Day 3.

A late start from Mablethorpe, I had a great nights sleep thanks to Mark feeding, watering and bedding me down. We also met the guys from Louth in the local cafe for a fry up, it was raining so fully justifiable !!!

It was wet and windy, nothing to do with the fry up! So, I had the beach to myself for most of the morning, miles and miles of open beach then, out of nowhere, this bell contraption right in the middle. I guess it rings when the tide comes in but no sign explaining it's purpose... 🤔

The beach soon turned into marsh and the start of the Donna Nook bombing range so I knew I'd have to head in land to box around. No red flags so the I guessed the RAF were still enjoying their Christmas holidays... 😋 mind you, even if there were red flags flying and our illustrious boys in blue were out bombing, I felt very safe being this close to one of the targets, they would probably have missed it !!! 🫣😱🤣

A lot of road walking followed in the afternoon in the rain and I'm very proud to tell you that I passed 2 pubs and I never went in either of them. Yes ok, they were both closed but that's not the point... it's not great for your feet pounding the tarmac so a few added stops to keep my feet in order, they are still very soft and I really don't want blisters all over them this early in the walk.

Not surprisingly, when the weather isn't so good, there aren't many people out and about so nobody to talk to, just the clicking of my walking poles on the road and the rain pattering on my hood. Time to think though and reflect on the conversation I had yesterday with my new Sapper friend. I can't imagine how difficult it must be for someone to volunteer for the RNLI, to put their lives in real danger to go out onto the sea to help people in peril, but then to have to deal with what must be an incredibly emotional process of having to drag men from the water that had so very sadly decided to take their own lives.

Incredibly brave and selfless individuals that volunteer in this way and I only hope they themselves receive first class support to help them deal with something so horrible. 🥺

As the light started fading, time to find a suitable place to hole up for the night. The road leading to Donna Nook must be one of the longest, straightest road in Lincolnshire and it felt like it would go on forever, a few barns looked promising but I decided to wait until I was closer to the sea and therefore further away from any habitation. I'm so glad I did.

The seal sanctuary at the end of the road was amazing, after a long day on my own, at last I had someone to talk to... 😍

I spent the last 15 minutes until last light walking along chatting to my new mates, apparently there can be up 2000 new seal pubs born right here on the edge of this bombing range every year, clearly the seals also feel very safe from crab airs bombing exploits.... I pitched the tent a few meters from the fence, hidden out of the way so as not to be seen if anyone did show up in the dark, had a lovely meal and settled down for a pleasant evening reading, sorting out my admin and massaging my aching feet and calves. Oh, and listening to the seal pups chatting away to each other... a lovely end to a wet, miserable and very solitary day and another 15.8 miles in the bag, it's going up steadily each day.... 👍