June 10 - Grimsby to Boston

Boston, Lincolnshire that is.  A number of emigrants from Boston, Lincolnshire (Puritans) left for North America in the early 1600's to form Boston, Mass.  That's it for the history.

Today started off cloudy, we got a good start for a short day of 76 km (77 for Laura and I as I missed a turn).  On the way to Boston we noticed two changes in the countryside.  First, the farm fields were no longer bordered by stone walls, but by hedgerows and rows of trees.  The photo shows the fields as we head towards the coast.  This area is known as the Lincolnshire Wolds.



For the last 20 km we went onto the eastern coastal plane; very flat and also larger fields looking very much like large North American farms.   And it got sunny - full sun by the time we made it to Boston. 



We're nearing our hotel - this is on the last bridge over the River Witham (I don't know if that is pronounced 'With Am" or "Wit Ham")

The St. Botolph's Church is in the background (more about it later)







We are staying at the White Hart Hotel.   It's an older building with no elevators, and we had to haul our bikes up 1 floor to the Event Room to store them (we were asked to keep them on the carpeted parts and off the hardwood as the Salsa Group needed the hardwood floor to practice on).









Here's Reception with a most unusual Reception Desk on the right.  To the left are some of our bags plugging up Reception.





A better view of St. Botolph's, one of the largest Parish churches in England.  It was started in 1309, and the tower was completed in 1510 - 1520.  They had problems with some of the foundations for the central portion (called the Nave, I believe).  When they built the tower they were able to solve their foundation problems; there has been no need to perform restoration work to realign the tower foundations despite it being only 10 metres from the river.  








One of the stained glass windows.  The colours showed up brightly with a sunny day outside.











And a view inside, toward the chancel end, showing the choir and the organ.  Note the wooden, non plastered ceiling.







The land around here is very flat, and has been drained for farming, and is used for boating.  The river is tidal here and has 'Sluice Gates' for protection from flooding.  This necessitates locks and this is a view of two boats exiting the 'Great Sluice Lock.'  

 Around town I checked out the railway station (definitely local trains only) and also saw this building.  It's name?  Swan House, of course.  It started out as an industrial building and has been converted to housing.

The centre of town, dominated by the church.  Cars and pedestrians both used all of the space, so one had to keep an eye out!












And I'll finish with a picture of some of the crew at the 'featured pub,' the Goodbarns Yard, located just behind the 'Stump' (local name for St. Botolph's) in the above photo.