Ely Cathedral

 Wednesday 26 October 2022

Ely Cathedral  

This was a solo trip as my colleagues for a number of reasons decided not to accompany me. It seemed everyone was up for it when Derek suggested it a few weeks ago but sadly overtime they all dropped away. 

However, not being a lightweight I decided to push on and I’m glad I did. 

Catching the 09:45 train to Peterborough which left seventeen minutes late but reduces the wait at Peterborough to around twenty  minutes for the train to Ely. 

Departing Ely @ 11:52 we sped through the Fens towards Norwich, arriving in Ely at around 12:20 and catching a glimpse of the munificus cathedral as I approached Ely I knew exactly where to go as I exited the railway station and it was a fifteen minute walk. 

The cathedral has its origins in AD 672 when St Etheldreda built an Abbey Church. The present building dates back to 1083, and it was granted cathedral status in 1109.

I entered the Cathedral from the front and paid £8.50 for the privilege. There were many exhibits but most were accompanied by Latin inscriptions. The inside was extremely beautiful and it’s magnificent architecture was a sight to behold. The weather outside was cloudy but fine and with a temperature of around 17° brought down by a south south west breeze it felt around 15°. I spent about an hour inside including the shop. 

It was now time for some lunch and Pizza Express loomed large as I chose a Margarita and a classic Coca Cola, fantastic. 

I’d had suffered irreparable damage to my coat so I entered Mountain Warehouse for a replacement at £89.99 I was almost £100 down on the trip but I couldn’t have got home with all the pockets gaping and constantly putting my wallet in my inside pocket that just as quickly dashed it to the floor with constant shouts of “ You’ve dropped your wallet” ringing in my ears. With new coat on and everything transferred to my new coat and the old one deposited in the shop waste bin I was as good as new. 

I returned to the railway station to catch the 15:59 back to Peterborough arriving in Peterborough at 16:30 so a couple of hours to wait for the 18:38 back to Leeds. At this point I decided on the 16:52 back to Leeds purchasing a single ticket for £17:00 rather than waiting over 2 hours which meant I would be travelling back in the light, another bonus!

It passed in no time on platform 4 as the passing expresses took the middle road non-stop as the Deltic’s did in the early 1960’s. 

Arriving back in Leeds just before 18:20 to catch the bus back to Beeston arriving home at around 18:50.

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Colin Hendrick Ward