Le Tour de Rodney, Day 3.

 "When I nod my head, you hit it!". Dick Cullen who I worked for on his smallholding as a student laughed uproariously at his joke as he always did. The farm is situated on the bank of the River Witham tucked in next to Metheringham Delph on Blankney Fen. When I was working in the fields on my own I used to be able to tell the time from the trains passing through Stixwould Station on the other side of the river. By my student days they were diesel powered DMUs but I remeber as a child travelling to Lincoln from Woodhall Junction steam hauled. I was reflecting on these memories as I waited with The Historian at Stixwould Station for the ladies to catch us up. The old railway line is now part of The Water Rail Way and it is possible to cycle off road all the way to Lincoln from Woodhall Junction at Kirkstead.

We had loaded up our bikes at The Rodney and driven the short distance to Southrey Station from where we biked along the trail to Kirkstead where we enjoyed tea and stickies in the Ragged Apron Cafe once the Railway Inn. Following the return ride it was time to load up the bikes again our short, but excellent break over for this year; some old rides revisited and a new one explored.

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.

Le Tour du Rodney. Tea and Scones at the Teahouse in the Woods.

 Nicely outside a full English, packed and steeds removed from the stabling and loaded, we headed off to Southrey on the Water Rail Way for a short ride to Woodhall and back.  It was the ladies' first ride along the old railway line on this trip and we all enjoyed bowling along towards Woodhall Junction pleasantly wind assisted.  Again bird song and butterflies were plentiful.  By the time we arrived at the Teahouse I was still replete with breakfast and made do with tea and cheese scone, both excellent.  Although we were riding against the wind, the return journey was largely sheltered and so not too onerous.  Driving home we were able to reflect on a splendid three days break.

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Sculpture and Southrey Station.

Sculpture and Southrey Station, the Witham in the background

The Water Rail Way

Green Lane, Woodhall Spa

The River Witham

The Team

Trailside Sculpture, referencing Tennyson's Brook

Le Tour Du Rodney, South to Southrey.

 What a disaster!!!  We rolled into the car park at the Riverside Inn at Southrey only to find it shut.  With no other eatery nearby for lunch it looked like we were going to go hungry!  Our journey had begun from the Rodney earlier in the day after the full English, which was now going to have to sustain us for much longer than anticipated.  Brian and I had set off in beautiful conditions once more: warm and sunny with a gentle breeze.  Our route started the same as yeasterday but we diverted at Martin Bridge; the road bridge over the old Horncastle branch line from Kirkstead Junction.  As pupils at Horncastle Grammar School in the 1960s, we loved it when our double decker bus crossed at the same time as a steam loco was going under; the billowing smoke and steam delighted us.  In those days I had a Saturday gardening job at Waterhouses Cafe and bakery in Woodhall Spa and the small garden was right on the side of the tracks.  When the black tank engines huffed and puffed by, snorting steam and smoke, I thought it was wonderful.  

Departing from the Spa Trail we followed the narrow winding back road through Roughton to Kirkby on Bain where we diverted to have a look at the old Kirkby Watermill.  This was a touch of nostalgia for me as I remember fishing in the mill pool in my boyhood and catching large perch.  We never managed to latch on to the large chub that now held position head into the current waiting for food to drift down.  The mill is private now and there are two very large houses built on the opposite bank.  Tempus as the saying goes fugit.

Leaving Kirkby on Bain we headed for Woodhall along Kirkby Lane, passing Wellsyke Farm, the old water works (now Kirkby Moor LWT reserve) and Ostler's Plantation; all scenes of boyhood exploits.  We called in again at The Teahouse in the Woods for coffee before continuing down Green Lane to Mill Lane where I was born - it seems like yesterday.  We rode through the hamlet of Kirkstead to the River Witham and stopped at Woodhall Junction station, the start of the branch line to Horncastle.  The station is now a private house and, though much has changed, the ticket office buildings and platforms still remain.  A new road bridge arches over both railway line and river replacing the old swing bridge from my childhood.  The railway here was the Lincolnshire Loop Line and connected Lincoln and Boston.  I remember journeys to Lincoln on steam hauled trains but the line went with the Beeching cuts and now the old track bed forms a superb walking and cycling route: the Water Rail Way.  The railway is not the only thing to have changed: the river water is now clear rather than brown and sediment heavy and there are no anglers fishing it.  In years gone by the Witham was the scene of fishing matches with hundreds of anglers, many travelling by train from Sheffield and other industrial cities, lining its banks and huge weights of fish being caught.  On non match days we boys would fish there and retreat to the delphs, which drained the adjoing fens, on match days.  The last fishermen's train rain in 1979.

The river seems more picturesque now and is probably richer in wild life.  As Brian and I rode along to Southrey we heard many chiffchaff, whitethroat and blackcaps singing in the trees lining the trail and common terns were gliding above the river.  Butterflies were plentiful, especially red admirals.

Having failed with lunch, Brian and I returned to Stixwould Station and then rode along byways to reach Woodhall Spa by Stixworld Road past the Petwood Hotel, once the officers' mess for the 617 Dambusters squadron.  We visited the Lancaster Inn in Woodhall centre for a liquid lunch and I reminisced about teenage visits to the old Gamecock pub, now attached to it and the 617 bar.

Retracing our wheels down Stixworld Road we rode along Old Woodhall Road, past the Wellington Monument and wood, erected and planted to commemorate the Battle of Waterloo.  We reached the Spa Trail once more and returned along it to Horncastle looking forward to some rehydration before dinner.  I seemed to need a double brandy tonight.

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Woodhall Junction today

Woodhall Junction as I remember it at 18.

River Witham

River Witham

River Witham

The Water Rail Way

The Water Rail Way

The Water Rail Way

The Water Rail Way

River Witham

The Water Rail Way

Rockrose

River Witham

A fen drain

River Witham

River Witham

The Water Rail Way

Sculpture on the Spa Trail