South Shields 04 July 09 Part II

Saturday, June 27th. Left Caistor at 9:25 AM and cycled to Barton Upon Humber via Brigg. Arrived at 11:30 AM and stopped at a petrol station convenience store for a sandwich and coke. Cycled across the Humber Bridge which had a seperate path for pedestrians and cyclists. When It was first built the Humber Bridge was the longest single span bridge in the world. After crossing the bridge I ended up in a huge car park. It took me 1/2 an hour to figure out how to get out of there and back on the proper road heading towards Bridlington. It took awhile to get through Kingston Upon Hull and as a result I ended up arriving in Dunswell at 2:00 PM. I saw a sign at the Ship Inn advertising rooms so went in and booked a room for the night. As a bonus there was a Chinese Restaurant not far away across the street. I was really looking forward to some nice chinese food for dinner that evening. After a couple of beers and getting my journal up-to-date I walked over to the Chinese restaurant. They were fully booked for the evening. But, I said, I've cycled all the way from Canada just to taste some of your fine Chinese cuisine. A young manager overheard me mention "Canada" and said something to the hostess in Chinese and the next thing you know she had a table set up for me in front of the bar and I was able to order. It turned out to be a really excellent meal. They were so nice to me and kept checking to see if everything was OK and if I needed anything else. After paying my bill the hostess came over and asked me all about my cycling trip. After dinner I returned to The Ship Inn for a nightcap. It was packed out but inspite of that I was able to get a drink and find a spot to sit down before going off to bed. The bar was decorated with all sorts of maritime/shipping artifacts and one in particular was a ships plaque taken off the engines which had NEWCASTLE stamped on it. I asked a couple of people sitting at the bar if they wouldn't mind moving so I could get a picture of the bar and the plaque above it explaining that my final destination was South Shields which was right next to Newcastle. Of course they were all very curious about my cycling trip and wanted to know where I would stop next. When I said Scarborough they all recommended that I go a little further to Whitby which was much nicer. By they I mean the bartender, waitress, cook, and patrons who were in the bar at the time. One gentleman, who worked for the railways, also offered to drive me from South Shields to London, Gatwick, if I needed a drive to get to my return flight to Canada. He gave me his name and phone number and said I could call upon him at any time if I needed help. Caistor to Dunswell 57.39 kms Time 3 hrs 49 mins Weather sunny mid 20's C. Some difficult hills.