It was wonderful to be in a bed again! I slept well and could have slept longer but dragged myself out of bed and downstairs for breakfast, which was excellent. I’d certainly stay here again, though Melton Mowbray isn’t a place I’d want to revisit. The clouds had dissipated overnight, leaving us with sunshine, and the wind was from the west. We called in at the M&S food store for lunch requisites and were soon away from this rather dull town and riding along a lovely quiet lane which bent around the Stapleford Park estate.
Later we crossed the A1 and soon after the East Coast Main Line at Little Bytham as the gentle undulations levelled out into the northern Fens. We rode along the quiet roads next to the drainage canals, such a different landscape to the mountains we’d left at home. We reached Spalding just in time for the bookshop café before it closed at four. Refreshed by coffee and fortified by cake, we negotiated a complex minor road system through Long Sutton and on to Kings Lynn, reaching the YHA hostel at 20:30. The only other customers were a cycling couple from Blackburn at the end of a circular tour.