Aug 2012 a

Sat 04 Aug 2012

Today is our 11th wedding anniversary, and 19 years since we started dating. 

We drove up to the Holy Island and wandered through the oldest church on the island, St Marys church; the ruins of Lindisfarne Abbey and briefly through Lindisfarne Castle. We saw the famous Viking Raider's Stone in the Abbey exhibition - it's so nice to see the carving on the back as well as the front!

Above (R): St Mary's Church; (L) a carpet modelled from a carpet page in the Lindisfarne Gospels.

About an hour after taking in the above view of the castle from the Abbey's cemetery, heavy mists rolled over the island. There was no possibility of admiring sea views from Lindisfarne Castle. Perhaps the vikings raided while mists such as these shrouded their dragon-topped ships... and you can easily understand the old tales of dragon's breath being related to this place. 

Above: heavy fog on an otherwise bright sunny day.
Photo taken from the foot of Lindisfarne Castle looking out toward the sea.

Above: lovely dining room in Lindisfarne Castle

Sun 05 Aug 2012

Steve and Alex spent a few hours fighter training together, while Alex's two little girls (aged 3 and 5) watched cartoons. Jen kept herself busy with some reading, and in the afternoon we all walked to the local park for the girls to have a play. 

Mon 06 Aug 2012

So today we headed south towards Cambridge. On the way we stopped to look through Gainsborough Old Hall, as we'd heard the medieval kitchen is excellent - and we were not disappointed. 

 

The kitchen's about 3 stories tall but open without floors above. The size of the room was enormous, with huge fireplaces on opposing sides, two bread-baking ovens on one side, and a wide serving portal in the fourth wall. Oh yes, and the great hall was splendid too (seen above and below)! 

Above and below: the medieval kitchen at Gainsborough Old Hall

We arrived at Deb and Clancy's place in Mildenhall
(near Cambridge) in time for dinner and drinks.

Tue 07 Aug 2012

Today we spent the whole day at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge - very tired feet. The museum itself is an impressively decorated Victorian building (left).

The variety and quality of artwork and artifacts on show were excellent! Highly recommended.

Wed 08 Aug 2012

We both clambered down into a Neolithic flint mine today at Grimes Graves. There are over 400 pits (filled in vertical shafts) at the site. At least two have been excavated and one is open for the public to crawl about in. Below you can see one horizontal layer with glossy black flint.

Thu 09 Aug 2012

We visited Ely Cathedral today, an ancient pilgrimage site, which contains the tomb of St Audry. Those zany Victorians were let loose on the ceiling, but hey they did a brilliant job of it. The adjoining Lady Chapel is quite lovely too, and is the largest chapel (adjoining a church or cathedral) in Britain. 

Ely was once an island, with many eels in the waters surrounding it, up until of course the fenlands were drained so the land could be used for crops.

Above: our view during lunch - Ely Cathedral

Above(L-R): The Lady Chapel; and the famous 14th Century Octagon Tower, the main structure of which are the eight vertical timbers, made from eight enormous oak trees! The local bridges needed to be strengthened (in Medieval times) to get these timbers onsite.

Above: the front door....

Above: the ceiling was painted in the Victorian era, but is an excellent effort; really lovely.
Below: also decorated by the Victorians.
This structure is the original Octagon (also known as the Lantern,
as it was a beacon across the fens), an enormous vaulted timber structure
and roof for the heart of the Cathedral. 

Above: the 12th C Prior's Door

Above & below: Inside the Lady Chapel.

Fri 10 Aug 2012

This morning we arrived safe and sound back home. A couple of loads of laundry done, food shopping done, Jen applied for a few more jobs. Steve finally spent a little bit of time watching some Olympic sport for the first time this holiday!

Sat 11 Aug 2012

Jen spends much of today selecting top photos and writing up two very FULL weeks worth of blog....