Le Tour de Rodney, Day 2.

 The Historian stood on the castle ramparts musing reflectively over the ruins. There is enough of Bolingbroke Castle left, with the help of the information boards to paint a mental picture of what it would have been like at the time HenryIV was born here. 

Brian and I had set off that morning from The Admiral Rodney on a perfect early September morning; warmth in the sun yet a hint of Autumn in the air. Our route climbed steadily to Mareham-on-the-Hill before undulating across the top of the Wolds to Hameringham giving splendid views as we went. From Hammeringham it was a steady climb up to Winceby, the site of the Civil War battle in 1643, before the long swooping descent with fabulous views over the fen to Boston and down into Old Bolingbroke.

Sadly the Black Horse has long since closed but we enjoyed exploring the castle and the church. The castle passed through marriage into the ownership of John of Gaunt whose son, Henry, was born in the castle in 1367 becoming king in 1399. His baptismal font can still be found in the church.

Continuing to East Kirkby we called in at the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre hoping for a coffee but unfortunately it was £11 entrance and we decided that was an expensive coffee. The side benefit though was that the lancaster aircraft was outstide and we had excellent views.

Coffeeless we carried on along a quiet lane along side the first of the drainage canals that drain the fens. We soon arrived at The Red Lion at Revesby where we availed ourselves of an excellent roast beef sandwich and even more excellent pint of Bateman's Gold. Good as it was though, this may have been a mistake as my legs were not so keen to push the pedals round after lunch.

Mareham-le-Fen, was our next destination where we turned along the quiet lane to Wood Enderby and on to the main Boston-Horncastle road. Crossing here we discovered another quiet lane that took us through the Scrivelsby Estate after which we took anoth back lane to reach the Spa Trail at Thornton Halt. From here it was a gentle mile along the train to take us back into Horncastle.

Le Tour de Rodney, Day 1.

 We met up with our friends Brian and Heather in the car park of the Admiral Rodney in Horncastle for our annual stay for a few days cycling and get together. We quickly had the bikes off the cars and were soon biking through Horncastle to ride along the River Waring to its junction with the Bain at the town swimming pool. I was at school in Horncastle and we had weekly swimming lessons in the pool which, in those days, was more of a lido with the river water diverted through the pool. No beautiful blue pool then - just brown river water. And no heating either!! I can only assume that it was, at least chlorinated - at least none of us caught anything. I first swam a mile in this pool.

From the confluence of the two rivers we followed the Spa Trail along the old railway line to Woodhall Spa, my childhood stamping ground. Although I travelled to school by bus, my immediate predecessors travelled by train, steam hauled in those days. We used to become very excited in our day when the bus crossed Martin Bridge at the same time as the train went under, revelling in the smell of steam engine and billowing clouds of steam and smoke.

We entered Woodhall along Welsyke Lane and Kirkby Lane bring back childhood memories of playing in the woods down here and on our friends' farm. The heather on Kirkby Moor was looking glorious and in peak flowering. Arriving in Woodhall we headed for the Teahouse in the Woods for an excellent sandwich lunch. The Heathers then rode back to Horncastly by a more direct route while Brian and I continued down to Kirkstead and the River Withan where we rode along the Water Rail Way, the old track bed of the Lincolnshire Loop Line as far as Stixwould. Here we left the old railway line and rode along back roads to the Spa Trail passing the Wellington Memorial on the way. This bust of the Duke of Wellington sits on top of a tall column and he looks towards Waterloo. The oakwood behind the statue was handplanted with acorns soon after the battle as a commemoration.

Once back at the Spa Trail Brian and I retraced our steps reflecting on a perfect first day.