29th June 2005 – Ely and Peterborough
Turned out that there wasn’t a thunderstorm in our area so we were saved another wet and miserable morning. I did hear the claps of thunder very early in the morning though (just when daylight was breaking) and they seemed to be coming form the east. It was a much cooler day with overcast skies, Nav saying that it was good weather to drive in – and no doubt too as we’ve had to stop many a time because it’s just too hot to travel – let that be a lesson to you all, not to drive whilst hot and tired.
We got to small town of Ely and parked up outside some residential terraced houses, which seemed to have kept their old-style looks about them (not really old, but as Nav put it “I feel like I’ve gone back to the 1940s). A group of middle to elderly ladies walked past us as we snacked from the boot of the car (granary bread, homous and some other foodstuff), some of whom were speaking with quite a posh voice. Erm… that’s about it for that story.
We found Ely Cathedral with its huge spires and general huge shape hugeness. It was placed with a nice green at its front. Behind it was the local school and at that particular time, a load of school children had come swarming out. We ignored them and walked inside. This cathedral turned out to be another ‘pay-per-view’ place, so I took a photo of the main hall and had a quick look around.
In the foyer, they too had the ‘one-path’ maze I described of in Norwich. Out the corner of my eye, I saw this elderly woman shuffling her feet, looking down to the floor. I thought this incredibly odd and decided to stare for a bit longer. Then she moved away from her spot and I found that she was tracing the path on the floor! Oh my, I couldn’t believe someone was doing it, and she looked like she was having fun too. Think is, I probably wouldn’t have picked this up had the maze been a bit bigger and if you couldn’t see what was at the centre, but all there was was a stand upon which sat a sign asking people to be quiet as it was ‘Quiet Hour’.
We left the cathedral and headed into the local town which was mixed with small and big name shops. I think we must have spent at least 15-minutes deciding what insect repellent to purchase (so that we wouldn’t get bitten to death again). We also got some ice-cream, with Nav rhetorically questioning: “Why did we get ice-cream on one of the coldest days?” – and he was right, it was an overcast day from the effect of yesterday night.
Finally, we went to Oliver Cromwell’s house. He wasn’t in, but we stepped inside anyway – I’m sure he wouldn’t (have) mind(ed). In fact, part of the house had been turned into the TIC (and what was quite amusing was that on the door there read a sign “Entry to the TIC is FREE” – wow, thanks!). We didn’t bother to pay the fee to see the interiors and instead settled for a photograph of the outside:
We left Ely to go to our next destination, Peterborough. At one stage we were driving along an A-road that was not what you call bumpy/uneven, but was very much ‘wavey’ in that you’d br driving up and down small slopes. The road was also signed a ‘Red Route’ which we assumed to mean ‘You’ll be likely to get across this road without dieing’. Nav said that he could see why it was a dangerous road and why people would get killed – it was just too wavey to control at high speeds.
We continued our journey driving along ‘Oilmills Road’ – just as wavey as those before – and we passed an accident scene. On our driving side, a lorry had fallen onto its side down the small bank next to the road. There wasn’t any obvious external damage to the lorry (like, big bits of axel or wheels somewhere away from the lorry), but it looked like it would take a very long time for them to right the fallen vehicle. I saw a semi-naked man (assumed to be the driver) sitting on the roadside facing away from the road, who seemed to be quite shaken by the experience, sitting with two policemen.
The first thing I noticed about Peterborough was its ethnic diversity. During the trip around England, I was looking around finding that the majority of the population of the towns and villages to be Caucasian – of course, I suppose this was to be expected, but a lot of the time, there didn’t seem to be even a single family from an ethnic minority group. Not that I’m complaining or anything, just thought I’d point it out.
We managed to lose ourselves in village town street centre thingy, and whilst in Barclays I asked for directions to Peterborough Cathedral. The clerk told me to held back the way we came and then some. Finally, we found it and I found it to look quite square-looking – what do you think?
Inside, it was quite a simple design, nothing as fancy as some of the previous buildings. I don’t think that this detracted much from it, but for me, well maybe it’s because I’ve seen more cathedrals than any person should in three weeks.
Nav and I had a chat about our schedule and the destinations left on the list. He said that he was happy to drive to the county of Rutland tonight and camp there, and so we did. This would save us time on tomorrow, as I suggested that we see all the places in Rutland that Morton visited. We found a campsite without much of a problem (again, hunting for wireless internet access through residential areas) and drove east from Peterborough to Rutland (story of this county tomorrow). The owners of the campsite were particular caring of their grass asking us to be careful by not placing anything hot onto it otherwise that patch of grass would die in two days time. Two days? Hah, we wouldn’t be there the next day so what could they do…
The campsite that we stayed was selling locally produced chutney and the like – I bought a jar made to accompany Melton Mowbray pork pies (I had bought some from Tesco) and damn, was it tasty. Oh and I also made a time-lapse photograph thing of me setting up the tent (one shot every 15-seconds). I’ll try and get that up on the net some time soon. Time for bed.
