Holiday Day 7 - Lincoln

After a pretty good night’s sleep and a simple breakfast in our room, off we went to explore old haunts and houses and have a look around Lincoln itself. We parked the car close to the station and wandered up Sincil Street to the river where we came across a strange structure, which I managed to not quite photograph; the swans were more interesting anyway!

River Witham, Lincoln


We strolled up the High Street through the Stonebow but decided against climbing Steep Hill. We had a look at the Brayford Pool which has changed quite markedly since we left, with a lot of modern Glass and Chrome Bars and Cafes, mixed up with the King William Pub, which is ancient. For lots of information on Lincoln, click here. In the meantime a couple of photos of the High Street:

Stonebow

I don’t remember an Ann Summers Shop when I lived here!!

Level Crossing on the High Street


I do remember the chaos caused by the Level Crossing on the High Street (there used to be two of them!)

We had a wander around the Waterside Centre and stopped for a quick coffee, then did some shopping in M&S and Debenhams before having a very pleasant sandwich lunch outside in the square by the Corn Exchange. The weather was excellent for the whole of the day.

We set off to visit old houses and I took my only photo of the Cathedral from the traffic lights at the bottom of Lindum Hill.

Lincoln Cathedral


Our first stop was at 93, Rasen Lane, which was the first house we lived in; we rented two rooms and shared the kitchen and bathroom with an elderly brother and sister. Included in the £3-10-00 rent was the use of a garage at the side. Apart from the UPVC windows, the house looks very much the same as it did 40 years ago, although the garage seems to have vanished.

93 Rasen Lane, Lincoln


On to Cherry Willingham and 4, St Peter’s Avenue; although the garden has grown up and a conifer hedge surrounds the garden, the house looks much the same and we were a little surprised that the Dormer had not been updated.

4, St Peter's Avenue, Cherry Willingham


We drove around the estate and I took Maria to see where one of her friends, from her days working at Tanya Knitwear, lived. As we drove by, John came out so we stopped to say hello and spent a very pleasant time with him and Marge, despite the fact that Marge has been, and still is, quite poorly with a heart problem. By the time we left there and drove back to the hotel, there was not much time before we had to go out again to have our meal with Val and Mick.

We arrived to have a guided tour of their large garden, which is magnificent, Mick having constructed all sorts of wooden features. The house itself is enormous with four bedrooms and we were entertained to a lovely meal and plenty of reminiscing. I wasn’t allowed to take a photograph of Val, which accounts for this one:


On the other hand, they insisted on photographing us so here we are:


A quiet drive home was followed by a good night’s sleep ready for the final part of our journey.

Holiday Day 6 - Bradford/Lincoln

The plan was to leave for Lincoln after lunch so the morning was spent packing and I went for a walk around the village and took some photos, some of which are below:

Bronte House Plaque - Market Street


South Square - Ex-girlfriend, Mary Lou's house now Toilets


Black Horse - Kipping Lane

Wellington Inn - Thornton Road



There was no particular reason for taking photos of Public Houses except that they are some of the better looked after buildings in a village which is rather dilapidated. I wonder if Mary Lou knows that her old house on the left of South Square is now a Public Toilet!!

We had decided to take Pop out to lunch at Asa Nicholson’s but on the way we paid a visit to the two family graves in Thornton Cemetery with some flowers. It was very muddy, particular at Maria’s family grave and I missed the photo of her with her trousers rolled up to her knees!

Lunch was excellent value as usual and then it was time to go home, pack the car and get on the road again.

Asa Nicholson's Cafe and Bakery


The trip to Lincoln included driving through one of the worst rain storms I have driven in, in this country (we had to stop altogether in Florida and Fuerteventura).
We went into Lincoln via what used to be Skellingthorpe Airfield, which was unrecognisable; what had been all open space was now a collection of estates. On we went to Birchwood Estate, which looked very weary in places, none more so than Finch Close which we left in 1973. Number 4 was rather depressing, but the photograph doesn’t look too bad.

4, Finch Close, Birchwood


From Birchwood we went straight to the Premier Lodge at the top of Canwick Hill where we had a room booked for two nights. A very nice room it was too. The hotel is attached to the Mill Lodge; it was rather foggy when the photos were taken on the following morning.

Premier Lodge, Lincoln


Mill Lodge, Lincoln


We had arranged to meet some friends in the Mill for the evening. We hadn’t seen Val and Mick for about 10 to 12 years, so there was plenty to talk about over a nice meal and a couple of bottles of wine. We arranged to go for a meal to their house the following evening and so we parted and whilst we went off to bed, they drove back to Heckington, near Sleaford.

Holiday Day 5&6 - Bradford

Apart from dreadful traffic on the M62, the journey to Bradford was uneventful and we arrived at Oakroyd in the late afternoon. We had a snack tea and spent the evening chatting and trying to get Pop to remember more abut his time on 79 Sqn. A few things cropped up but not a lot that would be all that interesting for the 79 Sqn website, which I have promised to contribute to.
On the following morning, Pop had to go to a little funeral service, so Maria and I went off to meet Terry and Sue for a morning coffee at Asa Nicholson’s at Denholme Gate. This little cafe, attached to a baker’s, is great value and very popular with the older generations. We spent about an hour there with Terry, Sue and Terry’s son Adam who I somehow missed out of the photograph.


Lunch had been booked at the Hare and Hounds at Toller Lane, somewhere that Maria and I had never been. Pop has been a lot recently and had managed to book a table in the Conservatory which was very pleasant. The food was tremendously good value and £20 covered the three of us with a drink each. I can strongly recommend this pub as somewhere to eat, unless you have children because they do not accept children. Very peaceful lunch for us older folk though.


Pop & Maria after lunch


Lunch was followed by shopping for food at Morrison’s and then home for a casual afternoon where at least two of us fell asleep!!

We had another snack tea and then Maria and I got ready to go out as we had promised to meet Lesley and Pete Johnson, who were coming all the way over from Oldham (Royton) to see us. As it happened, Lesley had decided to bring Maria an early 60th Birthday present, which was extremely generous of her (and Pete). We met and they took us out to the Ring O Bells at the top of Thornton. The following photo was taken on the following morning.

Ring O Bells - Thornton, Bradford


We spent a very pleasant evening in the Conservatory. Like many of these country pubs these days, the “Ring” is more restaurant than pub so the seating for drinks is rather limited and I think that we were the only people in there who did not eat.

Pete, Lesley & Maria


Because it was quite foggy and our visitors had a long way to go, we did not stay out all that long so arrived back in good time for a good night’s sleep, ready for the next stage of our journey.