After the MotoGP at Silverstone, the next 3 nights were spent in Northampton. This was our make and mend time - get the washing done, read a book, repack the suitcases - not very good at this! Our first day in town was spent finding a coin laundry - closed as it was a Bank Holiday. We also wandered around the town centre - not closed on Bank Holiday! We visited Sainsburys near our hotel for a few supplies. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and catching up on correspondence online.

We stayed in a Travelodge about 5 km from the town centre. This would have to be the best served Travelodge we have stayed at. Usually, they are at a service station with a Little Chef to buy food at. This one had the required service station but was also within 100m of an American Diner, KFC, TGI Friday, Bella Italia Restaurant, Pizza Hut and a Frankie and Benny's - all reasonable food options. Also within easy walking distance was a movie theatre, Sainsburys, Boots and M & S Foods. But best of all, was what we found about 100m across the road!

We have always said we would like to watch a football (soccer) game in the UK. It is extremely difficult to get tickets to the Premier League Games so we have been looking at watching a game in one of the lower divisions. Greg has been checking out how the system works over here and is astounded by the number of teams that play at a multitude of different levels. Northampton FC home ground, Sixfields, turned out to be just across the road from our hotel so Greg went online and discovered that they had a home game on Tuesday night - one of the days we were there.

Northampton FC, known as the Cobblers, are in the 4th level of competition and were to play Colchester, who are in the 3rd level, in a Johnstone Paint Cup game. These games are similar to the FA Cup competition but for 3rd and 4th division teams. There are 48 clubs eligible to play and this game was round one. The final for this competition is played at Wembley Stadium so teams are eager to do well. Tickets were purchased for £12 each online. We picked up our tickets at the field on Tuesday morning, bought a fridge magnet and checked out the venue. About 6pm, we walked across the road and after a lovely Italian dinner we walked to the field and settled in for the game. Greg spoke to one of the locals and got all the information he needed and the tip for the night was that Colchester should win as they were the team from the higher division.

Our seats were on the halfway line, at the top, in the Home team grandstand with the 1255 Northampton Supporters; the 111 Colchester supporters were segregated in their own stand behind the goal posts. We were sitting beside the media contingent who were all set up with their laptops and phones reporting on the game. The pitch looked to be in excellent condition as both teams went through their drills.

The game started on time at 7:45. We could tell straight away that it was not Premier League football as the passing was just not as accurate or the skill level as high. The Cobblers started well and scored after 8 minutes. They led until Colchester score in the 31st minute to equalise. It remained 1-1 at half time. Northampton Cobblers scored again 5 minutes after half time and led until the 82 minute when Colchester scored their 2nd goal. Just 2 minutes later Northampton scored their 3rd goal to clinch the game. We thoroughly enjoyed the game, our chats with the locals and the fact that we didn't have to fight a crowd to get out of the field. We are still hoping to see another game - keep your fingers crossed for us.

We then headed east thinking we might have to pick up our bike from the dealers in Ipswich. Things didn't turn out that way as the dealer was waiting on a part to fix the fuel gauge. We didn't mind because, after all we are just touring around for a few days until our next event on the weekend. We stopped at Peterborough for lunch as we remembered that our friends Craig and Marg had said that it was worth a visit. We would have to agree. The cathedral was spectacular and the cobbled streets were charming. Our destination for the night was Great Yarmouth - one of the coastal holiday destinations for British locals. It is similar to Blackpool or Scarborough or Brighton - all seaside destinations catering to British families with amusement rides, cheap accommodation, fast food and sea views. We decided that it was not really our type of holiday destination and we were glad we were only staying one night.

Our next stop was Lincoln but Greg wanted to check out Skegness on the way - another seaside holiday town. Skegness boasts one of the Butlin's Holiday Resorts and was still very busy eventhough today was the first day back at school for British children. Butlins is a chain of large holiday resorts that were constructed to provide affordable holidays to ordinary British families and was started in the 1930's by Billy Butlin. When Butlins first started, families would go for their seaside holidays and generally keep to themselves - this was not what Billy Butlin had envisaged so he started to also supply entertainment for his guests. This is when the Butlins Empire really took off. During World War Two, the resort was used by the Royal Navy and was bombed several times. At the end of the war it took 6 months for the resort to reopen and it has been a thriving holiday destination ever since. For us, Skegness was no more inspiring than Great Yarmouth so we took a couple of photos and kept driving.

Lincoln advertises itself as a city with history, culture and shopping. The main attractions are Lincoln Cathedral and Lincoln Castle. Both of these are side by side in the centre of town. We stayed in a lovely guesthouse about a 10 minute drive from the castle. After checking in we drove in to town and parked beside the Cathedral. By now it was 6:30pm and both the cathedral and castle were closed to visitors. The castle was commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1072 because he wanted to have a church near his home - Lincoln Castle. Legend says he wanted to let God know who was the boss here on Earth! The castle can be seen from the cathedral through the nearby Exchequergate. We wandered around both and then found a pub for dinner. We decided that we might come back to Lincoln another time for a better look - some towns 'feel' right and Lincoln was one of them. We drove back to our guesthouse for the night before heading west again for the British Super Bikes on the weekend at Oulton Park.