Cambridge Capers

Today's destination is the City of Cambridge. We drive from Ely to return the car, dropping our bags at the Novatel on the way. The hotel is right next to Cambridge North Station which will be perfect for our next train journey.

We walk from the car hire place into Cambridge hoping for a day wandering in the grounds in at least a few of the colleges. My particular desire is to visit again the wonderful Wren Library at Trinity College. Jo is hoping to find some hint of Michaelhouse, the old Cambridge College depicted in Susanna Gregory's books about the fictional medieval amateur detective, Matthew Bartholomew, a physician who is a master at the College of Michaelhouse at Cambridge University. Henry VIII founded Trinity College, Cambridge in 1540 and to avoid the expense of purchasing more land and buildings for his new project, he commandeered Michaelhouse and another college called King's Hall. Nothing remains of Michaelhouse today so it's good that it lives on in Susanna Gregory's books.

Trinity College, Cambridge

It seems that we're both destined for disappointment today, me because the Wren Library is closed to visitors and Jo because the only remnant of the days of Michaelhouse to be found are St Michael's Lane (now Trinity Lane) where the scholars would have processed to St Michael's Church, which does still exist as  the Michaelhouse cafe and gift shop on Trinity Street.

St Michael's Lane (now Trinity Lane)

We find Trinity Lane and try to imagine those long-ago scholars making their way to worship at st Michael's. We have a paved surface to walk on but they probably walked in dust in the summer and mud in the winter. We make our way down the lane to St Michael's, now the Michaelhouse Cafe. Where once the scholars would have partaken of Communion bread and wine in this place, the closest we can come is coffee and scones.

St Michael' Church (now Michaelhouse Cafe)

We walk along the Backs, the road that runs behind the colleges, and ask the porter at the gates of Trinity if the Wren Library is open and if we can walk to the grounds. This is when we discover the Library is closed to the public. It's a pity because that was one of the highlights of my visit to Cambridge in 2010. We can however walk up the long drive and cross the River Cam and stroll around the riverbank. Punts full of tourists glide by with competent punters keeping up a running commentary as they pole the punt smoothly along the river.

Punting on the River Cam

We are within earshot of this commentary as a punt comes abreast of St John's New Court on the west bank of the Cam opposite Trinity. We look up to the clock tower of St John's as the punter points out that the clock tower does not, in fact, have a clock. By George! He's right. There is a perfect circle where the clock should be, but no clock. We now have to keep pace with the punt as the punter tells of the mystery of the missing clock face. It seems that there have been many theories proffered since the completion of St John's New Court in 1831, but no one actually knows why the clock faces were never installed. The likely explanation seems to me to be a lack of funds at the time. No expense seems to have been spared on this Gothic Revival extravaganza (dubbed 'The Wedding Cake' by all and sundry) so it's hard to credit that they couldn't stump up the cost of four clock faces and associated workings. At least it gives the punters something to talk about, I guess.

The 'no clock' clock tower of St John's New Court seen across the Cam

The only thing that is 'open' in Cambridge is King's College Chapel. The entry to King's is covered in scaffolding which is always disappointing. You find yourself saying 'why couldn't they do this next year, or some other year when I'm not here!'

King's College, Cambridge

We pay up, enter the quadrangle and make our way to the chapel. 'Chapel' is somewhat of a misnomer as this place is more a cathedral than a chapel. Its construction was begun in 1446 under the patronage of King Henry VI. Work progress through the reign of several kings until finally completed by Henry VIII in 1515, although the spectacular stained glass windows would not be completed for another sixteen years.

King's College Chapel, Cambridge

The chapel is the toast of Cambridge, its fan vaulting the largest in the world and its architecture an outstanding example of late Perpendicular Gothic English design.

King's College Chapel, Cambridge

King's College Chapel, Cambridge

The elaborate timber rood screen which houses the organ and divides the anti-chapel from the choir was constructed between 1532 and 1536 to celebrate the marriage of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. I wonder if she got to see it before her untimely departure from this world in 1536.

Rood Screen, King's College Chapel

Detail of Rood Screen with Henry & Anne's initials

Leaving the chapel we wander through the King's College wildflower meadow down to the Cam. Everywhere we go we find these rough patches of what looks like unkempt garden beds, but are in fact places set aside for bees and other insects. Some of these spaces look better than others, having an abundance of flowers and not a lot of 'weeds'. Some have the reverse which is not so easy on the eye of a gardener.

