Continuation of our exploration of the Fens.

After a washout day, we drive the short distance to Wainfleet All Saints, where friend Alf was born and lived his childhood, before escaping the Fens via Skegness Grammar School and Sheffield University. In a way, we were both escapees from the Fens, which may have been a contributary factor to our subsequent friendship.

As Alf always said, there’s little at Wainfleet apart from Batemans’ Brewery, the church and the Magdalen Museum. There’s also a station and crossing gates, on the line from Grantham to Skegness, reminding me of the day trips we made to nearby Skegness as children, on the similar line from Lincoln.

We explore the free museum, containing typical local memorabilia and historic items. The name indicates its link with Magdalene College, Cambridge. The van that transported Queen Elizabeth’s wedding gown just happened to be parked outside for the Jubilee celebrations.

We find the cemetery and pay our respects to a good friend at the family grave containing Alf’s ashes.

A brief drive through holidaying Skegness crowds suggests that a promenade walk is not an attractive proposition. Instead, we drive down to the National Nature Reserve near Gibraltar Point and walk out over the natural barrier of sand dunes to see the salt marshes, offshore windmills (see featured image) and beach/sea of The Wash.

Here, the natural balance between land and sea is maintained. There are few people, and the scenery is immense and desolate.