-- steven
We got to small town of Ely and parked up outside some residential terraced houses, which seemed to have kept their old-style looks about them (not really old, but as Nav put it “I feel like I’ve gone back to the 1940s). A group of middle to elderly ladies walked past us as we snacked from the boot of the car (granary bread, homous and some other foodstuff), some of whom were speaking with quite a posh voice. Erm… that’s about it for that story.
We found Ely Cathedral with its huge spires and general huge shape hugeness. It was placed with a nice green at its front. Behind it was the local school and at that particular time, a load of school children had come swarming out. We ignored them and walked inside. This cathedral turned out to be another ‘pay-per-view’ place, so I took a photo of the main hall and had a quick look around.
In the foyer, they too had the ‘one-path’ maze I described of in Norwich. Out the corner of my eye, I saw this elderly woman shuffling her feet, looking down to the floor. I thought this incredibly odd and decided to stare for a bit longer. Then she moved away from her spot and I found that she was tracing the path on the floor! Oh my, I couldn’t believe someone was doing it, and she looked like she was having fun too. Think is, I probably wouldn’t have picked this up had the maze been a bit bigger and if you couldn’t see what was at the centre, but all there was was a stand upon which sat a sign asking people to be quiet as it was ‘Quiet Hour’.
We left the cathedral and headed into the local town which was mixed with small and big name shops. I think we must have spent at least 15-minutes deciding what insect repellent to purchase (so that we wouldn’t get bitten to death again). We also got some ice-cream, with Nav rhetorically questioning: “Why did we get ice-cream on one of the coldest days?” – and he was right, it was an overcast day from the effect of yesterday night.
Finally, we went to Oliver Cromwell’s house. He wasn’t in, but we stepped inside anyway – I’m sure he wouldn’t (have) mind(ed). In fact, part of the house had been turned into the TIC (and what was quite amusing was that on the door there read a sign “Entry to the TIC is FREE” – wow, thanks!). We didn’t bother to pay the fee to see the interiors and instead settled for a photograph of the outside:
We left Ely to go to our next destination, Peterborough. At one stage we were driving along an A-road that was not what you call bumpy/uneven, but was very much ‘wavey’ in that you’d br driving up and down small slopes. The road was also signed a ‘Red Route’ which we assumed to mean ‘You’ll be likely to get across this road without dieing’. Nav said that he could see why it was a dangerous road and why people would get killed – it was just too wavey to control at high speeds.
We continued our journey driving along ‘Oilmills Road’ – just as wavey as those before – and we passed an accident scene. On our driving side, a lorry had fallen onto its side down the small bank next to the road. There wasn’t any obvious external damage to the lorry (like, big bits of axel or wheels somewhere away from the lorry), but it looked like it would take a very long time for them to right the fallen vehicle. I saw a semi-naked man (assumed to be the driver) sitting on the roadside facing away from the road, who seemed to be quite shaken by the experience, sitting with two policemen.
The first thing I noticed about Peterborough was its ethnic diversity. During the trip around England, I was looking around finding that the majority of the population of the towns and villages to be Caucasian – of course, I suppose this was to be expected, but a lot of the time, there didn’t seem to be even a single family from an ethnic minority group. Not that I’m complaining or anything, just thought I’d point it out.
We managed to lose ourselves in village town street centre thingy, and whilst in Barclays I asked for directions to Peterborough Cathedral. The clerk told me to held back the way we came and then some. Finally, we found it and I found it to look quite square-looking – what do you think?
Inside, it was quite a simple design, nothing as fancy as some of the previous buildings. I don’t think that this detracted much from it, but for me, well maybe it’s because I’ve seen more cathedrals than any person should in three weeks.
Nav and I had a chat about our schedule and the destinations left on the list. He said that he was happy to drive to the county of Rutland tonight and camp there, and so we did. This would save us time on tomorrow, as I suggested that we see all the places in Rutland that Morton visited. We found a campsite without much of a problem (again, hunting for wireless internet access through residential areas) and drove east from Peterborough to Rutland (story of this county tomorrow). The owners of the campsite were particular caring of their grass asking us to be careful by not placing anything hot onto it otherwise that patch of grass would die in two days time. Two days? Hah, we wouldn’t be there the next day so what could they do…
The campsite that we stayed was selling locally produced chutney and the like – I bought a jar made to accompany Melton Mowbray pork pies (I had bought some from Tesco) and damn, was it tasty. Oh and I also made a time-lapse photograph thing of me setting up the tent (one shot every 15-seconds). I’ll try and get that up on the net some time soon. Time for bed.
-- steven
posted by Steven | 6:48 pm
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