Wildflower Meadow behind King's College Chapel

Time has slipped away and our day in Cambridge has flown by, we set off to walk back to the station which is, inconveniently, a mile away from the city centre. This came about when the city fathers at the time of the railway's arrival decided that some distance between the colleges and the station would discourage students from taking the train to the flesh-pots of London for a night of making whoopee! No wonder bikes are so popular in Cambridge.

Photos (mostly) courtesy of Jo Mitchell.

 

Safe in Ely

We're pleasantly surprised to find our car in situ and undamaged this morning as we beat a hasty retreat from the low-life region of Peterborough. As a point of interest, Jo has discovered that Henry VIII's first wife, Katherine of Aragon, is buried in the Peterborough Cathedral, so the place must have some redeeming features.

The plan for today was to spend some time in the Norfolk Broads, those fascinating waterways that weave through the Norfolk countryside, but as our base for this evening has moved further south to Ely, travelling to the Broads is off the agenda and a day in Ely itself is now on the agenda. 

We find a park in Ely without having to pay, which is a good start to the day. Jo wants to visit the Ely Cathedral, known as the 'Ship of the Fens' because it can be seen for miles around in this flat fenland. We walk around the cathedral gardens which have an interesting Physick (the archaic spelling used) Garden with a border of English Lavender. The bed is sectioned and each section has a description of what medicinal use the plants served (some of them weird and wonderful!). Bumble bees are fossicking in the Lavender, droning around like Lancaster bombers.

Physick Garden at Ely Cathedral

The Norman cathedral is listed as one of the 'Seven Wonders of the Middle Ages' and its construction took around 300 years to complete. It is built of Barnack limestone, the cathedral web site tells me that the monks of Ely paid 8000 eels per year for the stone! Was that 8000 per year for 300 years? That would add up to 2,400,000 eels! I know eels were plentiful in the waters around Ely but still, that's a lot of eels.

Ely Cathedral (scaffolding on front tower so just a side view here).

Ely Cathedral is huge, the nave is reputed to be as long as Ely High Street and has a wonderful painted ceiling and a spectacular lantern above the crossing. 

The nave, Ely Cathedral

Painted ceiling in the nave of Ely Cathedral

The lantern above the crossing in Ely Cathedral

My favourite area of the cathedral is the Lady Chapel, built between 1322 and 1349, it has the most exquisite plasterwork with seating niches around the walls and leaded windows that pour light into the space below. The acoustics are excellent and we are treated to a solo performance from a young woman who is part of the very large choir currently rehearsing for a performance to be held in the cathedral tonight, themselves adding enormously to the enjoyment of our visit.

The Lady Chapel at Ely Cathedral

The Lady Chapel at Ely Cathedral

A visiting American choir rehearsing at Ely Cathedral

We wander towards the River Great Ouse where narrowboats line the bank. Along the path we spy a sign for a river cruise on the Liberty Belle, a narrowboat that would hold about 15 to 20 people. The booking office is another little boat with a window open to the path and a lady with a charming local accent leaning out, all very low-key and just the way I like it. We pay our £16 and Captain Bob welcomes us aboard. There is one couple sitting in the bow seats and Jo and I in the cabin, which has no glass in the windows allowing you to get glare-free photos. Captain Bob, who is quite a character and also has a lovely accent, seems to think four passengers are enough for a trip, fine by me, so he disappears into the wheelhouse and turns on a recorded commentary which is entertaining and informative. I'm sure Captain Bob would have many stories of his own to relate if he didn't have to steer the boat!

There's something delightfully calming about being on the water as we drift past cows resting by the river, Canada Geese bobbing on the water, tall reeds at the river-edge and patches of waterlily. Two graceful white swans appear, people along the bank are picnicking under willow trees and beautifully restored narrowboats are moored along the far bank.

Cows on the riverbank at Ely

Canada Geese and a restored narrowboat on the River Great Ouse

White Swans on the River Great Ouse

Picnickers on the riverbank at Ely

As we come around to return to base we get a glimpse of the cathedral between the trees. 

Ely Cathedral from the River Great Ouse

Our peaceful cruise comes to an end and as we rise to leave the boat, the lady and her husband ask Jo if she'll take their photo with Captain Bob as they are out on their 50^th wedding treat. How nice.

We make our way to Little Downham for the night which turns out to be the polar opposite of the Peterborough experience. 

Constable Country and the Fens

It's an early start for us this morning because we need to take the train from Oxford to London then from London to Cambridge where another hire car awaits, but just for two days to allow us to explore a bit of Suffolk and Norfolk before taking a north-bound train again. 

We leave our 'interesting' accommodation at six o'clock in the morning to walk to the station for the 6:35 train to London. 

