Covering The Waterfront

We'll start off today just south of the city of Ely. The country scene in the first photo is just a hundred yards or so (or metres if you like) south of the railway bridge and after that you're in a busy, built up area of pubs, restaurants and everything to do with leisure boating and holidays afloat.

We're going to stroll right through the riverside area of the old city and out the other side. It's only about half a mile, Britain's Olympic gold medalist, Keely Hodgkinson, can cover the distance in one minute 56.72 seconds. We'll take a bit longer than that. 

We'll pass boatyards and marinas, all looking very peaceful and relaxed. It wasn't always like this; Ely, although a tiny settlement and a long way from the sea, was once a thriving  port with ships making their way though the fens along the Great Ouse river.

The white building on the left of the view above is the Cutter Inn, which gets its name, not from a type of boat as I used to think, but from "the cut", a man-made channel which brought the river right next to the higher ground that Ely was built on to make a more convenient dockyard.

We pass The Boatyard, which specialises in rebuilding and refitting canal boats and making them suitable for modern leisure cruising.

The City of Ely takes great pride in their colourful floral displays which brighten every corner. It's also one of the few places I know where almost all the car parks offer free unlimited parking.

The Maltings now operates as an entertainment, conference and wedding venue for the city, and there's also a restaurant attached to it. But as the name suggests it was once a factory producing malt, from wheat brought in through the docks, for the local brewing industry. The weather-vane is in the shape of a malt-shovel.

Nearby other buildings which were clearly once warehouses have been put to new uses. That strange, sticky-outy wooden structure would have housed the pulley system which winched goods into the upper part of the building.

Overlooking this former hive of activity are the grand houses of the entrepreneurs of the day who liked to keep a close eye on their investments and profits.

Today the main business making a profit during the summer months is the ice-cream van. In his working days Les often used to deliver to businesses around here and got to know the ice-cream man - not saying that my brother is fond of ice-cream or anything like that!

The art gallery was just one of Les's customers.

I expect the giraffe is something to do with the gallery.

Right opposite is one of the entrances to the modern marina. It's called Cathedral Marina and I suspect it has views of the great building which are similar to those from the train, which runs just behind the picture above (you can just see the railway's overhead wires). Annoyingly you only get occasional glimpses of the cathedral from our riverside path.

Which is not to say that there's no beauty to be had from where we are!

Our footsteps lead us through the little park on the left bank of the river which has many benches for anyone who's tiring towards the end of our half-mile stroll.

Even in a place like Ely there's some of the "picturesque unsightliness" which always seems to go hand in hand with any enterprise involving boats.

And then, having passed under another railway bridge, we're out in open country once more. Which of course brings up the question of how such a small settlement comes to be called "a city" at all. Having a cathedral has certainly helped in the case of Ely, but there's no rule that says that every town with a cathedral is a city - or that every city has a cathedral. Having a university doesn't necessarily elevate you to city status either. Nor does having a certain size or population. The only rule, as far as I can see, is that a place becomes a city if the king, or queen, says so.

Which only leaves one outstanding piece of business to be conducted before we leave. Les discovered that his friend, the ice-cream man, has retired and his daughter is now in charge - but the ice-cream is excellent as ever. So we'll go and sit by the river for a while, watching the swans glide and the swallows skim over the water, before heading for home.

Take care.