The Actual Trip: Day 11

Hello from Great Yarmouth! Or at least the very outskirts of Great Yarmouth where the Travelodge is. That was a surprisingly long day. About 280 miles, but as a lot of it was on rural roads I expected it to be quicker. But then again I failed to realise that going through lots of seaside towns during the Easter holidays when it is actually fairly nice weather was going to be slow. Especially Skegness.

The Humber Bridge. Really Big.

The day started with the walk back to the car park that I had left Cicelia in. At least it wasn't raining this morning, in fact it was rather sunny. Off I headed down the A165, popping in and out of Filey and Bridlington. An uneventful trip down to Kingston-upon-Hull, but the traffic was heavy in Hull itself. Onto the A63 along the north coast of the Humber and the Humber Bridge loomed large. Very large, for it is the 5th longest suspension bridge in the world and until 1998 was the longest in the world, then the Japanese built a longer one and there's been a few more in-between since. Stopped at Barton on the other side to take some photos. I can now claim I have been over the 4 longest suspension bridges in Britain (Humber, Forth, Severn, Tamar). For those that care, the longest road bridge in Britain is the Second Severn Crossing (though it isn't a suspension bridge), followed by the QEII bridge (tomorrow), the Forth Road Bridge (yesterday), the Tay Bridge (day before yesterday) and then the Humber Bridge.

Having got lost trying to get out of Barton, and then lost again when the road I wanted to use in Barrow was closed, I finally made it to Grimsby, which was actually ok and not that grim really. Through Cleethorpes and then it was a long drive through lots of places ending in "thorpe", including the seaside town of Mablethorpe which was quite busy. Now, for those unfamiliar with this part of Lincolnshire it is really really flat. Think Belgium meets Holland meets parts of East Anglia and you have a good idea of how flat it is. That did not, however, prevent the roads from twisting around all over the place and having some silly tight turns. Finally I made it to Skegness, which took at least half an hour to get through and I stopped at a layby on the A52 for lunch.

Hunstaton Beach. The tide was really far out.

Onwards to Boston, which yes, really does need a bypass. (Look up the travails for the Boston Bypass Party for more on that one). Then finally the roads seemed to realise that this bit of Britain is really flat and went in long straight lines pretty much the whole way to King's Lynn. Avoided going through King's Lynn in the end as once again the road I wanted to use was closed. It was then on to Hunstaton for another break and I gave in to the urges to go visit a beach. From there it was a very, very, very long and drive round to Cromer with lots of small villages to squeeze through. Had a good game of "how close can I get my car to that brick wall" with a lorry in one village. After what seemed like an eternity (though the scenery wasn't bad) I made it to Cromer and then it was more straight wide roads down to Great Yarmouth. Had to go through Great Yarmouth to get to the Travelodge, but I got here in the end!

A shorter trip tomorrow, though it seems to feature masses of dual carriageway, which will be quick at least...