Our train delivers us to Paddington Station and we take the underground to King's Cross for the train to Cambridge. Our Eurail Passes are proving to be excellent, easy to use and great value. If you happen to miss a train you've chosen you can just delete it and choose another one. You can hop on and off as many trains as you like each day.

At Cambridge we take a taxi to the hire car place, not a great distance but it costs £25! Ouch, that's about AU$50.

We set off to visit Flatford in Suffolk where John Constable painted some of his most memorable pictures. 

Constable was born in East Bergholt in 1776. He was the son a wealthy corn merchant who owned the mill in Flatford, which is on the river between the villages of East Bergholt and Dedham. The young John walked the three miles each day from his home in East Bergholt to school in Dedham, passing on his way all the beautiful countryside of the Dedham Vale. These were the landscapes he grew to love and started to sketch at a young age. 

Bridge Cottage, Flatford

The village is administered by the National Trust and there is a visitor centre in Bridge Cottage, an old thatched cottage beside the river. We read the stories told by previous occupants of the cottage, the Clarke Family who rented it in the late 1800s. Mrs Clarke relates: “Everything goes through here [on the river] you know; bricks for the grand buildings in London, coal that powers the steam mill and flour from our mills on its way to Mistley to be loaded onto boats. Who knows how far that goes? In the evenings Isaac and I sometimes go out on the river with the eels traps. We know some good places and I enjoy the quiet for a while.” 

Bridge Cottage, Flatford. As it would have been in 1890

The Clarkes had three children and Mr Clarke worked at the flour mill owned by Constable's father one hundred years previously.

The Mill at Flatford

In the tiny village we see Willy Lott's Cottage, the subject of The Hay Wain, one of Constable's most recognisable works. We eat our lunch looking across the river to the mill and wander past the dry dock, both of which became Constable's subjects.

Willy Lott's Cottage, featured in Constable's painting The Hay Wain

The village is still much as it was 250 years ago in Constable's time, visitors' cars are out of sight in a car park and the village itself is not on a public road. A peaceful place to visit.

A quiet street in Flatford

Our next stop for the day is Wicken Fen, another area in the care of the National Trust. Wicken Fen is one of only four remaining wild fens in this area of East Anglia known as the Great Fen Basin. A modest two acres was acquired by the National Trust in 1899, the first nature reserve to come under their protection. They purchased adjoining land as it became available and the reserve now covers an area of around 800 acres with further additions planned for the future. Although Wicken Fen is deemed a wild fen, it is not in its natural state. The aim is to maintain it as a working fen, much as it would have been in medieval times. It is a haven for wildlife, insects and plant species, all of which have adapted over hundreds of years to the management practices of fen farming. At Wicken, sedge is harvested and sold for thatching; Konik Ponies—that originated in Poland—and Highland cattle graze marshland to control scrubby plants.

We pay up and walk around the boardwalk of Sedge Fen, the display fen where there are hides for viewing the birdlife and an old refurbished timber windmill used for pumping water onto the water-loving sedge fields.

Sedge at Wicken Fen

Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire

We have time to walk further into the outer areas of the fen and we're enjoying this wild place so much that we don't notice a large black cloud approaching until it is dumping buckets of water on us as we sprint back to the car. How much will they charge us for water stains on the car seats, I wonder?

We're still damp when we arrive in Peterborough at our accommodation for the night. We thought the place in Oxford was a little dodgy, it had nothing on this place! It seems I've neglected to read the town safety rating on Google which Jo informs me, after a search on her phone, is one of the least safe places to be in the whole of the UK! Drat, I've booked this place for three nights! The apartment itself is perfectly fine, a little kitchen, nice bathroom, all freshly refurbished, but walking out the door and down the cigarette-butt ridden stairwell and onto the street where suspect-looking characters are loitering is something else! We find a nearby Tesco, get some food and return unmolested. “We are not staying here for three nights,” says Jo. Right, that's a few hundred dollars down the drain, but better safe than sorry. We are just hoping our car is still there and undamaged in the morning. I get on line and make bookings in Ely and in Cambridge for the following two nights.  

Road Trip: Cornwall to the Cotswolds Part 5

Our road trip has come to an end. Today we head to Oxford to drop the car at the Europcar depot. It is a Sunday so the office is not manned which means we just drop the car and run, which never seems quite right to me, but that's what we need to do. The depot in Oxford is quite a distance out of town so we need a taxi to take us to our accommodation to drop off our bags. 

Is it just me or is it actually a huge pain in the neck that you can't just ring for a taxi any more? No, that would be too easy, instead I need to download an app, put in details about my great aunt Mabel and sign up for a two-week yoga course. Well, not quite, but you know what I mean. I Google cabs in Oxford and not one of them has a phone number, so I download the app, put in all the required information (I JUST WANT A RIDE INTO TOWN, for heaven's sake), and not long after a cab turns up. 

