0730 Arising from my ‘cabin’ in the ‘Ship Room’ at the Norwich B and B I head out for a pre-breakfast walk along the banks of the Ouse. The day is wet but still quite warm. By following my nose I manage a circular walk around a flooded gravel pit and over yet another manual level crossing (this one with gates that you open yourself). A train horn sounds suddenly and it comes through just after I cross.
0815 Back at the guest house there is a pleasantly high standard of breakfast. The middle-aged chap seems to run the guest house alone, as I didn't see anyone else. Chat to a couple who are over from their home in France on family business and they seem interested in what I was doing.
0900 Still rather damp as I cycle into Norwich but the roads aren't busy and I make it to the station with five minutes to spare. Plan is to train it to Ely then cycle on a circular route taking in Wicken Fen nature reserve and some of the sights of Ely before heading home.
0950 On the train. The onboard announcements from the train crew are very terse and quick - clearly the spirit of Basil Fawlty still lives on. Weather improving as we travel West running parallel to the A11 – I recall I used that road quite a bit in a previous life when I had a project replacing the telephone system at Norwich Hospital. Carriage fills up a bit at Wymondham but other than that it is pretty slack. The clearer weather has finally brought the wind - it’s the tail end of some hurricane that nearly clobbered New York and I am wondering how the cycling is going to go.
1233 Finally arrive at Wickham Fen after the hardest bit of cycling I’ve done for a few years against a fierce headwind building cycle trails along the tops of dikes is a great idea but there is nowhere to hide. I don’t hold out hope of seeing much fauna as even the flotilla of geese I saw on the way were grounded, with their beaks pointing into the wind. It will probably be too blustery for butter/dragon flies too which is a shame because the Fen is famed for these.
First things first though so I change into my hiking outfit and the NT attendant kindly agrees to stow the rucksack behind his counter.
1415 Well I didn't see masses of birds but I still saw plenty of dragonflies patrolling the sheltered paths through the Fen including an Emperor I think - at least it was a very big ‘un. If it had been really hot and calm I think the place would’ve been crawling. I think I also saw a marsh harrier (on the other hand it could just as easily have been a pigeon such are my identification skills!). At one point there was a mysterious groaning noise coming from a patch of undergrowth. I crept in and looked around but couldn’t see what it was – a young mammal perhaps?
1415 Well I didn't see masses of birds but I still saw plenty of dragonflies patrolling the sheltered paths through the Fen including an Emperor I think - at least it was a very big ‘un. If it had been really hot and calm I think the place would’ve been crawling. I think I also saw a marsh harrier (on the other hand it could just as easily have been a pigeon such are my identification skills!). At one point there was a mysterious groaning noise coming from a patch of undergrowth. I crept in and looked around but couldn’t see what it was – a young mammal perhaps?
Wicken Fen is interesting though – one of the oldest nature reserves and quite large - I was strolling for 2 hours and did about a third I suppose. As the last piece of undrained Fenland in East Anglia it is a sort of ‘island of wetness’ in amongst the rest of the drained fenland – ironically they have had to line the leats around the Fen with plastic and invest in a wind pump to bring water up into the Fen to keep it wet, such is the lower level of the surrounding intensively-farmed land.
Looking at the time I need to get back to Ely if I am going to see anything before I have to leave.
1500 Ha! The good thing about wind is that, if it is behind you, you fairly rattle along and I get blown back to Ely in half the time. Consequently I manage to spend forty minutes in the stained glass museum which is up a spiral staircase on a gallery overlooking the nave of Ely cathedral. My verdict? ... reasonable, though only a representative sample and frustratingly you could not take photographs which is a little harsh these days - flash photography I can understand but not the other. They also went into some depth about techniques: I hadn't realised they used gold in medieval time to get a pink glass which is amazing when you consider they had no clue about the chemistry and came up with it by trial and error. Even the different methods of getting a sheet of glass required quite sophisticated techniques. I feel I should appreciate medieval glass more but I find the modern 20th century examples more satisfying and the symbolism easier to understand.
1500 Ha! The good thing about wind is that, if it is behind you, you fairly rattle along and I get blown back to Ely in half the time. Consequently I manage to spend forty minutes in the stained glass museum which is up a spiral staircase on a gallery overlooking the nave of Ely cathedral. My verdict? ... reasonable, though only a representative sample and frustratingly you could not take photographs which is a little harsh these days - flash photography I can understand but not the other. They also went into some depth about techniques: I hadn't realised they used gold in medieval time to get a pink glass which is amazing when you consider they had no clue about the chemistry and came up with it by trial and error. Even the different methods of getting a sheet of glass required quite sophisticated techniques. I feel I should appreciate medieval glass more but I find the modern 20th century examples more satisfying and the symbolism easier to understand.
I didn’t find Ely cathedral itself very welcoming which I think is a pity – I had previously parked my bike round the back and was about to take a short cut through the cathedral when I was pounced on by a uniformed official who demanded money. Polite explanations and requests to simply cross the nave to exit by the other door fell on deaf ears and I ended up walking around the long way.
1738 Homeward bound on a glorious sunny evening. Looking back, I have been lucky with the weather this weekend considering the remnants of a hurricane have blown through the UK.
1738 Homeward bound on a glorious sunny evening. Looking back, I have been lucky with the weather this weekend considering the remnants of a hurricane have blown through the UK.
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