THURSDAY 25-4-19

Another cloudy start to the day, never mind.

We were away by mid-morning heading initially for the International Bomber Command Centre https://internationalbcc.co.uk/ on the outskirts of Lincoln. After all you can’t come to Lincolnshire and not do Bomber Command (well that’s what I told The Chef anyway), during World War Two, Lincolnshire was littered with some forty bomber bases,

In total over 55,000 Bomber Command airmen lost their lives, and over half of them were based in Lincolnshire. Their courage was never properly recognised, probably because their boss ‘Bomber’ Harris had annoyed his political masters by carrying on the destruction of German cities and infrastructure at a time when it was becoming unfashionable.

There wasn’t even a medal cast to commemorate the courage of those who survived. And to top it all the only memorials to them are funded by private money, including the one in Green Park London, to the extent that the veterans who had funded it and were also paying the cost of the opening ceremony were fearful of having to sell their homes to cover the cost overrun of the event. Fortunately David Cameron stepped in and agreed that the government would fund any shortfall. Sadly in today's broken Britain that monument has since been vandalised with paint.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-46953436

So when we arrived at the International Bomber Command Centre on Canwick Hill (GPS N53.211432º W0.525033º) we made our way to their memorial for a few pictures and to pay our respects. Then it was in to the Visitors Centre for a look around the museum there.

That done we hit the road heading for the ‘Battle of Britain Memorial Flight’ based on the edge of RAF Coningsby (GPS N53.097304º W0.179629º) https://www.visitlincoln.com/things-to-do/battle-of-britain-memorial-flight

Once parked up we sat and ate our lunch before crossing the road to the Visitor Centre. Having paid our tour fee (£7.00 for old gits) we had to wait for the 14:30 tour as we’d just missed the 14:00. This worked well for us as we ended up with a really interesting tour guide by the name of Gary. In all, the tour lasted an hour and a half; even The Chef enjoyed it and found it interesting, especially how each spitfire type on display is painted in such a way to commemorate an event or pilot. Whilst I was confident I would find it interesting I was pleased The Chef enjoyed it too, and a lot of it has to be down to the knowledge and enthusiasm of Gary.

That done we hit the road again heading for the Aviation Heritage Museum in Spilsby near East Kirkby, Lincolnshire. Before planning the trip I expected us to be spending the night at the East Kirkby Hideaway Campsite which is next door to the museum, but having renewed our membership of the ‘Britstop’ scheme http://www.britstops.com/welcome.php we discovered that the Aviation Heritage Museum had now joined the scheme and were offering up to two motorhomes each night free parking facilities.

So there we were, in the run up to the museum closing for the day, parked near the entrance with a view of their Dakota aircraft just through the gates. There are probably better places to camp for the night, but none cheaper, more convenient, or for me, more interesting.

Fine dining this evening was spag bol, produced as only The Chef knows how.

We turned in fairly early as I couldn’t get a TV signal with either the UHF aerial I had stuck up on the roof, or the satellite dish, probably due to the fact that I had a dirty great big hanger in my line of sight.