RSPB Frampton Marsh to Boston (Skirbeck)

It had been a very long time since we'd had two consecutive days of walking over a weekend, with an overnight stay in a Premier Inn or similar in between; I don't think we'd done it since we stayed in the Shrewsbury Bayston Hill Travelodge and walked two legs of the Shropshire Way last December, and we last stayed in a Premier Inn when finishing the Midshires Way at Easter 2023. We were looking forward to a return to this practice, with walks on the coast path today and tomorrow, and an overnight stay at the Boston Premier Inn.  The only problem likely to arise with the weather was fog, but this didn't materialise; the Sun even tried to shine occasionally, though it was mostly grey.

 We had a good drive over to Boston, where we parked one car in the Havenside Country Park car park at TF340247 in Skirbeck, close to The Haven (the tidal river that heads from Boston to the Wash). Note that this car park is slightly further to the north-west than shown on the OS map; access is from Fishtoft Road down a road that might be called River Way and certainly passes a cul-de-sac of that name.  Then we drove back through Boston and out to RSPB Frampton Marsh. We didn't stop at the Visitor Centre this time, but instead drove out to the parking closer to the sea wall at TF365385. Parking here costs the same as at the Visitor Centre (£5), but it reduced the length of the walk back to the coast path. 

There were lovely views over the RSPB reserve from the seawall, with a flock of what were probably lapwings (please bear in mind that I am not a birdwatcher!) on a nearby lagoon. As we headed first north-east (continuing the line of our last walk) and then north-west (curving round to head towards The Haven and so towards Boston), there were flights of geese circling overhead. Near a little dog-leg we disturbed a veritable flock of goldfinches. It was amazing. No, I'm not a birdwatcher, and I don't have the patience to peer through binoculars for hours, but if it was always as easy as it seemed today, I could be interested. There were some attractive views to Boston Stump though, surprisingly, it was sometimes out of sight. 

We reached The Haven close to a pumping station, with lovely views down the river towards its mouth. The tide seemed quite low, and we couldn't be sure whether it was coming in or going out; it later transpired it was going out and still had some distance to fall. The mud wasn't particularly attractive, though we now had some wading birds for company. Around Slippery Green we skirted a landfill site and about the same time we encountered a slightly unpleasant smell; I assumed the smell was coming from the landfill site, but this later transpired to be wrong - the source of the aroma was the sewage works across the river. Richard pointed out that they'd put a massive array of solar panels on top of the landfill - how ingenious. 

Further on we also passed a power station, generating power from waste. We continued past the place we had parked and St Nicholas Church on the other side of the river, and we were looking forward to rounding a bend in the river for the final approach into Boston. past the new Boston Barrier, designed to protect the town from tidal surges.  However, it wasn't quite that simple. Suddenly we reached a fence and signs indicating that the straight ahead route was closed, with our diverted route signposted away from the river on a narrow path by a self-storage facility. 

We reached a little road at the end of an industrial estate. At this point the diverted path was signposted straight ahead, across the road, but we couldn't see how going further in that direction would help us, and we wondered if the direction of the signpost had been changed, so we decided to cut through the industrial estate, because we could see how we could get out that way. I suspect we did diverge from the official coast path diversion at this point, and it wasn't exactly exciting walking.  However, we realised we were following the route of the "footpath 14 diversion", which took us in entirely the right direction (down Lealand Way, Marsh Lane and Wyberton Low Road) and we were in any case planning to diverge from the route of the King Charles III England Coast Path slightly further on in Boston, so it really didn't matter.

We turned onto London Road, returning to the route we had marked on our paper copy of the OS map at The Black Sluice; here we realised that our diversion had most likely been caused by the new Boston Barrier. We also realised that the waterways through Boston are complicated! The Haven bends through 90 degrees here (in the direction we were walking, to head north), with the waterway straight ahead (heading west) being the South Forty-Foot Drain (or Black Sluice Navigation). We continued north along London Road, which passed some docks, became High Street, and brought us to the John Adams Way (the A16). Here the official King Charles III England Coast Path  turns right to cross The Haven, but we crossed the main road and continued on towards Boston Stump. Many others have commented that Boston has become a rather sad, down at heel place, with many immigrants. It is true that as you walk through the town,  the languages you hear other people speaking are frequently not English, and the jobs we saw advertised were mostly for vegetable pickers or fork-lift truck drivers etc. However, we were beginning to rather like the place, and this continued as we explored.

