Saturday, June 9, 2018

June 9 - York to Grimsby

105 km today, but it was flat, so we made good time.  Cool & cloudy, but no rain (touch wood, we haven't been really nailed, yet).
Another reason we made good time is that there wasn't a lot of new scenery to look at and talk about.  The homes & villages were similar to those we've already seen.

A minor highlight - first time being stopped at a railway crossing.  The arms came down a long time before the train, which barreled through very quickly (> 100 mph?), and then went up 2 seconds after the 6 car train passed.  It took only a few seconds (like 3) to pass.  Note how nonchalant the lady is with a train whizzing by so quickly.



The old abandoned station.  I'm guessing that a lot of the rural stations have been dealt death blows due to the auto and fast trains that won't stop as often.  










Another highlight after lunch - crossing the Humber Bridge.  When built in 1981, it was the longest single span suspension bridge in the world at 2220 meters total length.
(Full disclosure - I stole this picture from Wikipedia).










Here's us riding across.  Each side has a wide pedestrian / cyclist walkway and there are 4 traffic lanes raised up in the middle.  I spent some time reading about the unique cross section of this bridge (why the traffic lanes are raised)  'cuz I are an Engineer.









Later on another possibly abandoned local RR station.  I wonder if a local train would stop here.  I took this photo because of the (to me) odd looking chimney pots.









We're in Grimsby now.  It is a large fishing port near the mouth of the Humber Channel, once having the largest fishing fleet in the world, but the fishery declined after the cod wars.

During this morning's rider's meeting it was noted that Grimsby was voted the worst place to live in England in 2016.  We were in a hotel near the centre of town.  It seems pleasant enough, but there are signs of hard times.


Near the centre of town - more 'open' than York with its crowded downtown.












Their mains shopping centre had an interesting feature:  little businesses in a permanent 'local market' type configuration.  Lots of regular businesses in town as well.

We stopped for coffee at one of the shops. They made a Caramel Latte as good as Gabby's - with lots of whipped cream!






A rather old looking crypt in the local church - no details known.











One of the TDA employees (Mike Coo) has researched all the towns we're staying in and recommended a pub we should try.  Today's recommendation was The Barge.
Seems like a pretty obvious name.


And here's some of the crew enjoying brewskis.  The beer I liked was named Bombardier.  This prompted a discussion as to whether it was named after the guy in a plane that dropped the bombs, or the company.

Either way it was a good beer.

The only thing I didn't like about this pub was that if a urinal leaked in the washroom, the barge would sink & we'd have to abandon our beers.   ðŸ˜¢

Tomorrow is a mere 78 km to Boston.  

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