North Linconshire 2017

Brookside Country Park

Camping and Caravan Site

 

Bit different with our bike rides this year, 
Colin and Karen had bought a Motorhome so as they were away in it as much as possible the Multi day rides turned into the Colin and Karen short breaks.

Chose a lovely site in North Lincolnshire, as we all know North Lincolnshire is flat we decided to take the bikes.
As we had not got around to fitting a bike rack yet had to drop the front wheels off and strap them inside the motorhome.
The site is located down by the river Trent and according to Colin's navigational checks there is a nice village with a cafe along a bridle path from the caravan site.
A little further on from the Village is a point where three rivers meet, The Trent, Humber and Ouse, my plan was cycle to village cafe stop and then onto three rivers junction, before a cycle back to the campsite.

We woke to a lovely calm sunny day, so breakfast and cycles prepared we set off along to the end of the campsite, through the gate and turn right.
After a few yards we start to climb, and climb and climb, the route gets steeper with switchbacks and sharp climbs on loose surface. The easy ride turns  into a hard push at the very start, over bridge over a small stream then at the fork in the path Colin gets it wrong and takes right fork which comes out at a road, obviously wrong, turn back and take the left fork, at least its flat now, then we pick up the cycle path which is  level and nicely shaded through some trees with lovely views down to the river.

 

 


The views across where the rivers meet was fantastic

After a nice ride along  the path we came into a grassy area at the edge of the village, there was an old grass maze and wonderful views over the rivers. We stopped a while before heading into the village to find the cafe.



Karen sitting on the edge of the maze with the rivers in the background.

 

After enjoying the grassy area we saddled up and headed into the village to find the cafe.
When we came across the cafe it was on the edge the village on a farm and small caravan site.
Lovely except that the cafe was closed.
We headed back into the village looking for a pub, also closed.
Disadvantage of being out in the countryside.

I wanted to go to where the three rivers met, so decided to continue on the planned day.

Of course we had come uphill to the cycle path, this means we have to go down hill to the rivers.

Normally this would be no problem, however down the path from the village was a series of gates and stiles,
this entailed cycling a short distance, dismount, lift bikes over the gates, mount and ride to the next gate, repeat. 

Once  we reached the bottom it was cycling heaven, flat and tarmac surface.


Lovely flat cycling 

 

 

We decide to explore a little and find out that the nice surfaced path stops just after the bird watching hides in one direction.
As I wanted to cycle out to the meeting of the thee rivers we headed out towards the estuary, 
the path was well made and level until just a short distance from the raised bank of the River Trent.
Up onto the bank and the path followed the course of the river although it was now a flat but rough track.
This brought us to the Rivers meeting point and the information boards about the area and the bird population.

 

 

As we admired the view a ship sailed up the Humber and into the Ouse I tried to take a picture but only had my phone so not a good zoom.


Karen enjoys the view of the ship sailing up the river

Ship in view centre of picture after zooming in.

We even enjoyed doing a little bird watching from one of the hides.

For the trip back to the camp site we decided to follow the lower path as far as we could before rejoining the high Bridle path.
Along the edge of the fields we eventually run out of nice flat surface and have to climb a steep bank to rejoin the tree lined Bridle way.

When we came back to where the path crossed the track back down to the campsite we decided to continue along the high path to the village of Burton Stather 
We came out at the church and turned right into the village centre. 
Naturally as we had missed out on the cafe stop we had to call at the pub for some refreshment.
After our break we cycled along the main street, Two pubs, a Chinese take away and a small convenience shop, as is the way in a village sold everything.
As I had my bag on my back and it was looking like being a nice evening we bought some food stuffs as we had decided to eat back at the motorhome.
Then back down bank on the road to the campsite.

 

 

As we were sitting relaxing I noticed a fellow camper who seemed to have a problem.
From where I was sitting it looked like he was having problems with his Electric Mains Hook Up,
as we had only just got our Motorhome I had brought a few tools with me as a precaution, Including a mains tester neon screwdriver and some insulating tape.
I put these in my pocket and walked across to see if I could help.

When I offered the screwdriver the chap said he knew what the problem was and showed me the mains hookup connection which was all burnt and melted plastic, he explained that he was unable to separate the plugs and was going to have to  cut the wires but was unable to rejoin them as he had no way of insulating the joints. I put my hand in my pocket and pulled out the roll of insulating tape,  his face lit up as now he could carry out a temporary repair on his mains wiring circuit.
I then remembered I had also packed some electrical connecting block, I told him to hang on a minute and ran back to our motorhome to collect the connecting block.
As he was quite capable of  carrying out the repair I just waited around having a chat about nice sites he had stayed on and just in case he needed any more items for the repair. However after a few minuets the wires were connected and insulated and a quick test showed power was reinstated back to his motorhome.

Naturally I declined any reward that was offered and was just happy to help out a fellow camper in trouble.

All in all it had been quite a different day and we retired for the night very happy with our new way to see the UK and looking forward to some more trips.

 

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