Cleethorpes 19-02-2023

Cycling UK Louth's Ride to Cleethorpes

Sunday 19th February 2023:

Meeting up at Louth on this final weekend of the half term holiday were Ride Leader Tim Newbery, Paul Linder, Chris Owen, John Rickett and John Ambler. Good to see Jason Bartup in his cricket gear outside the Meridian Leisure Centre!

A cloudy start to the day but we had been promised some warm sunshine with top temperatures a very mild 11 Degrees Celsius.

Northbound through Brackenborough, the Covenhams and Fulstow we enjoyed amiable chat and were delighted to meet up briefly with Keith Roberts who was heading towards Louth.

Thoresby Road leading us all the way to Tetney luckily wasn’t too busy and we were soon entering the outskirts of Cleethorpes expecting to wave goodbye to Chris at the entrance to Cleethorpes Country Park. Chris however decided to join us for refreshments.

Would it be a Knickerbocker Glory for Tim? Not on this occasion as we found that the Cleethorpes Light Railway Café was still closed and the Kiosk had limited access following recent vandalism.

Chris had earlier suggested the Haverstoe Park Pavilion and we would rely on him to guide us to the park. Perfect choice. The community minded non-profit company café run by Louise Deane was offering very reasonably priced fayre and we enjoyed lunch in the ‘Warm Space’ provided.

Bacon buns went down a treat with the meat sourced by Jerrard’s the local butchers and buns from Swales, another local butcher. The fair-trade Peruvian coffee supplied by a Sheffield Company was excellent. Great service all round.

The land on which Haverstoe Park is sited was originally owned by Cambridge University and gifted to Cleethorpes for non-commercial use. The current park opened in the Jubilee year of 1977 and today was being well used. A hidden gem.

Chris would head for home from here whilst the remaining quartet retraced steps to Tetney, before taking the coast road past the lock and onto Grainthorpe. By now skies had cleared and the sun was beaming down, lifting temperatures to the predicted 11 degrees.

Once more the freshening westerly wind proved nagging on our route inbound along Fen Lane and King Street, so a 10-minute break sitting in the sunshine outside Yarburgh Village Hall was most welcome.

Chivvied on by John Rickett, we remounted our mechanical steeds and continued back to Louth. We would again meet up briefly with Keith and we hope he enjoyed his ride.

Arriving at the Leisure Centre at a little before 2.30 pm, Tim and John had completed 41 miles, nearly 50 for John and 70 for Paul. Thanks to John Rickett for a final serving of coffee and cake!