On Sunday we left Cherry Tree Springs as close to the departure time as we could as the GPS gave us a travelling time of about an hour… which would have put us arriving before the arrival time at Hanworth Country Park. We headed west towards Lincoln following the GPS. I’d flown over Lincolnshire many times in the past… one glorious sunny Saturday actually flying over most of the old WW2 airfields, or where they once were trying to spot the outlines of now long forgotten runways. I’d never driven much around Lincolnshire, except for a stint while working on the AWACS project, Alpha Dispersal at RAF Waddington or “Waddo” back in the late 90’s.

The weather was good, traffic light and apart from me missing a turn after a late call from the GPS a great drive. We got to see some really lovely parts of Lincolnshire. I do really like trips where you have two or more stops as you drive through parts of the country you would normally mis in a ‘home to site and back’ trip. (keep this in mind for later!)

Hanworth Country Park

Hanworth Country Park in Potterhanworth is a bit more than just a park. Created by two chaps, one a farmer who’s family had owned the farm since 1931 and the other a builder who shared the vision of what Hanworth Country Park could become set about transforming the land and are still at it today. It’s not just park with caravan pitches… it has glamping pods, luxury lodges, leisure lodges, shepards huts and lakes… lots of lakes… it has to be on any fisherman’s list of places to fish. (I don’t fish… so may be talking out of my Bass)

It’s also got a rather fine cafe. Well when I say cafe…. “Brewers” is a bit more than just a cafe you would expect to find at a country park…. in fact it seems to be a go-to place for locals too!

Check-in at reception was quick, easy and the staff were welcoming. You get all the information you need in an arrival pack. We booked a full service pitch, which was firm… very firm… I had to use rock pegs to secure the sun shade. Phone signal on O2 was a tad weak, I had to tweak our router to only connect at G3…. but it was fast enough for internet and tv streaming of iPlayer and Netflix.

Monday we did a few odd jobs and caught up on things while our friends that we had arranged to meet up with traveled down from Edinburgh. We got the text message they had arrived at the Petwood Hotel where they were staying. So we set off to drive over and spend the evening with them. Henry wasn’t best pleased as I think he was expecting an evening curled up on Sue’s lap receiving belly rubs… Henry is our cat by the way!

Petwood Hotel

Petwood Hotel is rather a special place for any one with a remote interest in aviation. During WW2 it was the officers mess for 617 Sqdn, probably better known as “The Dambusters” . It’s amazing to think that Wing Commander Guy Gibson VC DSO DFC may have thrown a ball across this lawn for his dog (who I’m not allowed to call by name) to fetch while having a pint with his fellow officers.

Wandering around the hotel there is an amazing collection of photos and historical items from that period. I did take photos of many of them, but not wanting to breach copyright, they will remain for my own collection.

A splendid evening with friends was had along with an excellent meal and a great catchup as it has been over 12 months since we last saw them.

Tuesday…. we take on Lincoln

There is a great resource in Lincolnshire called the Water Rail Way. It’s the route of the original Lincoln to Boston rail line that has been turned into a cycle way. From the site you have to navigate to “5 Mile Bridge” which unsurprisingly is 5 miles from Lincoln.

The route however from the site to 5 Mile Bridge is a little wiggly….

The distance we cycled was around 18.7km and took us 1h 22m… but that did include a couple of stops to check directions and a bit of a back track when I got it wrong. We eventually got to 5 Mile Bridge…

… and turned left to cycle the remaining 5 miles into Lincoln. Sue was rather pleased with her performance as it was the first long ride since being diagnosed with a heart condition. The Water Rail Way was a wide tarmac track that generally was in a good state of repair and easy to ride. The total climb for the trips was only around 20 metres. On the stretch into Lincoln however, there is no where to stop for refreshments…. so pack water, and if it is a hot day make sure you have enough for the whole trip.

The section into Lincoln gats a bit confusing as you approach and it’s handy if you have had a look at the map and got a bit of an idea where to go as it involves going through a car park and crossing over a rather humpy bridge…. well it does the way we went.

We found somewhere to sit outside and have coffee and as a treat, squishes before heading back. No, we didn’t tackle “Steep Hill” (I challenge anyone to tackle Steep Hill and not say part way up “Bloody Hell this is steep”) on this trip, however we decided we will be back and I think I have found an easier cycling route from the site to the Water Rail Way that reduces the distance by about 7km in each direction. The total cycling for the day was 36.1 km or 22.4 miles.

Wednesday was a bit of a relax (read: a bit tender) so we only managed a cycle round the grounds of Hanworth Country Park and a strawberry cornetto from the cafe…

We Interrupt You Scheduled Programming with some Breaking News…

I know you have only been reading down to this point to find out what the breaking news is…. so here goes….

We are selling our caravan! Yep it’s as good as sold all bar the paperwork… is that someone cheering I can hear….. Graham is that you… the Caravan Vlogger…. I guessed as much.

Yep soon it will be off to a new owner to hopefully allow them to enjoy caravanning as much as we have done over the last 12 years. Are we giving up caravanning… ah that is the question. Lets just say the day after we came back from Hanworth Country Park we headed over to North Wales…. to Rhuallt to be exact to see George and Simon….. and see the next stage in our adventures.

That’s it for now.

Bet you can’t wait for the next blog post.

Or are you going to have a guess in the comments?

PS…. someone asked for more Henry….