A Mega Week in Lincolnshire

This post is about our Mega week in Lincolnshire and some of the caches that we did throughout the week.

After last year's Piratemania and UK Mega events had to be cancelled we were hoping that they would be able to go ahead this year.  We booked a week off work and kept our fingers crossed.  We also booked a campsite in Market Rasen, to fit in between the two weekends of the mega events.  As the week approached we realised that we'd forgotten all about booking camping at the events.  The requirement was to book a minimum of 3 nights at Piratemania and unfortunately that didn't fit in with the plans we'd already made so we decided just to attend for the day and enjoy doing the caches in the area, also we were becoming increasingly concerned about attending a large gathering as we'd not done anything like this in 18 months.  We've both been double-jabbed but still being very cautious.

FRIDAY

We headed out to Lincolnshire straight after work on Friday, stopping off at Kirton in Lindsey to do a set of Adventure Labs.

Kirton in Lindsey

Whipping Post with 3 pairs of iron shackles

The Grade II listed Whipping Post is one of the smallest listed buildings in England and has stood outside the Old Police House on Spa Hill in Kirton in Lindsey for more than a century. It is thought that the post must have been a feature of the town’s old prison, or in the town’s old market place to facilitate public punishments. 

SATURDAY

Up early and out to the Piratemania site.  We called in briefly to signed the log book then went out caching to do the one of the new trails.

After this we headed out to the coast stopping off at Horncastle for a set of Adventure Labs.

We arrived in Skegness and it was really busy, we managed to find somewhere to park up and Mark nipped out to walk round the Adventure labs while I relaxed in the van having a read.

Next on the to-do list were the GeM's Structures on the Edge Adventure Labs.  These caches were at various art-led coastal structures forming a linear 'gallery' and were really good fun to do.

North Sea Observatory

We had been looking forward to visiting The North Sea Observatory but sadly it wasn't anything near what we were expecting and was mainly a café which had closed by the time we arrived so we couldn't get into see the displays inside.

The Sound Tower

Round and Round House

Cloud Bar

We drove up Mablethorpe High Street and wondered what the gathering of people was all about - we don't think it was about anything really, just people enjoying their holiday but it just seems so unusual to see after all this time of social distancing - I refuse to use the word 'staycation'. Staycation means having a day out from home, it does not mean a holiday where you stay in your own country!

SUNDAY

One place I've always wanted to visit but have never got round to it is Donna Nook Nature Reserve, we have been near here previously but never at the right time of year to see the seal pups.  We'd need to return later in the year if we wanted to catch a glimpse of the gorgeous seal pups so this time we had to just be content with doing the Adventure Lab cache there - we must make a concerted effort to come back in November/December one year.

After this we continued on doing the set of Humber Estuary Adventure Labs.

We stopped off in Cleethorpes to do the Adventure Labs and a spot of caching.

Sunday evening we headed to our campsite to check in for the week.

Our first night and we were lucky to spot a Little Owl!

MONDAY

Up early and headed into Caistor to do the Adventure Labs and any other caches along the way - did we tell you we like doing Adventure Labs? 🤣  We have been to Caistor on a previous trip; way back in 2013 we had a post-Christmas road trip to this area so it was nice to visit in the summer and see all the beautiful flowers for Caistor in Bloom.

Next on the to-do list was a walk in Nettleton for a set of Adventure Labs.  The series of labs took us on quite a long walk and the return leg was along the Viking Way which is a long distance footpath starting at the Humber Bridge and finishing at Rutland Water.

There were quite a few cows on the walk but thankfully they were friendly, either that or it was too hot for them to run.

Along the Viking Way we came across the bricked up tunnels from the iron mines.  For nearly 40 years from 1929 up to 180 people lived and worked here, mining for ironstone. 

As we were so close we couldn't resist bagging Lincolnshire's County Top at Claxy Radar Station.