He drops us at a pretty dodgy looking address in George Street, Oxford. As we get out and pay him, an American lady with a large suit case comes over and asks the driver if he's available. 'No', he says, 'you need to book on line.' 'But I just want to go around the corner,' she pleads. 'Sorry,' he says. Now, I ask you, is that madness or what?

We turn our attention to getting into our hotel to drop our bags. It turns out that this isn't really a hotel as such, no 24-hour desk etc. There is the dreaded key pad which is only useful if you know the code. I hammer on the door for a bit and eventually it is opened by one of the departing guests. Well, whatever. In we go and climb some dingy stairs to a dingy office where a dispirited looking man with not much English says we can leave our bags.

With some relief we depart for a day in Oxford's more salubrious quarters.

We buy tickets for the Hop-on Hop-off bus which are discounted today because the route has been shortened due to road closures for a half marathon. It is going to all the stops we want so all's well. We leave the bus at the High Street stop and wander off to see those iconic Oxford addresses. We come around a corner and there's the Radcliffe Camera, so familiar from episodes of Morse and Lewis.

Radcliffe Camera

The Radcliffe Camera (camera being a Latin word meaning chamber or room, this a reading room) is virtually in the centre of Oxford standing in its own square, a circular building in the neo-classical style with a wonderful domed roof. It was built between 1737 and 1749 and financed by the estate of a wealthy doctor who wanted a library built after his death. It was designed to house the Radcliffe Science Library and is now part of the Bodleian Library. 

We wander around the quadrangle of the Old Bodleian Library, built in the early 1600s. The tower in the quadrangle, known as the Tower of the Five Orders, takes its name from the decorations on its columns which feature the five orders of classical architecture: Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian and Composite (combining elements of both Ionic and Corinthian).

The Tower of the Five Orders, Old Bodleian Library Quadrangle

A few steps around the corner is the Bridge of Sighs, another favourite location for Morse and his sidekick, Lewis. The bridge crosses New College Lane and links areas of Hertford College for the benefit of students and staff.

Bridge of Sighs, Oxford

We have tickets, booked on line, to visit Christ Church, the grandest of the Oxford colleges. No longer can you just front up and pay on the way in if you hope to actually get in. When we arrive there's a sign saying 'All Booked' so it's a good thing we booked on line last night.

As we wait for our admission time, we walk past Christ Church's beautiful garden displays and beside Christ Church meadow to the River Cherwell where punts are making their way up and down river.

Gardens at Christ Church, Oxford

Punting on the Cherwell

Being in Christ Church is special for me because it is where I spent a wonderful week in 2014 doing a summer school, living in at the college and having three meals a day in the dining hall made famous in the Harry Potter films. Portraits of college deans adorn the timber-panelled walls of the dining hall and a painting of King Henry VIII has pride place over the High Table. The afternoon light shines through stained glass windows, one of which features characters from Alice in Wonderland, written by Christ Church tutor Charles Dodgson alias Lewis Carroll, whose portrait is close to the entrance. 

The Dining Hall at Christ Church, Oxford

Portrait of 'Lewis Carroll' at Christ Church, Oxford

The 'Alice' Window, Christ Church Dining Hall

Tom Quad—named for Great Tom, the the seven-ton bell in the gatehouse tower, is the largest quadrangle in an Oxford college. Paths lead to the central fountain with its classic centrepiece of Mercury, the winged Roman god. The fountain featured in the university scenes of the 1981 TV series adapted from Evelyn Waugh's novel Brideshead Revisited. 

Mercury Fountain in Tom Quad, Christ Church

Tom Tower, Christ Church

The Christ Church Cathedral is small by cathedral standards, but nonetheless magnificent with its Norman pillars, ancient stained glass and fan-vaulted ceiling. There are also some famous people remembered on floor plaques, brothers John and Charles Wesley, leaders of the Methodist Revival of the 18th century were students at Christ Church and ordained in the cathedral. 

Christ Church Cathedral

Saint Cecilia, Christ Church Cathedral

Fan-vaulted Ceiling of Christ Church Cathedral

Remembering Charles & John Wesley, Christ Church Cathedral

Our day in Oxford is over and we return with some misgivings to our accommodation and are pleasantly surprised by our room which is spacious, clean and comfortable with a perfectly adequate en suite bathroom.

Eurobar, George Street, Oxford. Better than Expected!