We reached St Botolph's Church (aka Boston Stump, though no-one seems to really know why) at almost exactly midday and we were treated to an interesting peel of bells from the top of the tall tower.  There was a market in full swing on the Market Place, adjacent to the Church, and a collection of benches adjacent to a statue of Herbert Ingram who founded the Illustrated London News. I was surprised to see someone celebrated in Boston for this, but he was both born in the town and became its MP, advocating for social reform and bringing the Great Northern Railway, before being drowned on board a boat on Lake Michigan.  We sat on one of the benches for an early lunch, watching the birds on top of the church and other buildings, who occasionally took off en masse, before circling and landing again.  Then we walked back to St Botolph's, stopping to read the information board about the influence of John Cotton (who was the vicar in the early 17th century before emigrating to Massachusetts) and his followers in the founding of Boston, Massachusetts. A man on a mobility scooter stopped to ask if we were planning to go inside the Church (answer: yes) and told us about some of the details to look out for. He also advocated climbing up the tower, which we'd already been planning to do; he also told us that when he was younger you'd been able to climb to the top, but now you could only go halfway up.

We headed into the Church, with its large, spacious interior. We knew that it closed at 2pm, with the cafe closing slightly earlier and the last opportunity to head up to tower being at 1.30pm, so we headed straight to the cafe for a cup of tea, then went into the shop to enquire about going up the tower. A helpful and knowledgeable woman explained that, no, we couldn't take the rucksack up,  but we could leave it with her in the shop, and after we'd paid our money (£5 each) and signed in,  she told us a bit more about the church, including that it is a "calendar church" (12 pillars, 52, windows, 7 doors and  365 steps up the tower - though we only had to climb two hundred and something to get to the highest point you're allowed to now ; then she opened the door for us. 

If you are contemplating  the climb up the tower, bear in mind that it's a narrow and steep spiral staircase all the way, though there is a brief respite part way up, and there is a separate staircase for the descent, so you don't have to pass other people. And you go up without a guide, so you can take your time (and you're given an emergency number to use in case of emergency). We loved it, but it is probably not a good idea if you're unfit or claustrophobic. At the top you emerge onto a little platform which you can follow around the four sides of the tower, with stunning views in each direction; I've selected a view to the north-west, past the Grand Sluice on to the River Witham. We waited a bit to hear the bells strike 1pm from here, though it was a less impressive peel than it had been at midday.

One of the places we'd been able to see clearly from the tower was the 5-sailed  Maud Foster Windmill and, after looking round the rest of the inside of St Botolph's, that was where we headed next. It's a short walk through the town, past some attractive Georgian(?) buildings on Wide Bargate. Close to the mill we had to adjust our route slightly to make sure we were on the right side of the Maud Foster Drain. A man was just walking away from the shop as we arrived, but he saw us and returned; we paid our £4 each and again left the rucksack, and had a fascinating chat with the man, explaining that we live close to Denver Mill in Norfolk, and the problems we've seen there (like the sails falling on a visiting group of schoolchildren).  He was quite honest about the challenges of running a mill, but he didn't tell us it is for sale; I discovered that quite by chance when checking property prices in Boston. As of November 2024, for £595,000 you can buy the mill and the owner's 3-bedroom penthouse. while £925,000 would buy you these and the adjacent 5-bedroom mill house.

The mill seems to be excellent condition (though I won't be buying it!); we climbed to the top and explored the workings on each of the seven floors as we descended again, at the appropriate point going out onto the balcony to admire the view. The photograph above is taken from the tower of Boston Stump and shows the Maud Foster Mill, so I couldn't resist the temptation of including the one  to the right (or below); it was taken from the Maud Foster Mill, with a distant view to Boston Stump! We had a quick look at the wide range of flour etc. for sale in the Mill's shop, but it wouldn't have been sensible to carry a bag of flour with us on our walk, so we left. There was a neat and very pleasant walk from here back to the official route of the King Charles III England Coast Path; alongside Maud Foster Drain all the way to Fishtoft Road. We might have been able to continue straight ahead to the river and then round to the car park, but we decided not to take the risk, so we turned left onto Fishtoft Road, rejoining the official route at this point.

After a short walk along the road, we followed the coast path sign and turned into the churchyard of  the grounds of St Nicholas Church, actually an older church than St Botolph's. We followed paths through the churchyard and back to the bank by the river, and a short distance further on we reached our car. We were heading to the Boston Premier Inn, which is just a 6 minute drive from here (with no need to go through the centre of the town), but first of all we had to drive back through Boston and out to RSPB Frampton Marsh and back, in order to collect the other car.  It was all straightforward though, and we had a pleasant evening at the Premier Inn. 

Following leg