17th – 21st March 2025
Hull – Sutton on Sea
Introduction
Spring has finally arrived and the forecast for late March was
unbelievably good so I booked some accommodation and set off back to Hull where
last year’s episode of walking the England Coast Path had terminated. Having
had some bad experiences with train travel across the north of England,
especially on Sundays, I left my travel until the Monday morning rush-hour. All
went well with my connections and, right on schedule, I walked out of Hull
Station and into a bright Yorkshire morning.
Monday 17th March 2025 Hull – Barrow Haven
Crossing the Humber
The sun was shining brightly over
the broad river flowing far below and Lincolnshire looked green and welcoming
on the far shore. The long descent to treetop level brought me to some steps
down to a road passing back under the A15 and into Barton on Humber. A
footbridge over a canalised stream took the coast path to the Waters’ Edge
Visitors Centre and its café, the Humber Hideaway. I just had time for a coffee
and a cake before they closed for the day. So, I was quickly back of the
coastal embankment which skirted a wetland reserve and its ponds and pools. Two
miles along here and the next inlet was Barrow Haven. This was my day done and
I turned inland at the railway station and headed for my pre-booked
accommodation, the Haven Inn. As I walked through the door of the conservatory,
the owner looked up and said ‘Ah! The Walker’. It was nice to be expected.
Hull dep. 11.18, Barrow Haven arr. 16.48
GPS 11.87 miles in 4hr 39mins 25secs,
plus 30 min at the café in Hull Marina (11.30-12.00) and 20 mins in the Humber Hideaway
Café (15.25-15.45) near Barton on Humber.
Stayed at the Haven Inn, Barrow
Haven eating fish (haddock) & chips followed by jam sponge and custard. The
beer was Landlord (4.1%) from Timothy Taylor.
Tuesday 18th March 2025 Barrow Haven – Immingham
Docks and Trucks
There was no hurry today, or so I thought. A lie in and full English
breakfast and I was letting myself out of the conservatory and striding down
the lane to the railway station. There was not a cloud in the sky. I was in
shorts and wearing a sunhat and dark glasses. Not bad for March. Back on the
coast path, the first point of interest was at New Holland where the route
turns inland to gain the railway line and to avoid the docks. Passing round the
dockland site, I was directed by a security lady to follow the marked white
lines against the fence but this led to some confusion and twice more I had to
seek advice from the workforce to find my way out the other side. A dog walked
admitted that local knowledge is a great help. A long remote section along the
sea embankment gave splendid views over the river estuary to Hull and the
P&O ferry. At Goxhill Haven and Skitter Ness, a corner is turned and the
coast turns gradually towards the south.
At East Halton Skitter, I stopped for a rest, a bite to eat and a cool drink.
It was warming up nicely.
Further progress was along a concrete track on top of the sea wall. Heavy
industry appeared ahead. The first encounter
was at North Killingholme Haven where a line of ships was being loaded by a
continual flow of large trucks. As I reached the entrance road, I came to a
gate and a buzzer. This sound the loudest klaxon I had heard in a long time and
a security guard scurried over to stop the stream of traffic and usher me
across the traffic and out the other side. He looked relieved when I told him I
was not coming back. The right of way returned to the coast at another wetland
nature reserve, a pleasant oasis of calm after the dockland chaos. There was a short diversion round a building site and then a series of old lighthouses, Eventually
the coast path came to an end at a huge set of silos and another industrial
site. I turned inland down Marsh Lane, crossing a railway line via a
dome-shaped road bridge. The main road was busy with heavy vehicles but there
was a wide pavement/cycle way alongside. This led to a large roundabout which
had trucks coming in from all directions. It was an amazing site with no
private cars to be seen.
I was still two mile outside Immingham and my shortest option was west
along a frantically busy dual-carriage way. But there was no walkway, in fact
no way of getting out of the traffic lanes. It looked a frightening prospect so
I took the only sensible alternative, a wide cycleway running north up the
A160. This added two miles to my planned route for the day but it had several
advantages. It kept me safe and sane; it passed a petrol station where I
grabbed a coffee and cake, and took me into Immingham through a quite
delightful area of heath and woodland. There is not much to see of the ancient
site of the medieval settlement but Immingham church looked lovely in the late
afternoon sun. A mile of housing estates and suburbia brought me eventually to
my hotel, the County, an imposing building just outside the town centre. It had
been a rather longer and more stressful day than I had expected. Maybe I should
have got up earlier.
Barrow Haven 09.54, Immingham arr.16.48
GPS 16.73 miles in 6hrs 23mins 05secs
walking time plus 15 mins rest at East Halton Skitter and a 20 min coffee stop
at the petrol station..
Stayed at the County Hotel in Pelham
Road, Immingham. Ate chicken curry, rice & chips and drank two very welcome
pints of Atlantic Pale Ale (4.5%) from Sharps Brewery.
