11^th May 2014

Once I had finished my coffee and got a little charge on my phone I left the beach bar and headed off towards Mablethorpe. I descended from the promenade down onto the beach. I was expecting the usual soft sand but was quite surprised by how solid it felt beneath my feet. Mablethorpe beach, when the tide is out, is extremely wide and extends way off into the distance. It reminded me of 90 mile beach in Australia although I'm sure its not quite that long. As I walked close to the shore I occasionally got hit by a blast of strong wind which knocked me sideways towards the waves followed by whisping sand trails. Every now and then I had to stop to admire the elegance of these small sand clouds creating momentary animations across the surface of the beach. As the time passed and Mablethorpe disappeared into the distance showers of rain started. England is well known for its april showers and I had been lucky with the weather so far on the trek. Eventually I had to head back inland away from the sea as the tide is known to come in extremely quickly here and I was approaching an area where world war 2 munitions had been buried after the war. Each year bombs surface, washed up by the sea and could potentially explode if accidentally trodden on. As I headed towards the safety of the dunes I couldn't help but reminisce about my childhood when I had last visited the town and how different it now was compared to my memories of back then.

I'd walked a fair few miles when the skies really opened up so I headed for a couple of kaki containers supporting a make shift corrugated tin roof. A gentleman was also purched beneath and ee started to chat about the area and of course the trek so far. He had just come from Saltfleet and was heading for Mablethorpe. Being knowledgeable about the area he was able to give me an insight into what I could expect coming up. Once the skies cleared and armed with the knowledge of shops and potential camping locations I headed off towards Saltfleet.

An hour or so later, about 20 mins from the town I found a reasonably level and grassy area to pitch my tent and make dinner. Thats when I discovered I had lost my spoon. Now it may not seem like a big deal to most but it was the only utensil I had brought with me thus making eating dinner a bit of a problem. I searched around to see if I could either find something to use as an improvised scoop or a piece of wood I could fashion into a temporary spoon. I found nothing. I must have left the spoon back in the apartment at butlins when I emptied my bag out to make repairs. Well there was no way I was going back to retrieve it so I boiled up some water and got a bag of freeze dried asian noodles with chicken, when it was ready I squeezed the noodles out of the bag like a giant tube of noodle toothpaste.

It rained all night but I was quite cosy in my little home and slept quite well. In the morning I woke quite early but it was still raining so I had a cup of tea and waited for a break in the weather. Theres nothing worse than collapsing camp when its wet and windy other than discovering you've lost your spoon! Eventually I got the break I needed so o quickly packed up and hit the trail towards Saltfleet. As I did the heavens opened up and gave me a complete soaking. I tried taking shelter where possible but it didn't really make any difference. Luckily it wasn't long before I found the shop the gentleman described to me the day previous so I went in to see if I could get a spoon and maybe something for breakfast. Thankfully there was a cafe (jimmys cafe) so I ordered a coffee and small breakfast. It was well recieved I can tell you and just what I needed. Tammy was working there with her helpless helper. We got chatting and I explained about the journey and jow loosing something a simple as a spoon can be quite demoralising. Just before I was about to leave tammy came over and gave me a spoon from the cafe which to be honest made my day. I was now pretty much dry, content with a full stomach and I had a new spoon. All I had to do now was head for Cleethorpes. I left the cafe with a big smile on my face and a packet of sweets in my pocket. I also bought a tin of vegetable soup from the shop to have at lunch as I have found eating something simple around midday really helps with keeping the stamina up and I am able to walk longer with less breaks.

It wasn't long before I got to donna nook, the main control centre for the royal airforce bombing and firing range. As I approached I noticed something that resembled a jeep next to something that resembled a helicopter. On closer inspection they were constructed using scaffolding draped with a green fabric. I carried on to the control tower and discovered more mock vehicles including a tank and what I can only assume was supposed to be a land rover towing a large gun. It was quite fascinating as you can see various boat shaped targets way out on the beach. I sat down and decided to heat up the soup and take my break sheltered from the wind by the tower.

Re-energized I packed my stove away and set off towards Cleethorpes once more. I could see my destination in the distance so knew I would easily make it there by nightfall. Due to more salt marshes I was forced to wall the zig zagging sea walls once more. It's never easy trekking the great British coast and certainly never straight forward. You can easily walk 5 miles along the walls and only knock off a couple of miles from the coast. Still I had plenty of time before sundown and carried on taking pictures of wild plants and writing trek tips as I went. The occasional gust of wind knocked me sideways and the occasional april shower felt cold but my destination was in sight.

About a mile from the town I found a perfect little spot to pitch up, sheltered from the wind by the sea wall so I decided I would stop there and make camp so that in the morning I would be able to try and get a breakfast and charge my phone up.

Armed with my new spoon and the root of a burdock plant and surrounded by edible goodies I made myself a lovely wild burbock and nettle soup garnished with clover and topped off with a dandelion flower