A pleasant start took me to King's Hill. This is marked on the map with apparent significance. It has a diameter of about eighty feet and rises no more than twenty feet above the surrounding crop fields, but in this landscape it Is a serious contender for the title of hill. I passed here on my Lowestoft Lakes walk and remember being amused. This time I fought through head high vegetation to the summit and was able to take a zoom shot of Lincoln Cathedral sixteen miles away, my destination for the day.
Thee was damp in the air and sporadic rain and I had the waterproof on and off several times.
The first fellow backpacker met so far approached from the opposite direction. His name was Tony Hewitt. I learned he was an active member of the LDWA (Long Distance Walking Association) and he took part in this year's TGO.
The last five miles into Lincoln are on a Tarmac converted railway line cycle/footpath. This Viking Way seems to be deteriorating. I have bad vibes about the remainder after Lincoln, I don't know why - experience perhaps? The steep ascent to the cathedral area was a bit unexpected in this Lincolnshire countryside. The cathedral is hugely imposing, and as always difficult to believe that the civil engineering skills were so competent so long ago, never mind the architecture.
Readers may wonder about photos. To send them I need a 3G signal and have not had one since the start. In the centre of Lincoln, an important tourist city in the UK the Vodafone signal is only at one or two bars; by now they should have all major locations covered with a decent signal. I reckon they are taking money under false pretences.
The TIO in Lincoln directed me to The duke William a few hundred yards from the cathedral. It is a dump. Scruffy, no draught beers, dining with the doors wide open with cold and rain outside, no heating (so far) in the room, etc.
I have walked up the road to one notch better. Even here loud music blares, sky TV glares out while nobody watches, and EVERYBODY is shouting, but the food has been quite good.
Thanks to Gayle for a comprehensive Internet rundown on my forthcoming ports of call.
Strangely the signal is often good enough to post from Blogpress but not so for answering comments. I will attend to them when signal permits.
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I hope that the Way doesn't prove to deteriorate after Lincoln. As I was journeying through it by map this morning the bits to which I paid attention looked quite interesting (although I do have quite a high tolerance for farmland!).
ReplyDeleteRegarding the dodgy mobile signal, are you not able to get on wifi at most of your night stops or pubs that you visit?
(Hopefully you got Part 2 of my email this afternoon?)
Gayle - thanks for the second email. Brilliant.
ReplyDeleteI have been getting free wifi, but it is not always what it should be with a much reduced signal if you are too far away from the router or whatever the transmit thingy is. In this dump tonight the so called free wi- fi is non existent in my room, but I am managing, with long waits with two bars and an E on Vodafone.
I think I hit a bit of a low point tonight, and I usually find in that case things are back to rosy next morning. I hope it is better than I was predicting after all the work you have put in - puts me to shame.
Thanks a lot.
I always used to wonder why Lincoln - ancient cathedral city in the heart of the country etc etc - was usually a labour seat, until I went there - it is a dump and even the remaining historic bits look more like run-down backyards than cherished heritage. The cathedral close excepted, run for it.
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