Geriatric Gapper

Cleethorpes, North Lincolnshire, UK

It's official - Cleethorpes Beach is named the most beautiful place outside of London.

We arrived in Cleethorpes ready for a special family gathering. But more of that in my next post. Cleethorpes is a seaside resort on the Lincolnshire east coast of England, on the south bank of the mouth of the River Humber. The Humber has big tides, so the sea goes out a long way, as you can see from the image above, leaving a vast expanse of mudflats. It is wise to check the tide times before venturing far out, as the sea comes flooding back in very quickly, and can fill channels behind you to cut you off.

Cleethorpes began as a fishing settlement but evolved instead into a seaside resort when the 19th-century fashion for sea-bathing developed. This was greatly boosted by the arrival of the railway. It thrived until the 1960s when the Med became accessible to British holidaymakers, and traditional resorts declined.

While in Cleethorpes, we visited the Boating Lake.

The Boating Lake is actually two lakes joined by a connecting channel.

The lake abounds with wildfowl like ducks and swans,

but also, more exotic ones like Barnacle and Greylag geese.

Two Barnacle Geese

 A pair of Greylag geese

We really enjoyed our stroll around the lake. As we came out of the parkland around the lakes, we noticed The Signal Box Inn, also known as the Smallest Pub on the Planet.

The Signal Box Inn measures 8x8 feet

Another interesting landmark nearby is The Bus Café, run by Emma and her sister. Emma used to run Emma’s Café from her home, providing homemade meals, cakes, customized salads, fruit pots, and much more.  Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, Emma’s daughter didn’t like working from home as she felt she was living at work. They thought of running their business from a truck, but then there were many people doing that, so they thought, “How big can we go?” That’s when they thought of a café in a double-decker bus.

 Emma and her sister, Amy, run the Bus Café in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire.

Within a week of coming up with the idea, Emma had bought her bus and acquired the plot, so she was up and running. She opened her Bus Café on June 2018, and it was very popular.

Emma in The Bus Cafe

Unfortunately, in October of that year, some low-life scumbags broke into the bus one night, stole whatever they could, and then set fire to the bus. Emma was devastated after all her hard work, but the amazing person she is, determined to fix it all. She ran the café through home deliveries, until she was able to refurbish the bus, and had it up and running again the following March, with the help of her family.

The upper deck of the Bus.

Customers enjoying a coffee

Today Emma has a thriving business. You can follow her success on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/The-Bus-Cafe-1302146153257892/ and get a glimpse of the wonderful food on offer.

Elizabeth Coughlan