Second chances and clearer skies: Revisiting Ely and Cambridge with a camera in hand
Published on 12th September 2025 
Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutesLast weekend, I forced a return to England's eastern reaches despite ongoing workload, political upheavals, hotel room assignment errors by distracted staff and personal blundering with technology (a new phone was presenting me with a learning curve). This time, it was the turn of Cambridgeshire, with a base in Cambridge itself following a Friday night arrival.
My real target was Ely, after my previous incursion into these parts left me seeing the place under skies laden with heavy cloud and dampness in the air. That was to occupy me on Saturday, though the state of the skies did not fill me with confidence regarding photographic prospects. Patience was to answer that, with breaks in the cloud cover to allow for pleasing photos to be made of the city's cathedral and its environs.
There also were chances to venture into some adjoining countryside courtesy of following short sections of the Hereward Way and the Fen Rivers Way. While I stuck with train travel, the latter would have taken me all the way back to Cambridge if I so desired; timing likely was restricted for that anyway. The small taste of fenland wandering was enough to sate me in any case, especially when I had photographic satisfaction in other ways.
On returning to Cambridge, I attended to a matter after sorting out hotel room confusion caused by my being booked into one room and given a key card for another. A quiet evening ensued beyond all this before I set to sauntering around Cambridge again the next morning. Next to ten years had passed since my last dalliance with the place, mainly on a Sunday after a Saturday arrival.
This time, I remained more central than I may have done on my previous visit, which may have taking in Midsummer Common before I serendipitously arrived into the grounds of St. John's College, where I spent a deal of my time back then. This time around, they were off limits without paying a £15 entrance fee. Not wanting to devote the time needed to get value from such an investment, I spent my time elsewhere, and the same applied to the Botanic Gardens later on my rambles. After all, there were ample other places for strolling, some of which were beside the River Cam and other watercourses.
Pembroke College became one of these places to tarry awhile, as much as the grounds of Trinity College in the Backs. It was while I was in the grounds of the former that clouds grew more obstructive of sunshine, giving me a hint that my time of departure might be near. Given that other parts of England were having it wetter than where I was, I could not feel shortchanged to any extent. After all, there had been much pleasing photography to savour, even if the whole venture had happened against the run of play in some respects.
Travel Arrangements
On Friday evening, after work, I travelled by train from Macclesfield to Cambridge, making connections at both Stoke-on-Trent and Nuneaton along the way. Next day, I took a return journey to Ely and back. For the homeward journey on Sunday, I caught the train from Cambridge back to Macclesfield, this time changing at Birmingham New Street rather than retracing my original route.
