Boston (Skirbeck) to Freiston Shore

We'd had a good night's sleep at the Boston Premier Inn, and the drive from here to the parking place at the end of today's walk, at TF407436, was remarkably straightforward. The Premier Inn is on the A52 to the north-east of Boston and we were able just to turn right onto the A52 (i.e. away from the town centre) before turning onto progressively minor roads. There are a number car parks marked on the OS map that we could have used on today's walk, but we'd deliberately planned the last couple of walks to ensure we made use of this one, because it is the marked car park that advances you furthest north before a particularly remote section where car parking may be going to be something of a challenge.  As we drove along the final approach road, I really did feel I was in the back of beyond, but there were a number of cars already in the little car park. There was space for Richard's car, and we took a cross-country route in my car back to the car park in Skirbeck at TF340247 where we'd parked yesterday. It's only a few steps from here onto the river bank and the tide today was higher than it was yesterday, so there was less mud. The weather remained mostly grey, but dry.

The car park in Skirbeck bears a sign indicating that it is for the Havenside Country Park. However, the walk was initially on the narrow strip of grass alongside a wood yard, and later we were passing a sewage works; distinctly smelly (and I now realise that this is what we'd smelt from the opposite bank of the Haven, yesterday).  I'm not really selling this am I?! However, there were plenty of wading birds on the river and, as yesterday, geese flying overhead, We had good views across the river to the solar panels and power station across the Haven and as we approached the pumping station where we had come down to the river yesterday, we passed a car park on our side and realised that we'd reached the Pilgrim Fathers Memorial .

Suprisingly, the memorial doesn't seem to have any direct link with Rev .John Cotton and his congregation from St Botolph's Church, Boston, but rather it marks the spot (the former Scotia Creek) where a group of protestant separatists who were attempting to sail from Scrooby, Nottinghamshire to the Netherlands in 1607, but they were were betrayed and captured here. The group later managed to get to Leidon, and from here the latter sailed to the New World. Slightly further on, we reached the "Horizon" installation. It's a peculiar thing, bright blue and to my eye not particularly attractive. It was installed in June 2021 to mark the eventually successful sailing of the Scrooby congregation. but it also marks the directions to various other significant Pilgrim Fathers' locations.

We were now close to Hobhole Drain, and here the route meandered around bit so as to cross the two canalised channels and and the pumping station. After crossing the channel there were paths left and right; we assumed (rightly) that we should go right, back to the Haven,  but (unusually for this section) there was no King Charles III England Coast Path sign to help us. We passed a couple of other walkers and about a mile further on, we passed the little car park at the end of Cut End Road. However, my over-riding impression of this section was isolation, with mostly birds for company. We tried several times to photograph the flocks of geese overhead; I was convinced that we hadn't captured a decent image, but actually we didn't do too badly. 

We were approaching the point at which the Haven flows into The Wash and, just the other side of a narrow spur of land to the south, The Welland was doing the same thing. It was beautiful. On previous days of walking around The Wash, and up various rivers to crossing points, we'd had plenty of marshland views, but we hadn't been very close to the Sea. Here,  we could definitely see water glistening  in front of us. Just before we ran out of land, we turned left, now heading north along the western bank of The Wash.  

Some months ago, I listened to an episode of the BBC radio podcast "The Patch" from this area and it made a real impression on me, so I'd listened to it again last night.  The programme picks a random postcode and looks for interesting offbeat stories to report on; in the episode from the postcode we were in, one of the foci was North Sea Camp, which is an open prison which apparently has a reputation for its number of escapees, though some of those are rumoured to be deliberately escaping so as to be sent back to closed prison, because they can't cope with the idea of being released into society.

We passed a bench. It was slightly short and there was some bird mess on it, but we though it might be our best option for a lunch spot, even though it was also a bit early. It later transpired that there were plenty more benches further on, but our selected spot was fine.  Soon after we started walking again, there was a loud noise from the sky; what on Earth was it? I even wondered if it was a helicopter searching for another escaped prisoner. Thankfully, it wasn't, but rather three paramotors coming overhead.  What is now an open prison was initially a borstal, and we  passed a memorial which commemorates the work done by the inmates in starting the construction of the sea wall along which we were walking; this eventually resulted in some 700 acres of enclosed land becoming available for agriculture.

We continued along the sea wall, with the reclaimed agricultural land to our left and marshland with sea beyond to our right.  A mile or so further on, we reached a junction of flood banks and the lake of RSPB Freiston Shore. If we'd turned left, the path would have brought us to the village of Freiston  Shore and the RSPB car park. If we'd turned right then continued straight ahead, we'd have been on the outer sea wall, closer to the sea - and some people were walking this way. However, aside of the fact that this is not the route of the King Charles III England Coast Path,  this route looks problematic as the sea wall appears to have breaches in it. We turned right and almost immediately left, which took is alongside the lake, passing a few birdwatchers including one who was standing by his tripod on the bank, apparently viewing a swan family.

To the north of the RSPB reserve there was another junction of flood banks, and turning left would have continued  the circumnavigation of the lake,  back to the village. However we turned right onto a slightly rougher path along the sea wall, perhaps because it is less well walked.  There were views across the marshland to the sea, through what I think is one of the breaches in the sea wall. There were also two of three monitoring stations of some sort, but I haven't been able to find out quite what they are. If you know, please do let me know.

It was about a mile from here to the car park where we had parked, where a dog walker was just setting off in the direction we'll walk when we progress from here. Meanwhile we drove to the We'll Meet Again Museum, close to the village of Freiston Shore. It's an idiosyncratic place, focusing on all things World War II, as described in the same epoxide of "The Patch" as North Sea Camp. We decided that, interesting as it no-doubt is, we'd prefer to get home, so we didn't go in. We collected our other car from Skirbeck then drove back to Norfolk, Richard stopping en route to check his mother's phone, which she hasn't been answering, most likely because its volume had got turned right down!

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