Wednesday 19th March 2025 Immingham
– Cleethorpes
Back to the Seaside
The hotel was not providing breakfast but a knock on the back door of the
neighbouring café got me a bacon bap. I sat in the morning sunshine and icy
wind to eat my food before slipping round the hotel and starting the day’s walk
along Waterworks Street. A vague trod across open land passed through a wood
and out into a bare flat field. A way marker on Kings Road was my target, then
it was across a roundabout and along Queens Road back towards the seafront.
Just after the entrance to the ferry port, a narrow path beside a wood headed
straight towards the sea wall which I followed southwards along a straight and
lonely 5-mile stretch. I met a cyclist who warned me that the coast path was
closed up ahead. I began to pick up notices on the Environment Agency’s boards
indicating closures of the right of way, reminiscent of last year’s experiences
in Yorkshire. And sure enough, when I reached the industrial complexes at
Pyewipe, I was met with the ‘footpath closed’ signs. Inland I went once again,
passing a weird wooden sculpture, towards another line of trucks and heavy
vehicles. A long and seemly endless length of pavement led passed the entrance
to Grimsby Docks and up to a major road intersection. I was rewarded with a
petrol station and a Co-op shop which sold almond croissants. I was rapidly
becoming an expert in Costa do-it-yourself coffee machines.
A wide cycle & footway followed the main carriageway, a super-cycle
way, which skirted Grimsby Yacht Club and Marina. The road continued over the
railway line with no pavements on either side. The pedestrian route weaved its
way down some back streets and across the train tracks at road level before
passing the fish docks along a road of fish warehouses and wholesale outlets.
At Clee Station, I joined a very long (nearly 2 miles) dead straight road that
ran beside the trainline. Close to its southern end, a footbridge led over the
line and gave access to the sea wall and a concrete walkway round to
Cleethorpes promenade. It was rather disappointing to walk past the shops,
cafes and stalls all shuttered and closed whilst many holiday makers enjoyed
the sunshine. At the pier my days walking was over and I turned into Sea Road
and the town centre. I could not access my hotel until 3pm so I spent 40 minutes
in a very pleasant café, the Riverhead in St Peters Avenue, until it was time
to find Clee Road and my hotel. An easy day’s walking with a nice seaside
resort to welcome me. Mine host at the hotel recommended some real ale pubs and
eating house and showed me to a very spacious and comfortable room.
GPS 11.28 miles in 4 hrs 26 mins 57
secs walking with 10 mins stop at the Co-op near Grimsby Docks and 40 mins in
the Riverhead Cafe in Cleethorpes.
I started in the No. 1 Pub at the
station with a pint of Zest in a Glass (3.7%) from Rudgate Brewery. Then on to
the Nottingham House for a pint of Wainwright Gold (4.1%) and a large plate of
Haddock, chips & mushy peas
Thursday 20th March 2025 Cleethorpes – North Somercotes
Coast Path Signposts At Last
Breakfast was a help-yourself affair, warming crumpets and pancakes in a
revolving toaster whilst drinking a gallon of coffee. I got underway before
10am but immediately popped into a local supermarket to sign up for the prawn
butty brigade. Then, pocketing my lunch, I returned to the pier and the matter
in hand. The promenade was long and straight and all the shops and stalls were still
closed and shuttered. The weather might be spring-like but it had not persuaded
the town-folk that the holiday season had arrived. After passing the leisure
centre, I cut seawards onto a cycle route through some parkland and into the
dunes and marshes. I stayed with the marshland track for too long, finding
myself on the wrong side of a drainage channel. Turning inland to pick up the
coast path, I slipped onto my back in trying to jump across the slimy water
courses. Not particularly shaken, but coated in mud down my rucksack and shorts,
I continued south through the holiday park at Humberston Fitties and out into
the marshland beyond.
Round some birding ponds, the route rejoined the raise embankment of the
sea defences and continued for a couple of miles on a grassy track to Tetney
Sluice, a crossing point of the drainage system from the flat agricultural land
to my right. Gun shots could be heard ahead. It was either a Russian invasion or
some crow-scarers in the surrounding fields. But there was definitely a firing
range out towards Northcoates Point on land that was an war-time airfield. I suddenly came to a finger post, obviously
newly installed, indicating the King Charles III England Coast Path. I had not
seen one of these for a year or so, somewhere up in North Yorkshire, I recall.
Puzzled at first, I then saw from the map that I had now passed into East
Lindsey and maybe this was a local authority that had grasped the nettle and taken
up the governmental policy of demarking a path around our coast. Another long section
of embankment led to a car park at Horse Shoe Point and a long chat with a
cyclist who was travelling north up the coast path back to Cleethorpes. I took
a break and ate my prawn butty whilst enjoying the sunshine over the endless
flatland.
