England/Scotland 2024 Pilgrimage – Day 13: St. Julian, Ely, & Cambridge

Friday, September 13, 2024

Today, we left York and visited several places honoring women who had an impact on early Christianity in the UK. On our way out of town, we saw two hot air balloons. Come to find out, they give balloon aerial tours.

Breakfast Bap

We left York early to begin a long day of driving. Along the way, we stopped at a Greggs for gas and a Bap – a breakfast sandwich on a really soft roll. It is a UK experience Gregg hoped to have. It was good! Mine was like an Egg McMuffin, just on a soft roll, the size of a hamburger bun but different flavor and bread consistency. (One article claims it is the addition of lard that makes it so soft. TMI?)

Gregg did a quick car wash at Greggs, too. Between days of salt spray and birds using our car for target practice with perma-poo, it was difficult to see out the windows. Ahhh, that feels better!

Julian of Norwich

First stop (after 5 hours of driving) was Norwich to see St. Julian Church. St. Julian of Norwich was an anchoress, committing her life to Jesus as a hermit in a side room of a church, after she was healed from the Black Death while being given Last Rights.

The room had a window to the outside through which she could counsel and minister to others. There was also a small window into the church through which she could see the alter and receive Eucharist.

She became a theologian, writing about the motherly attributes of God and His deep love for each person. She is well known for her quote, All will be well, and all will be well and all manner of things shall be well. When wrestling with God about why we struggle on this earth, and why couldn’t we live in a world without evil, God comforted her with at message.

Of what we have records of, Julian is the earliest known woman author to write in English.

There is also a guesthouse nearby. Sadly, the gift shop is closed on Fridays. And we didn’t have time to find and visit the Cathedral, which has stained glass windows honoring Julian.

This tiny Chapel visit was Impactful to me. As I stood and prayed, I released some things to God, trusting that “all will be well, and all manner of things will be well.”

Unique Delivery Service

Ely Cathedral

Our next drive was shorter, about an hour. Ely (pronounced Ee-lee) used to be an island but is part of the mainland now (something to do with making the area into fertile farmlands, the specifics have escaped me.)

Ethyldreda (pronounced Ethyl-dreeda) is honored at Ely Cathedral because this is the place where she founded a monastary. The cathedral website says:

Etheldreda (Æthelthryth, Ediltrudis, Audrey) (d.679), queen, foundress and abbess of Ely.

Early Life

Etheldreda (other versions of her name include Aethythryth and Audrey) was born around 636, one of the daughters of King Anna of East Anglia. She and her family were devout Christians, living in uncertain times when wars between Christian and pagan kingdoms in England was commonplace.

…

According to the Venerable Bede, who wrote about Etheldreda’s life, she remained a virgin throughout both marriages. At that time, chastity was a sign of true devotion to the Christian faith. Eventually Etheldreda achieved her wish to be released from her marriage vows and become a nun. In 673 she returned to Ely, where she owned land, and founded a double monastery for monks and nuns.

As Abbess of Ely, she was known for her piety, wisdom and learning.

We arrived at the Cathedral around 4:00 and it closed at 5:00. Plus, we still had to drive to Cambridge. We went inside just to look from the rear. Was it worth £28 for a quick visit?

We went outside to leave, calculated that Cambridge was only half an hour away, and decided to go back in.

Ely Cathedral has something like the 3rd longest nave in Britain. Standing at one end, it is a LONG way to the opposite end. Amazing! I’m glad we saw it.

Cambridge

The drive to Cambridge was a bit longer than expected, due to heavy traffic.

[Squirrel! I’m typing this on Saturday morning in the car since our hotel’s internet was down and cell reception was next to non-existent. The UK uses many more round-abouts than traffic lights. Gregg’s gotten to be a pro at them.

BUT… we just went through a new-fangled one that goes two ways! The inside circle went one direction, the outside went the opposite direction. I absolutely have no idea how that worked.

Once again, I’m thankful to not be driving. And I’m thankful we got to “take the first exit onto the slip-road” so we were out of the traffic circle quickly.]

Our hotel in Cambridge was a set of old buildings. It reminded us a bit of the Folkstowne “Faulty Towers” hotel we stay at years ago with Cathy and Erica. There are lots of fire doors to navigate in inconvenient places, especially when carrying luggage. You go up a few steps, turn the corner and go up more steps, usually with fire doors to open on the landings. Safely first!

Speaking of fire, the fire alarm went off before we shut the lights out. The shrill sound was so piercing, all I could do was sit there with my hands holding my ears. Thankfully, it stopped after about a minute.

We heard the front desk man come up. It sounded like he decided someone had taken too hot a shower and the steam set it off. 🤷‍♀️

I told Gregg, I don’t know what I would have done if we had needed to evacuate. It would have been difficult to convince my body that protecting myself from going deaf was less important than using a hand to open all those fire doors to escape.

So Many Churches!

It appears that each “college” underneath the Cambridge University umbrella has its own Chapel. Therefore, it seemed there was a church on almost every block.

After settling into our hotel room, we went for a walk-about. Across the street was a foot bridge allowing us to cross over a canal and a locks. There were narrow boats (like long, skinny house boats) in both sides of the locks.

Years ago, we planned to rent a narrow boat for a week on a vacation with Cathy and Erica. It never came to fruition. But Gregg and I enjoyed traveling on one vicariously by watching Cruising the Cut on Prime.

The bridge dropped us into “Jesus Green,” a large grassy green space. Following the path through the park, we came out in downtown and looked for a pub to eat while also taking in the university schools and churches. Wow!

We continued exploring until we came upon The Eagle. It is an old pub with lots of history. One favorite story is something about scientists discussing DNA there.

We shared the BEST fish and chips!

A particular ice cream store around the corner from The Eagle caught Gregg’s eye. We’re probably broken a record for how long we’ve gone without ice cream, so we needed to break our dry-streak. Spoonstruck serves delicious artisan ice cream, made by the 70 year old owner.

The two students working there encouraged us to sample as much as we wanted. In the end, I had a scoop of (brace yourself) ginger lemongrass which was refreshing, and goat cheese and honey which was also delicious. Gregg chose peppermint chocolate bark, also an excellent choice.

I’m pretty sure that, even with the time difference, I’ve missed posting this in time for the daily morning email. As a heads up, I’m not sure what the next two nights will look like, either, as far as posting.

For my Cocoa High School (Florida) friends, we are about half an hour away from seeing and staying two nights with Jennie Solomon! Talking may trump writing. 😉

We head to London on Monday for 4 nights, so I’ll catch up if I get behind.

I’ll be back!