Day 9: Louth

Today is a no-driving day off. Time to catch up on my waiting numerology clients then go out exploring.

I am in Louth, which is in Lincolnshire and on the edge of the Wold. BBC Countryfile magazine recently voted it Britain's favourite market town and I can see why. It's made up of Georgian and Victorian buildings and has managed to repel most supermarkets and chain stores; most of its shops are independent and family owned.

There are great food shops selling all kinds of produce

A wool shop where the hanging baskets are knitted

No Debenhams- they have their own department store Eve and Ranshaw that has seen out nine reigning monarchs, is that a record?

It only has two sets of traffic lights in the whole town and when Aldi came (out of town) and put in a roundabout to help with traffic flow, the locals were bemused and chaos reigned for about six weeks til they got used to it. Either they all sat waiting to go or they all went at once!!

My home for two days is Lough Cottage; a victorian terraced cottage belonging to Marc and decorated beautifully in a very contemporary style.

The cottage is opposite the church, a sculpture depicting a man l trying to work out where the Greenwich meridian line might be that runs through Louth,

and a great deli. They had my favourites things and salad.

Five minutes walk from the cottage is a green park called Westgate Fields

It leads to a wonderful circular walk high up through beech trees and down beside a flowing stream. The walk is called Hubbard Hills. Took me two hours. Super

  

I chatted to the Creative Nature contractors who are working to repair the eroded banks of the chalk stream as part of a county wide initiative - The Lincolnshire Chalk Streams Project.

Apparently a lot of the damage is done by dogs having fun so they are carefully landscaping some single 'beaches' to discourage dogs from scrabbling up the banks. Good luck with that!! Lots of dogs and small children having fun in the stream today.

The parish church of St James is immediately opposite where I’m staying. It is a beautiful building with an extremely tall spire, beautiful windows, angels on the roof and Peregrine falcons nesting in the tower for the second year running.

I had a cup of tea in their cafe and listened to an hour of the most excruciating organ music it has ever been my misfortune to endure. How was I supposed to know that the organ was being tuned by experts from Lincoln?!

Why did I stay? I was watching the CCTV live footage of the peregrine hatching her eggs. Far more thrilling than waiting for a Royal birth.

My day off has persuaded me that I need to do my trip in smaller bites so I do less driving and more seeing.

Maybe this will be 100 days rather than 80?