Weather

I have been very lucky on this trip so far to only have rain for part of days (not so lucky in those days coincided with days where I particularly wanted to see certain things in the outdoors). Today was bad from beginning to end, with continuous rain and a strong westerly (and therefore mostly side) wind. I did not get many photos as my camera is not waterproof.

Today was a decisive swing northwards from Peterborough to Lincoln. I have never been to Lincoln before. The flatlands continued for about a third of the journey, with few hedges to interrupt the rain, but before I left Peterborough, I had two calls to make. First was to the flat where I stayed when I was here; this was just off Lincoln Road (handy) and I rented from a very characterful gentleman called Steve who came from what is now Zimbabwe. He was a tennis umpire, but had been moved to be a line judge at Wimbledon due to age. One of the highlights of living in Peterborough was using the four tickets that he got to take Mum, Dad and Anne to Wimbledon. Steve lived on his own and was always good for a chat. Sadly he is no longer with us.

The (unused) shop was not there when I lived in the upstairs flat – that was Steve’s flat. I enjoyed the Polish and sub-continent shops for their range of foods – as I did Peterborough market.

My other call was in to buy a new rain jacket, having discovered that my old one was just that, old and leaky. Terry Wright Cycles was on the route, and is strongly recommended as a proper bike shop. Photos of my new red top will follow!

The derelict maltings at Sleaford dominate the southern approach to the town (this is only four of them, the others were uprain/wind)

One of my friends in Peterborough suggested that I was surely bored bicycling so much – I assured him not, but in fact yesterday was pretty close to that – usually there is some natural feature to see or listen to – yesterday was just rain and wind, though I did entertain myself trying to work out the origin of some of the place names. The Scandinavian influence was obvious with a number of “…by”s and “…wick”s, but others defeated me.

Eventually Lincoln cathedral came into view. This must be one of the most imposing of cathedrals in Britain as it is located on top of a limestone outcrop that towers above the landscape (see vertical profile of today’s route). The building seems as high again, made of the same limestone.

Triple towers of Lincoln Cathedral with part of Lincoln castle in the foreground

Finally after six hours of battling the elements, I arrived. Someone must have been smiling from above though, because on check-in, I was told that I had been allocated the bridal suite. Large room with four-poster bed, a dressing room and best of all a large deep, hot bath.

Today’s statistics: 100 km, running total: 1271 km, 463 m ascent, 11981 m so far. No new birds, but one large brown rat at the Peterborough hotel – ahem!