SPALDING

At almost exactly 2 pm, Sheila arrived at Spalding... She's digging deep into her reserves of stamina and covered the last leg from Horncastle at roughly 19 kph.
If she can keep up that pace, she will be home before we have had time to make the bed, do the washing up and walk the dog.
According to Travel About Britain, Spalding “is a warm and charming Georgian town in the Lincolnshire Fens. The town stands astride the banks of the River Welland, in an area of reclaimed marshland. It is here that bulb growers and market gardeners raise outstanding crops in the legendary rich fertile soil. During springtime, the surrounding area is carpeted with a glorious blaze of colour from hyacinths to daffodils and tulips - comparable with the bulb fields of Holland”.
The town was well known for its annual Spalding Flower Parade, started in 1959 and designed to celebrate the region's vast tulip production. In its heyday, people flocked to see the flower-festooned floats which attracted crowds up more than 100,000. Sadly, attendance had fallen to fewer than 40,000 by the time of the last parade in 2013.
We don’t have any photographs of tulips in Spalding. Here are some buttercups in Kent instead.
Sheila has now ridden 780 miles and the next 38 miles will take her from Spalding to the control point at St Ives, on the outskirts of Huntingdon. She has 112 miles to go…