Day 14, Stockton-on-Tees to Grimsby

Grizzly threw the curtains back and the sun streamed in, onto me, still in bed! And it pretty much stayed that way for the rest of the day.

We just had 2 parts to our day today. There were no real stops planned apart from a fuel stop but after a couple of hours on the road we decided a stop was in order, at Flamborough Head. On the way down we'd stayed close to the coast. I never knew the north east was blessed with such lovely seaside towns and beaches, Redcar, Saltburn-by-the-sea, Bridlington, etc. We skirted Whitby and Scarborough too.Everywhere we rode, there were dozens of people, some even brave enough to brave the cold north sea.

Flamborough Head was the last waypoint before our fuel stop but was too nice to just ride to and straight out again. We parked the bikes, had a wee, then Grizzly fueled up with coffee and a buttered scone, whilst I had a waffle cone with raspberry razzle ice cream. The place, like everywhere we've been or ridden through, was thick with people, hardly surprising given the glorious weather. We have been very lucky with the weather, though as I type, it is raining hard and thundering. Looking at the forecast for tomorrow, we could well miss the showers again. Fingers crossed.

      The New Flamborough Lighthouse, 1806

                   The old lighthouse, 1672

Fuel stop was Bridlington Tesco. From there we continued south through more lovely seaside villages, Hornsea and Withensea, the latter reminding Grizzly of a place in Cork. I swear he got all teary eyed!  We ran down to The Spurn, basically a pointy outcrop of land at the Humber estuary. There wasn't really anything to see there, so we made a plan to stop at the next petrol station for coffee. On the way we went through a village called Easington, where there was a huge gathering of twitchers (bird watchers), so there must have been a rare bird sighting of some description. There were some very big cameras on show. A quick Google is talking about a black-browed albatross!

Following our coffee stop we crossed the Humber Bridge. It's free to bikes and we even had a lane of our own, sailing by all the cars queuing to pay. Wow! I had no idea that the Humber was so wide. It's a bloody big river and a bloody big bridge.

After a long hot day in the saddle, we arrived in Grimsby, our stop for the night. The view from our room is a bit mixed St James' Church and Wilco's roof!

There's a nice memorial on the green,  to Grimsby fishermen.

Tomorrow, as we start week 3, we are heading for Lowestoft. Hopefully the weather will hold.

Day 13, Edinburgh to Stockton-on-Tees

Day started off badly, just yards from the hotel. Not for us but for a squirrel. Could have been a sticky end had he been trying to play chicken with Ginny. Instead, he picked on a cyclist and luckily boubced off the wheel,  thus living to fight another day. 

For us, it was a really nice morning. Dry and reasonably warm, we made our way east/south, passing golden beaches and ruined castles galore.  Our first stop was at the border, as we entered England.

A few miles on and we entered Berwick-upon-Tweed, then over the old bridge, reached by a steepish cobbled street. Grizzly was probably having kittens at that point. Lucky they were dry.

Just over the bridge, we stopped at the Bridge Cafe for a coffee and some photos.

Next stop Alnwick for some lunch. The place was heaving, like so many places we have passed through. That's staycations for you. After a circuit of the town, we nabbed a couple of parking spaces. I think they are supposed to be for locals but there wasn't any wardens. Toilet, coffee, and for Grizzly a subway wrap. Whilst he was at Subway, it started to rain,  so waterproofs went on.

We stuck to the coast pretty well, which made for slow going. The rain didn't dampen the spirits of the English seaside holidaymakers, walking the prom or on the beach wearing their cagools! I had to laugh.

Ginny clocked up 19,000 miles at Tynemouth. Not long after, we went through the Tyne Tunnel. 

It was still raining when we made our fuel stop but fittingly the sun came out again, as we entered Sunderland. From Sunderland we continued down the coast some more, before heading inland to our overnight stop a Stockton-on-Tees. We can just see the River Tees from our room, along with a  covid testing station. 

The hotel, Hampton by Hilton has a car park.  When we arrived I stopped at the barrier, which was down. Seemed we needed to be let in. I pressed the button to speak to someone but no answer.  I was just about to ride along the pavement to get in, when the barrier opened. I obviously wasn't close enough. Simultaneously,  Grizzly had realised that there wasn't an out barrier, so he went in there. Had to laugh.

Tomorrow we are off to Grimsby.