Iona’s First Trip of 2021

Trip 1: April 2021, The Vines, Saltfleetby, nr Mablethorpe,Lincolnshire.

On April 12th the Government started to relax some 🦠 Covid 19 lockdown rules, the main one for us is that camping is now allowed with some safety rules.

As we imagined, camping at the weekend is very busy. We looked at campsites and decided to look for an independent site with limited pitches and as my previous blog entry we found one out on the east coast for a mid week break.

The first job was to check the tyre pressures and they were a few psi low. This time I decided to remove the hub caps which gives better access to the valves because the air pump has to be screwed on. The front ones went ok but the extension lead was not working properly and the pump would not work. I made up another lead which cured the problem and the tyres are all upto pressure.

The van needs loading with clothes etc after being empty for the last four months. The water tank also needs purifying before it is used. Tomorrow a shopping trip and then load the food and away in a couple of days.

All ready to leave in a couple of hours, final bits to load. Unfortunately the weather has changed, cloudy with showers forecast, who cares we are going away!

We left home on our way to The Vines campsite. Stopped for diesel at the local garage and 90 minutes later we arrived at the campsite. The sat Nav took us down a single track road shortcut, luckily we did not meet anything coming the other way.

We were met by the owners,Audrey & John. John show me around and where to pitch. The site is basic with shower and toilets. And a big lawn with five grass pitches. It is within a mile of a nature reserve and the coast.

We had been set up for half an hour and John came to check that we had everything and to tell us about the electric only being 6amp. However we have boiled a kettle on the electric hob without a problem. Tonight we will put the heating on gas.

The heating is causing a problem, as soon as it switches off we get an error message. It is fine while heating. Tried all sorts of things, switching gas etc etc but I think it is a sensor in the boiler. As long as we can work with it for three nights we will be ok.

We went for a walk which entailed walking down a B road and then an A road, neither of which had pavements so it was standing on the verge when a car went by. We got to the Rimac reserve and walked for about a mile before turning back. The beach is still a long way away but tomorrow we will have a proper walk.

Day 2:

Cloudy this morning with a bit of a breeze. We plan to walk back to the coast and see if we can find the beach. The heating works on electric although it is not very powerful. The gas heating works until it switches itself off and then the error message shows. I will try to reset the boiler to see if that makes a difference.

We walked to the nature reserve and then followed a path along the back of the dunes. Eventually the marshland faded and we could walk along the beach which was more like hard mud.

After some exploring we turned towards home and followed the main coastal path. Halfway home we diverted into the dunes and found a good spot to sit and have our lunch. Getting up to continue was an effort because the sun was out and we were very sheltered. It would have been easy to have a sleep.

We got back to Iona at about 3pm and looking at the gps app we had walked just on 6 miles. We sat out in the sun for an hour until the wind got a bit stronger and then we retired inside.

Tomorrow we plan to walk to a couple of local churches for a change.

Day 3:

We had heavy rain early this morning but by the time we got up the sun was out. This morning we did the normal housekeeping jobs and then we read our books until lunchtime

After lunch we went for a circular walk ,first taking in All Saints church at Saltfleet. Unfortunately it was closed for structural work. It certainly had a new lead roof but the stonework was in a poor state and the tower has a distinct lean.

We left the church via a footpath that took us to the ‘main’ B road. We passed the Prussian Queen pub and further along the road we came to St Clements church which has been sold and it is being converted to a domestic dwelling. The church yard and grave stones are still there and the footpath goes through the churchyard.

The footpath then headed across fields and went near a Spinney. As we got nearer we could see gravestones in amongst the trees and undergrowth. It was fenced off so we did not get a close look but one gravestone 8 saw was 1830.

I have since found out that the church was next to this original graveyard but because there was no road to it. The whole church was taken down stone by stone and rebuilt beside the road over 80 years ago. Now it has been sold and it is being converted to a domestic property.

We continued along the footpath until we came to the road which is now an old friend as we have walked along it everyday. We were caught in a hail storm but managed to shelter by a fence and once it was over we continued homeward.

Tea tonight consisted of homemade Lasagne with Garlic bread, washed down with Wine and various other beverages.

We were both woken at 5.00am by a Cuckoo which was a first for me although Sue heard it yesterday morning. Apparently it comes back every year and last year there were three cuckoos at one time during early April.

Our next trip will be to Yorkshire, hopefully the boiler will be sorted by then.