Cycle 3

The weather has changed. After weeks of dry if not sunny days, today was showery, and this evening it rather looks as if it might never stop. It was always going to be a long ride from our B&B at Kingthorpe - excellent - to this next one at Stenwith, near Belvoir. Intermittent rain made the nearly 50 miles worse, especially when National Route 15 petered out in the middle of Grantham, without any indication as to how to reach its resumption along the Canal running West.

Till then, it was a pleasant ride through the Lincolnshire countryside: I found it more fun being on roads than on the cycle tracks of yesterday, notwithstanding Sustrans' attempts to make them interesting with sculptures dotted along the way. Stopping for coffee in Navenby, we were lucky to bump into the curate, who let us into a church normally kept locked. St Vincent's, Caythorpe was happily open anyway. Syston village was a delightful discovery, now tucked a safe if short distance out of the path of the A607 - from where it was only a quick hop into Belton. No time to do more than glance back at the outside of William Winde's masterpiece, however, as we sped on through the park and down to the back gate, trusting it would not be necessary to lift our bikes over the wall. (It wasn't.)