the map but that has posted signs on the perimeter that suggest it’s military.

This climb looks familiar to me, and maybe I’m remembering it because we dropped down it two years ago. The next mile is the only overlap with the previous loop.

So what is this thing? An update: thanks to Bob Koreis, this has been identified as the RAF Steingot, a component in the ring of coastal early warning radar stations built by the Royal Air Force (RAF) before and during the Second World War to detect and track aircraft. The radar tower is a Grade II listed structure because it is the best preserved and most complete Chain Home transmitter tower surviving in its original location in the British Isles. The site is still in use by the RAF Aerial Erector School for selection tests for possible recruits. Thanks, Bob!

A bit further on I come to a junction and turn north onto Blue Heath Road. The next mile are the best part of the day as I ride past one golden wheat field after another. The harvest is on, so there’s a mix of freshly shorn fields, baled hay, and unmowed fields rippling in today’s strong wind. Its mesmerizing, and a much different feel from when we were here a month earlier in the season when the fields were still green.

There’s wheat as far as the eye can see, which is deceptive because the ridge slopes off not too far in the distance,

Th3 hawthorn chips in a nice bit of color.

You cn get a bit of a sense here for what a windy day it is. And hot besides - I really should have gotten started a couple of hours earlier.

There’s very little traffic up here but there’s not much room either. The hay trucks get priority.

From the east side of the ridge I get a spacious view - down below at the bottom of the hill is Louth where we stayed last time, and in the distance is a wind farm that I think must be near the North Sea.

Saint James’ Church locates Louth, mostly hidden behind the trees.

Well, that wind farm must be closer than I was thinking. There’s still a lot of green beyond it.

I considered shooting a video of this, because the wheat is waving like kelp in a bay. I thought it was too far off to look like anything, but now that I see how well this zoomed still came out I’ve had second thoughts.

I’m puzzled by this series of half a dozen small ridges lining the crest.

And really, that’s the ride. There’s still almost twenty miles left - hot and hilly ones - but the wheat fields were the best and justified the ride so let’s leave it at that. When I’m back at the Admiral Rodney, as luck would have it that number is still stuck in my head; so rather than go to the front desk and take the long walk back to the shed again I just let myself into the storage unit, stash the bike, and then try to look inconspicuous when I walk up to the room. Luckily the same woman’s not at the desk this time and no one calls me on the carpet.

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Today's ride: 34 miles (55 km)
Total: 3,240 miles (5,214 km)

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Graham FinchI intended to ride in the Wolds on my visit, but never made it. Now I wish I had.
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