The final stretch of today’s walk headed out to Donna Nook on newly laid
paths through a nature reserve, all beautifully signed with coast path
fingerposts and, glory be!! national trail acorns. A short section through
dunes and gorse had not yet been completed but, except for a field where it did
not quite join up, guided me through the dunes and back onto the sea embankment.
I was not long on this before I had to turn inland and head for my overnight
accommodation, a farm on the outskirts of North Somercotes. A wonderful day’s
walking at last.
GPS 15.08 miles in 6 hrs 05 mins 14
secs walking time plus a 20 min stop to eat my sandwich at Horse Shoe Point.
I stayed at Meals Farm in a lovely
room in their courtyard. It was a mile walk to the Axe & Cleaver where I
enjoyed steak & ale pie & mash with a dessert of bread & butter
pudding and custard. The beer was Triple Hop IPA (5.3%) from Batemans Brewery
just down the coast in Wainfleet. It seemed a long way home in the dark.
No breakfast was on offer so I slipped away from the farm quietly and
early and walked briskly down to the village. Here a local store was warming up
bacon & sausage baps and the usual machine sprouted out a coffee. Just down
the road was a bench and I had ten minutes eating my breakfast whilst watching
village life go by. A pavement ran beside the main road for the first mile out of
town but, after passing the school, I had to take to the grass verge passed a
holiday camp. The verge gradually disappeared and I was cowering along the
gutter of a very busy road with dangerously fast traffic. Passing Locksley Hall
and Saltbox Farm, a track towards the
coast offered some relief and I was able to enjoy a quiet stroll on deserted
farm roads running parallel to the sea embankment and into the pleasant village
of Saltfleet. A right of way through a holiday park deposited me back on the
main road near a couple of pubs, a petrol station and an old windmill. The road
bridge crossing the river acted as a sluice against water ingress from the sea.
The continuation of the coast path, now fully signed, was down a farm
track to the left and then onto a delightful few miles of grass and woodland that
ran behind the dunes. A series of carparks broke the solitude and then, at a
tiny hamlet of cottages, a left-right chicane led out onto a narrow trod beside
a fence line though some agricultural land. At Theddlethorpe St Helen, the path
got even narrower before turning though heath and scrubland before emerging
onto a wide track between trees. The map was indicating a righthand turn beyond
the next car park on a long detour inland. But the new signage said otherwise.
A new coast path fingerpost pointed left into the dunes and up onto a high
ridge of grazed heath. I was now off the map and depending on further signs
that did not materialise I was soon floundering about in a maze of sandy
through thick scrub, gorse and thorn. I was glad to finally get a view of the
roofs of a holiday park of static homes and I turned steeply down towards it.
I was glad to get out of this sandy jungle nightmare. I squeezed between
two caravans and onto the main track through the site. Out onto a road at last
I quickly came to the pub at North End and turned onto the straightest road I
at seen for a good while, a long semi-suburban street that seemed to continue
to the horizon behind the dunes at Mablethorpe. Much to my relief, the official
route of the coast path left this featureless carriageway and went up a ramp
into the dunes where it became a walk/cycle way that ran into the promenade along
the seafront. I saw nothing of Mablethorpe. This was hidden behind the crest of
the high dunes. It was as if nothing existed along the coast except the walkway
and the sea. As per the findings of the last few days, all cafes and businesses
along the promenade were closed, even the toilets. I continued south passing I
know not what on my right, entrusting my map to measure my progress. A bus, my
timetable informed me, should have just left Mablethorpe, and I was able to
judge that I could get pass Trusthorpe and reach Sutton on Sea before it
reached me. I got as far as High Street and a bus stop outside the Baccus Hotel
when panic struck. The no. 59 bus to Skegness did not stop here and I had to
sprint round the corner into Station Road to find the correct bus stop. I could
now relax, my journey for the week was over.
GPS 13.09 miles in 5 hrs 03 mins 20 secs.
Conclusion
My early start and goodly pace had
got me onto a bus earlier than planned. I had not booked an advanced ticket for
the train from Skegness. I had become wise to the uncertainties of public
transport in this country. And sure enough, the bus ran into a grid-locked
Skegness where road works near the travel interchange was causing half hour
delays, So I missed my connection, walked back to a local café for a coffee and
cake and caught the next train. Connections at Nottingham and Stockport worked
well so I was home before 9pm and was able to join the dinner date that my wife
was hosting at home.
I had added another 68 miles to my
total for the England Cost Path and had enjoyed extraordinarily good weather in
the process. The Humber had been crossed and the vast estuary was now behind
me. The industry and docklands had been successfully negotiated, only the truck
infested roads around Immingham had been a problem. The flatlands of rural
Lincolnshire had their own charm, if not a lot of drama. I would have preferred
to have reached Skegness on this trip but the shorter days had suited me well
for a first walk of the year. And the one great joy was the return, after a
huge gap, to the coast path signposts and acorns for the long overdue national
trail. East Lindsey local authority has, I hope, set an example for other
counties to deliver the promised land.
