Ely

We are now in Ely and my first impressions after a bit of a walk around is that it's lovely!  I have to say that getting here on the river from Jude's Ferry (the end of the navigation of the River Lark) to here was quite boring because of the high banks.  Ely Cathedral soon shows itself across the fens to approaching visitors.

The waterfront at Ely welcomes visiting boaters - there is plenty of mooring in nice surroundings but I guess there needs to be as this is very definitely on the tourist trail - we have already had Japanese visitors photographing themselves by our boat!

We have had a walk around the town and it is bigger than we thought it would be.  It has lots of individual shops, caters for all sorts and has lots of atmosphere.  Apparently Ely used to be an island.  One of the old ways to earn a living was to catch eels and there were plenty of them in the fens.  This lovely steel statue of an eel is in a park near where we are moored.

Part of the cathedral has a special octagonal tower and this is illuminated at night.

We are permitted to moor for 48 hours.  Altogether a really nice city - the smallest in England.