I didn't know that this would be my last day of cycling on my round the North Sea adventure when I set off in the morning. I had two options; either cycle as hard as I could on a direct route to Stamford, or make it a leisurely 2 day trip using the National Cycle Network. As I was cycling into quite a stiff breeze I was tending towards the latter plan. When I got to Lincoln, 2 hours and 20 miles later, I went to the Tourist Information office to find out about campsites and cycle routes. I retired to a little teashop for a frankly disappointing scone with jam and squirty cream to look through the information. As there only seemed to be one campsite in Lincolnshire, nowhere bear where I wanted to cycle, I decided to plot my own cycle route across country to Stamford as direct as possible using hopefully quiet country roads.

I set off from old Lincoln, down the steep hills and through the new shopping area and out of the city. It proved quite difficult following the city cycle paths - especially as one was blocked off due to building work. In the end I just had to follow the quite busy road. The further I got from Lincoln the quieter the road became until finally I was on some pleasant and quiet country roads once again. The day was quite warm and sunny, but the wind was ever present all day long. I passed through some very nice villages, and got lost once or twice, but on the whole it was a fairly pleasant cycle; as good as, and better than some, of the NCN routes I have cycled.

It was a beautiful evening when I arrived back in Stamford at the end of my odyssey.

Altitude gain: 3440 feet
Cycling time: 6 hours 58 minutes
Average speed: 10.8 mph
Maximum speed: 33.1 mph
Distance: 75.3 miles
Total distance: 3707.5 miles (5966.4 kilometres)