On the way back from the trigpoint, somehow Mark managed to injure himself, he was in absolute agony and he was complaining about pain in his ribs, unsure where our nearest emergency doctor could be located, I called 111 and they told me to take him to A&E so a mad 20 miles dash and we arrived by 19:15 - where he then spent the rest of the night finally hobbling out again at 3 in the morning - thankfully I was able to sleep in the campervan in the car park - £5 not bad for an overnight spot.  We thought at this point we'd be heading home but Mark managed to hobble around with painkillers and we were able to continue our holiday.

Charlie keeping me company

 As we were already in Lincoln we decided to make an early start on the Adventure Labs, there are quite a few so it was a challenge trying to do them all at the same time.  Here are some photos I took during our time in Lincoln.

This should help the patient 😉

WEDNESDAY

A busy day of caching and evening of doing Adventure Labs.  It was a long day so we were thankful the weather was great.

Here are a few photos from the Witham Valley Adventure Labs.

Kinema in the Woods

One of the stages of a set of Adventure Labs in Woodhall Spa took us to The Kinema in the Woods, it's tucked away in the village of Woodhall Spa. Dating from 1922, it is the only fully functioning cinema in the UK to still use back projection.

THURSDAY

The week is flying by, so much to fit in so up very early again this morning.

We couldn't find anywhere to park so I jumped out the van and went for a run around Grimsby doing the Heritage Trail set of Adventure Labs.

According to legend Grimsby comes from the name Grim, a Danish fisherman.  Grimsby is listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as having a population of 200, a priest, a mill and a ferry.  Early 19th century the started to grow rapidly with new docks being created to cope with this expansion and the railway arrived in 1848.  In the 1950s Grimsby had the title of largest fishing port in the world!

Next stop Immingham.

We've really enjoyed some of the flower displays we've seen on our travels around Lincolnshire.  These are some we saw while walking around Immingham doing a set of Adventure Labs.  

The Tin House, Immingham

The Tin House on Pelham Road, Immingham, is the last remaining building which formed part of a temporary town built in 1906 to house the workforce to build the Immingham Dock

Gotta keep our strength up

We enjoyed a walk around Alkborough in the rain and had completely forgotten that we'd visited way back in 2013 while doing The Big Hike series of caches - we only recognised it when we got to Julian's Bower.  Julian's Bower was the name given to turf mazes in several different parts of England and the one in Alkborough, Lincolnshire is thought to be the only one that still exists with this name.

February 2013

August 2021

Wow time goes so fast!

FRIDAY

There was a set of Adventure Labs down the road from our campsite so I got up early and headed down there by myself as dogs weren't allowed.  It was really peaceful, thoroughly enjoyed the early  morning walk.

After this we checked out of our campsite and spent the rest of the day finding Adventure Labs and caching.

St Mary's Old Cemetery, Louth

The stacked headstones in St Mary's Old Cemetery in Louth - this disassembled graveyard dates back to the 13th Century - death is permanent but your grave certainly isn't ☠

Don't you just hate long micro logs

SATURDAY

Mega day has arrived!  We enjoyed a walk doing caches and bumping into other cachers.

Late afternoon we headed out to Nottinghamshire for an evening walk in Sherwood Forest to find Major Oak - a cache from October 2001.  

We visited The Major Oak Sherwood Forest on a family holiday when our children were very tiny in the late 90s, well before we had a digital camera, so I'll have to have a look and see if I can dig out an old photo - everything is still packed up in storage at the moment until we move.

St Edwin's Chapel

SUNDAY

We are ticking off all the County Tops so decided to find the Nottinghamshire one while we were in the area.  According to our book there are two so we visited both.

Silverhill is an artificial hill, is 204.3m (670 ft), and has a statue called 'Testing for Gas' which is a tribute to the Miners of the Nottinghamshire coalfields.

The official natural county top is at Newtonwood Lane in an unmarked location by a service reservoir and is not nearly as interesting a location.

That's 'Mega Season' over for this year... although we have London Calling in a few weeks to look forward to.