11th -12th August 2010 - Grimsby

View from our hotel room of St James Church, Grimsby which came into existance in 1141. The church was granted Minster status on 16 May 2010


Full ahead both!


Mick at the helm of a trawler in the museum


Grimsby Trawler Ross Tiger


7 Cylinder engine with twin dual throat Webbers!!


The answer to the question about whether or not Mick climbed the tower of the Louth Church a second time is, "Yes he did".
Oh ye of little faith. No-one got it right. Do you all think he is that decrepit? And the sunnies cost him $30 in Mogo.

The first picture is a view of St James Church, Grimsby, which came into existance in 1141 although not as it looks now. The James College opened in 1883 and was the predecessor of today's St. James' School which was founded by Canon Young. It continues to be the only choir school in the UK to be attached to a parish church.
The church was granted minster status on 16 May 2010.


Last night we arrived at St James Hotel in Grimsby where Mick had made a booking on the Internet for 3 nights at £49.50 a night. We fronted the reception desk to book in and to our dismay they didn’t have a booking for us and we didn’t have a printout of the reservation because we don’t carry a printer.

Mick had to go out to the car turn the laptop on and bring up the confirmation email confirming our booking and then take the laptop in to the reception desk to show them. (Lucky we have the O2 wireless broadband).

The receptionist said they didn’t get the info from the people we booked with on the Internet. After a little discussion they sorted it out and we booked in. They swiped Lyn’s debit card, which they said was for security purposes and no money would actually be taken for the card until we checked out.

Mick was checking our debit card statement this morning and found that the hotel had taken out £250. Mick wasn’t happy and went down to talk to the receptionist only to be told that they add an extra £120 to the current debit and put the transaction through onto the card to cover them for any extra expenditure. She said this was only a temporary measure and said the money hadn’t really gone from the account.

That is not what our statement said. Mick doesn’t think they realize that the card is a debit card not a credit card so basically they have taken £120 of OUR money.

Anyway after a patchy nights sleep (Mick only) we awoke to a bright sunny day. We thought it was hot outside as our room faces the sun in the mornings and it was bloody hot in the room. No air conditioning here. We eventually wandered outside to find it was a lot cooler with a cool breeze. Lyn thought she might need to rug up, but once we got going she soon warmed up.

First stop the Fishing Heritage Centre on Alexandra Dock where there is a Trawler open for inspection, the Ross Tiger, plus a beautifully put together heritage museum.

Lyn didn’t want to do a tour of the Ross Tiger so after touring the heritage exhibits, walked back to the shopping centre to have a browse. There she found an M&S store which customarily have a great range of fresh salads, coleslaw, potato salad and a variety of other foods, which she purchased for dinner. So looks like we are eating in tonight.

Mick joined Lyn when he had finished his tour of the Ross Tiger and was surprised to find that she hadn’t bought anything other than some salads and ham for dinner tonight. We had a cup of coffee (Latte) and a muffin each at Starbucks to recharge the batteries.

We then went into a shop called Boot’s which is like a huge chemist shop. They are everywhere in the UK. Mick wanted to buy some Lithium batteries for his camera. A pack of 4 sells for £6.99 here or buy 2 and get 1 free so Mick bought 6 packs for £27.96. It worked out to be $A2 per battery as opposed to $A5 per battery in Australia. What a huge difference.

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12th August 2010

Today began with patchy cloud and then in the early afternoon we had some thunder and patchy rain although it is still warm.

We went out and did a tour of the docks area of Grimsby and what a run down area it is with crumbling vacant buildings with not a lot going on.

We headed back to the hotel early as for a few days, Mick has had a bee in his bonnet about taking Lyn to Paris for the weekend. He claims that it would be for my birthday but she knows what he has in mind!

Lyn wasn't keen on the idea since it was out of her comfort zone and took quite a bit of persuading and argued vehemently against it. In the end Mick won but he suspects one of the reasons Lyn capitulated was that our good friend, Gaye, and her husband Pete are in London visiting their daughter who has just had a baby and it would be a good opportunity to catch up with them. We have too travel back to London to catch the Eurostar.

Anyway, too late now. The booking has been made.