 

Road Trip: Cornwall to the Cotswolds Part 4

Here we are in the beautiful Cotswolds. We have the luxury of a whole cottage with a kitchen and a washing machine! Pity it's only for two nights.

The luxury of a kitchen at Evesham

Today's plan is to set out early and tour the iconic Cotswold villages that I so enjoyed seeing on my travels in 2010. It really is the stuff of storybooks (and TV murder mysteries).

We decide to go to the furtherest village on our list first so when we do the last village we will be closest to home. It takes us about an hour to reach Bourton-on-the-Water. We park in a side street and walk around the corner in the direction of the River Windrush which flows quietly and picturesquely through the village in a shallow channel. As we near the river we see there is a charity duck race getting underway. We cross the river on one of the charming little Cotswold stone pedestrian bridges and take up a position at the finish line where a net is stretched across the river.

Pedestrian Bridge in Bourton-on-the-Water

The ducks (bathtub size) are emptied into the river from one of the pedestrian bridges and there's great excitement and barracking as the ducks jostle for position, get into a little current, get washed aside and finally reach the finishing line. Who could guess: duck number one was the winner!

The duck are sent on their way

And the winner is… Number One!

We re-cross the river and have coffee and toasted tea cakes at a busy little cafe.

Continuing along the street we find the Old New Inn (yes, I know, weird) in whose back garden is the delightful model village I saw in 2010. It is, in fact, a model of this village, Burton-on-the-Water, each house, church and shop faithfully replicated in 1:9 scale. There are lace curtains in the windows, a choir singing in the church as you pass and the River Windrush gently flowing. Tiny flowers are blooming in gardens and there are bonsai-ed trees and clipped shrubs. In the back garden of the miniature Old New Inn is… you guessed it, a model village.

The Model Village, 1:9 scale

The Model Village at Bourton-on-the-Water

Jo contemplating a church in the Model Village

This popular tourist attraction was created during the 1930s by the publican of the Old New Inn, and local craftsmen, in the back garden of the pub.

Back to the car to continue the tour. Next stop, The Slaughters, first Lower then Upper. The word meaning 'a muddy place', apparently, not a slaughter house.

The Slaughters are quintessential Cotswolds, impossibly pretty Cotswold stone houses with picture perfect gardens, the River Eye meandering by. They are so pretty that everyone wants to come and visit them. As they do today and, as a result, there is not a parking spot to be had in Lower Slaughter.

Not far away is Upper Slaughter where we have more luck with a parking spot. We wander around the village and into the little 12^th century church of St Peter where we sign the visitors book and leave a donation. 

St Peter's 12th century Church at Upper Slaughter

The village of Upper Slaughter has remained unchanged for more than a century. The last building work in the village was completed in 1906 when the houses around the square, designed by the famous architect, Sir Edward Lutyens, were built. The village really is a little time-capsule.

The River Eye at Upper Slaughter

The unchanged village of Upper Slaughter

Moving on we head for Stow-on-the-Wold, the highest town in the Cotswolds where seven major roads, including the Roman Fosse Way, converge. It has its origins in the Iron Age, or perhaps earlier, but it developed as a market town during the 12^th century and eventually became the venue for biennial fairs still held to this day. The intriguing alleyways that lead to the Market Square were designed for the purpose of herding sheep into the square for sale at the market. They acted rather like a race where the animals could be counted as they came through the narrow lanes. I have referred to my book Around the UK in 80 Days for this information because, today, there is not a parking space to be found in Stow-on-the-Wold.

Stow-on-the-Wold

 The last place on the list is Morton-in-Marsh. Agatha Raisin fans will know this market town as the place where Agatha collects her friend, Roy, from the station when he comes from London to stay with Agatha and helps with her murder investigations.

We park away from the busy High Street and walk the short distance to admire the beautiful streetscape of honey-gold Cotswold stone. It is a wide street with side access roads. It is also a major road so a great deal of traffic passes through, including large trucks and tractors.

High Street, Morton-in-Marsh

Cotswold Stone buildings in Morton-in-Marsh

We walk along the street until we come to the Bell Inn which the J R R Tolkien Society claims to be the inspiration for Tolkien’s Prancing Pony inn featured in his books, The Lord of the Rings. Moreton-in-Marsh they believe to be his fictitious ‘Village of Bree’. Tolkien was a professor at Oxford University from 1925 to 1959 so the nearby towns and villages, of which this is one, would undoubtably have been a great source of inspiration for him.

The Bell Inn, Morton-in-Marsh

Our day in the Cotswolds is done, we've seen some of the prettiest villages in the country and survived some of the most hair-raising lanes you could ever hope not to drive on.

One of the Cotswolds' narrow lanes