Day 299: Mablethorpe to Skegness
Distance: 16.11 miles
Ascent: 584 feet
Weather: A Bit of Everything; Sun, WInd, Rain
Accommodation: The Crown (Kindly courtesy of Rob & Jen)
It was cold when I woke up this morning and it had been raining all night. The rain had stopped and the forecast for this afternoon was terrible, so even though it was not even quite 6 I decided to get packed up and get on my way. It was still dark once I was packed, and I was wrapped in all my clothes to shield me from the cold and I was on my way about 6:30.
I headed back down to the seafront and then followed the promenade South with the cold northerly wind thankfully a tail wind. Within 15 minutes or so I was comfortably warm but you could see barely an inch of skin on me. The promenade and paths took me the 6 miles or so to Anderby Creek. There was a café in Anderby Creek and I decided to stop to have a tea and snack as it was too cold to stop outside. It was a really nice café actually and the owner very kindly gave a donation.
I decided not to de-layer as it was still cold and headed down to the beach, I passed a structure here which was built by the Cloud Appreciation Society for spotting clouds (I promise I am not joking.) I loved this quote about the opening ceremony ‘It was a shame that the event was rather marred by the weather: there was barely a cloud in the sky.’ Then after a couple of miles I reached an amazing looking building on the edge of Chapel St Leonards, which is the North Sea Observatory and it is a great bit of architecture. It had started raining heavily just before I got here so I stepped in just to put my rain cover on and fully waterproof up. The café inside even though I didn’t stop had incredible atmosphere with the weather battering it and the waves almost feeling as if they would hit the windows.
Over the next 6 miles I was mostly on a promenade with a little bit of beach walking continuously in the pouring rain all the way to Skegness. This section passed miles of static caravans and maybe it was due to the heavy rain and building winds but it seemed quite a depressing sight with the empty rollercoasters, boarded up cafes and messy promenade. When I reached Skegness proper, even the pier was a bit of a let-down and whereas I think you need some of the tack penny arcades, amusements etc for a good coastal resort when that is all you’ve got it feels a bit depressing. As you can see Skegness didn’t leave a great impression on me, but maybe the heavy rain didn’t help.
I popped to Lidl to get some supplies on my way to The Crown Hotel (the staff very kindly offered me a free meal and drink) which Rob, Jen and Little RJ had kindly booked and would be joining a little later. I was glad to get out of the rain and after a bath my body was rejuvenated. I had a lovely evening with Jen and Rob and little RJ was enjoying charging around all over the place.
A short, cold and wet day but all thawed out now.
NB - Not many photos from second half due to rain.
