Day 7. Monday 9 Jan. Humber bridge to Paull 15.7 miles

The day off yesterday was more than I could have dreamed of. Michelle picked me up from the bridge and took me to a hotel in 'Ull. Couldn't check in until 3 so a bit of lunch and as soon as we got into the room, a hot bath...

A nice lie in then down to the laundrette to wash my clothes... Yes I know, the wife is lying in bed and I get up, pack my bag and walk up the road to use a washing machine !!! When I get home, I'm putting my foot down i can feel you...🫣

I'd not been in a laundrette for a few years so i had no idea, i had no 'Doby dust', you couldn't put your cash into the machine, it all goes into a central computer thing... Anyway, this lovely lady clearly noticed I was out of my depth and she gave me some power and showed me how to work the tech !!!

I offered her a coffee by way of thanks but she politely declined so i nipped up the street to find a brew. A young man outside the 7-11 was asking for money so I got us both a coffee and a big bag of Danish pastries which we sat on the bench and cleaned up in record time. My new friend Shaun, could hardly string 3 words together so our conversation was difficult, I'm guessing drink or drugs or probably both but I battled on. Incredibly, I asked him if he'd worked or done any training for work and he came alive. His eyes lit up and he explained in detail the engineering Level 1 qual he got when he left school, he recited the exact name of the qualification, then sadly straight back into the void this poor fella clearly lives in. Very sad and we see these poor lost souls every day don't we.

Anyway, back into the laundrette and within a second I'm a celebrity... a lady sat in there had recognised me from Facebook so the place was in a frenzy. I did well as there was a dryer with 10 minutes left which I was given priority so dried my kit for free but better than that. The lady that had kindly given me the washing power had noticed and thanked me for buying the young fella outside some breakfast and then she told me the story of her life involving her dad who was a Freemason in a number of Lodges and large number of side degrees. How Freemasonry had helped her when she needed support but more than that, her daughter had a lot of problems and Freemasonry financed her education in a special school somewhere near London.... I left that luandrette so very proud. The Freemasonry thing is something quite special.

Day off over, Monday morning was just like a normal working Monday morning. Michelle needed to get home for a shift with the grandkids and I needed to get on. She dropped me back at the Humber bridge and I walked back alond the waterside all the way back to Hull. I checked out the Masonic Lodges but they were shut so a bit of lunch and back on the road. Box around the ferry terminal and all the industry of the Humber Bank and eventually back into the sticks and up onto the bank wall. The first little village on the bank is called Paull, map showed a couple of pubs and a little hotel so I had already started talking myself into a bed. Into the first pub and asked if there were any rooms in the village, the landlord called the local B'n'B as the hotel had closed down so i tried out a pint of Moretti pain killer, good for aching feet apparently. 🤔I got chatting to guy at the bar, northern accent which i assumed was Geordie but actually Sunderland. We were chatting about bikes, he's planing on buying a MotorHome to retire and get some adventure in and he's a very proud dad, his son a serving soldier with 2 Para. As we were chatting, the call came back from from the B'n'B, no rooms at the Inn. In a breath, believe this, another Shaun, insisted I stay with him in his spare room. A hot shower, a good chat over a big hot brew and a great nights sleep and he even knocked us up some bacon butties with another big brew in the morning and dropped me back on the coastal path...

It never ceases to amaze me how incredible people are to each other. We live in this world of anger, war, corruption and more misery than we can imagine but actually, on a personal level, all around us every day, incredibly kind, decent people are doing all they can to help others....