Day Ten - Ely - 20 May

We spent the majority of the day at Ely Cathedral which is one of the seven Wonders of the Medieval World. We had a leisurely breakfast, Skyped Henk’s parents, phoned my sister, Sandra who is holidaying in Cornwall and then set off for the Sunday service at the Cathedral. It was a cold day and the Cathedral was not heated. The service started with a procession of the twenty-four boy choristers who live within the precinct and is one of the few remaining residential choirs. Their voices rose high through the Cathedral and it was lovely to hear. The service lasted one hour and twenty minutes and the sermon was on “choice”. Henk’s choice was probably not to have gone to the service but it was good to see the Cathedral during a service! At the end of the service my legs were stiff from the cold.

We walked around the Cathedral and then joined a tour of Ely’s Octagon Tower which is described as a wonder of medieval engineering. Our elderly tour guide asked if any of us was scared of heights and Henk bravely put up his hand. We were to discover later there were a few more! The present octagonal tower replaced the earlier central tower which collapsed in 1322.

We initially climbed a narrow stone spiralling staircase to the high first floor and thought that wasn’t so bad. We then climbed on narrower stone stairs to come out on the edge of a lead roof with a half metre walking platform and an open railing alongside. We had to walk along the platform to a low door to go up more narrow steps. It was on the platform that we found the others who didn’t like heights. It was a long way down to the grass below. We climbed inside to the side of the tower and stood behind the large painted angels which can be seen from the altar below.

The guide opened a couple of the large wooden panels and we could see way below to the church floor. From here we climbed very narrow spiralling steps to arrive on the tower’s lead roof.

We stood on the outside of the stained glass windows and the guide told us not to get too close to them as he didn’t want anyone falling through them as they would be too hard to replace! We gingerly walked around the entire sloping roof taking in the views.

There was quite a mist in the distance but nevertheless the views were extensive. It was freezing on top of the roof and I realised I couldn’t feel my feet. It was a relief to climb down the stairs to get out of the cold. Henk and I thoroughly enjoyed the tour and learned quite a deal about the Cathedral. We retreated to the Almonry Tea Room for a late lunch at two o’clock. I had soup to warm me up and thaw out my legs and feet. On the tour one of the people mentioned that they read in a newspaper that this May could be one of the coldest on record. We walked through the pedestrian mall back to our hotel. I read the newspaper and had a long, hot bath and Henk searched online for accommodation for Cambridge. For the first time since we arrived in the UK seven weeks ago we had a Sunday roast. It was good to have some vegetables other than potato and peas which seems to be served with almost everything. Tomorrow we move onto Cambridge for two nights before moving onto London.