Day 297: Killingholme to Cleethorpes
Distance: 15.09 miles
Ascent: 385 feet
Weather: Sunny
Accommodation: Cleethorpes Camping
It was quite cold this morning and with today being a short day it was slightly hard to get myself out of my sleeping bag but in the end I was packed up and ready to go a little before 8. Last nights pitch had turned out to be really good and as expected no one had passed at all and there was just the low, distant rumblings of the industrial works.
The sun was rising as I was packing and setting off and the colours silhouetted on the ore terminal were beautiful. The only issue was that I would have to find my way around the massive ore terminal and other plethora of works. Not long after I set off I had to navigate around a load of broken cars that someone had dumped on the path outside there house presumably to try and stop people walking by. After getting passed these there was a path on my map which would start to take me inland, I am glad I had the gps on my phone as there have been no signs for a while and the path actually goes across part of the works and everyone in the yard was in high vis and hard hats so it felt slightly weird walking across it but it was the path and I soon joined the road.
After a couple of turnings on these supposedly quitter roads (busy due to all the freight) I reached the A1173. I was going to be on this road for about 2 miles and during planning I had thought there may be a sort of path along this even though not shown on the map. I was dubious when I got there but there was a worn out bit of grass so I headed along the eastern side and this worn out grass then became a tight avenue through the bushes but it never stopped and eventually I reached a junction and the road quietened of a bit and gained a proper pavement. Here I saw a sign for a builders breakfast van and couldn’t resist a tea and bacon butty, the two ladies inside were very surprised to see a hiker in amongst all this industrial area.
After the café I continued along the road and then an HGV passed and then pulled up 10m in front of me. I was surprised and wondered if I would be offered a lift or was going to be told off for some reason, but the driver opened the passenger window and lent out and asked if I was Charles, it turns out he has been following the walk (he is ex-military and has PTSD) and just happened to be passing. We had a brief chat, and he kindly asked if I needed any water or other supplies which I didn’t. Apologies if you read this as I have forgotten your name but thanks for pulling over and saying hi, it cheered me up on a slightly uninspiring part of the walk.
Not long after this the A1173 finsihes at Immingham Docks which proclaimed they ship the most tonnage of any port in the UK. I joined a quiet road for a few hundred meters before I was meant to turn of onto a path and back to the coast. When I reached the path there was a Path Closed A4 sheet of paper roughly strapped to the post. There was some other information stapled to a tree nearby (just A4 paper which had already torn and discoloured) which said 6 month closure from 15th October but did not make overly clear which bit shut and did not provide any diversion. There was pretty much no other route for me to go. Knowing how these things work and seeing that the path closure had only begun on 15th October I knew there was a chance the work had not yet begun so I decided to take the path anyway.
This path was like the end of yesterday on a concrete track behind a sea wall and I was hoping this would get me all the way to Grimsby. Sometimes fortune does favour the bold and I came across no works at all, in fact it was a lovely walk and after 4 miles or so I joined the road near Pyewipe. I actually stayed on the road through Grimsby as I wanted to get supplies in Aldi and then as it was a short day was going to stop somewhere to use wifi to catch up on diaries and respond to emails. Wetherspoons again turned out to be the best place to stop, with good wifi, plug sockets, unlimited tea and no one caring how long you stayed.
After about an hour and a half I got on my way and joined the Cleethorpes Promenade. The sun was out, the promenade was really busy and this was classic British seaside resort. It had the pier, the slot machines, the crap cafes, seagulls, donkey rides in many ways tacky but Cleethorpes jut about stayed on the classy side of tacky and I loved it. I only had a short walk through the parkland and around the lakes to reach where I would be staying
The Cleethorpes Showground Caravan Park had a £5 backpackers price so it seemed stupid to look elsewhere. My tent was soaked from dew last night but I had finished early around 3 so I pitched the tent, left it empty and open and then went for a shower and a bit of a chill and when I got back to the tent about 30 minutes later it was almost dry. However wet the tent is if you get it up with a bit of wind it dries generally pretty quickly.
A good, simple, sunny day and a short walk into town got me wi-fi to do some admin.
NB - the weather forecast for Saturday is getting steadily worse and worse!
