Bob the Bike Man

The ‘Medium Ride’ report in the September issue of Cycling Plus, forty miles over the Lincolnshire Wolds from Horncastle and back, endorses my views on the delights of cycling in this county. Indeed the ride covers some of the roads I mention in my June posts.

Cattle, including Lincoln Reds, in Manor Farm park.

The next day dawned cooler and with the threat of rain. I took off on a loop to Woodhall Spa and back through Horncastle. Maps for both of these Lincolnshire rides may be found in the RIDE ROUTES section.

Up the lane to cross the High Street, down to and turn right onto the Lincoln Road and left towards Bardney at my uncle and aunt’s house. About two hundred yards on and Baumber Park appears on the right, the farm where lives another cousin Michael and his wife Clare. They too have a holiday cottage to let and offer B&B in the main house (see websites Baumberpark and Gathmanscottage under HOLIDAYS in the links section). (more…)

Having pedalled round the same routes for so many months I felt in need of a change of scenery. We decided to go to Lincolnshire, mother’s home county and where as a lad I spent the school holidays, at my grandparent’s house near Horncatle, more or less every year. Also we needed to stock up on Lincolnshire sausages, haslet (long ‘a’ and silent ‘h’ - ‘ayslet’) and plum bread - see Myers Bakery link under FOOD FOR ALL on the links page. And now we’ve discovered a cracking cheese called Dambuster. It comes in a black skin looking for all the world like a smaller version of the things Guy Gibson and his flying chums dropped over those dams during the Second World War.

View over Manor Farm park from the cottage.

So we went for a few days last week (lucky with the weather) and stayed in one of the Bainvalley cottages at Hemingby owned by my cousin John and his wife Wendy (check their website under HOLIDAYS on the links page).

This part of Lincolnshire is on the edge of the Wolds with sweeping views and big, big skies. There are mostly gentle rolling hills with a few surprises thrown in. (more…)