Iona goes to Great Steeping

The Limes Campsite, Great Steeping
Trip 20, 10th - 13th October 2017

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 We set off for Spilsby and Great Steeping. We got caught up with roadworks and then the maize was being harvested for the local bio-digester. We arrived after just over an hour, via a rather narrow lane taking us past the Heavy Horse Centre. Luckily we did not meet any other vehicles.

We met James the owner who explained everything and allowed us to park on any vacant pitch. At this time of year we were only the second campers so we chose a pitch next to the pond. 

After lunch we went for a circular walk that took us onto an old perimeter track of RAF Spilsby. We came across a memorial for the airfield that has long since been returned to agriculture, the runways ripped up and hardcore was used in the building of the Humber Bridge. The memorial is sited on the original airfield firestation and consists of three columns and a rectangle block of stone. Each of the pillars is dedicated to the brave men who flew from RAF Spilsby but never returned. The blocks also represent morse code, dot dot dot dash, for the letter ‘V’ for victory. 

We left the memorial and continued our circular walk into Great Steeping and back to the campsite. The weather was quite mild and we sat outside on a picnic bench with a cuppa and our books. The wind soon picked up and we went back inside the van. For tea Sue prepared mussels and fries.

Day 2:

It was very windy this morning but fairly mild. The wi-fi was not working this morning so we had to read or watch TV. The kindles won and we read until the owner arrived.

There was a need for a walk after lunch, so with walking boots on off we went, only to find after we turned left at the T junction that we should have turned right. We retraced our steps and headed for the historic All Saints Church that is situated down a lane in the middle of nowhere. The church was built in 1748 and restored in 1908. It is not used for worship these days but the graveyard is still in use. We saw graves dated 1847 - 2009, some ornate for the wealthy of the time and some very basic.

We left the churchyard via a gate to the south and found a public footpath along Lady Wath’s Beck to the river Steeping where a bridge took us to another church, St Andrews in Little Steeping. An old church but in use today with the latest grave dated July 2017. We retraced our steps back along  Lady Wath’s beck and crossed to the other side via a bridge and followed the path back to Great Steeping and then to the campsite.

Day 3:

Still windy but brighter. We went for a walk this morning to see what the other campsite was like. It looks as if it has been taken over because it has new signs and  there was a notice on the entrance saying ‘sorry no tourers’, it is now static homes in the form of log cabins. Once back at the campsite another caravan had arrived and parked very near to where another motorhome had parked, except they had gone out. When they came back they were not very happy and they moved to another pitch.

Trip 20: 80 miles, 26.5 mpg,  29 mph, 2hrs 41m