Way back when I were a lad….. people who have heard me speak, don’t actually realise it, but I am a northerner by birth – i come from Macclesfield, Cheshire and when i was born, times were quite grim – my mother was a nurse and my dad was an aircraft fitter – and we were that poor I wasn’t born but just put through the letter box by the WRVS when my mum wasn’t looking… in all seriousness brass were tight – and the first ever family holiday was when I was two – to Butlins in Skegness. I know i had been back a few times to Skeggy since then, but those were for weekends that I don’t remember much of. Either way, after our trip to Mablethorpe last year, i had said to Jo that we would go to the southern end of the Lincolnshire coast – so…..

There is no way on this planet i would stay anywhere near Butlins, but i found a well regarded site called Skegness Sandsand i booked us in for a couple of nights. That was great until the lady buying Jo’s house decided that she wanted to show her daughter what it was like…. On the Sodding Saturday – initially in the morning. Muttering to myself I called the campsite, spoke to a very helpful lady with a somewhat surprisingly strong Bristolian accent, and cancelled a night… then one of the school children from Minors and Shady Estate agents called putting the time back to the afternoon…. Bollocks I said – so we took Ziggy down to the Lidl at Watton, parked up, did some shopping – then had a cup of tea… its a hard life in a Moho!

We finally got on the road and headed through the swampy territory… the fenlanders are often mocked for having webbed toes…. And as for The Girl From the Fens… any way, we headed through Kings Lynn and onto Boston then the bloody awful road surface of the A52; most roads in the UK are imho dire but this was awful. We also saw that the Boston Marathon was on the following day and that there would be travel disruption – great ! We arrived at the site, got set up, and went for a wander around the area and the Beach.

One Building dominated the camp site and seaboard – the Derbyshire Miners Convalescent Home – though derelict – we think, certainly an imposing building. Rather nicely it was next door to The Lookout Pub where an ale or two was quaffed and the menu perused… Jo ordered a mixed seafood platter that was enormous and tasty – good food and value !

After that, we headed back for a movie, and an early night – we were heading home early to avoid the Boston Marathon. Driving through the next day, we spoke about how we perceived the town – and i am sorry to say that behind the gilt, glamour and facade – Skegness needs investment 😦