On Friday mornings I often drive along this road and this is the view I look forward to seeing. My route has followed the turning twisting lanes of Suffolk and into the south-western edge of Cambridgeshire, but after cresting a rise (I would say hill but non-fen dwellers may question my use of the word!) the view suddenly opens up and swoops downhill over the Cambridgeshire fens to the horizon. Today the low winter sun made my favourite view extra special, so I stopped the car and took this photo.
I like to imagine what the view may have been like centuries ago - I would have been looking across to the fen edge and the undrained waterlands beyond. Maybe, if sea levels rise, next century this will be a coastal view again?
What a view! Funny that you think of what it might have been like. Great that it still looks pastoral. I often look out at the ocean and think I would like to see the tall ships (masts and all) of the past sailing by.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I just started your recommended book, Notes From A Small Island, by Bill Bryson. I am laughing again. It's also very interesting. Funny thing when I brought it home. My sister looked at the cover (it looks like it has a tea bag on it, if you remember) and took a double take. She thought that it was one of my tea bags that I left on it!
What a wonderful thought! I just love the English countryside, there is nothing like it. I often think of how little the landscape must have changed out of the big city. I travelled the Roman road just north of Lincoln a few weeks ago (is it the A15?) They knew how to build straight roads, didn't they!
ReplyDeleteI always say I would like to go back in time, just for one day. Driving along your lovely route in Cambridgeshire, you could very well be in West Sussex, the scenery is so similar, I love the English countryside, I would like to move to a little house in it, one of these days? x
ReplyDeleteGreat view and I like the shadow of you taking the photo.
ReplyDeleteTake care,
Alison x
Hi Meg - So pleased you're enjoying 'Notes from a Small Island'.
ReplyDeleteHi Matron - there are so many ancient routes criss-crossing the countryside, think of all theose travellers over the years!
Hi Louise - the English countryside is so linked to history.
Hi Alison - my first instinct was to crop the photo - but I like the impression it gives of me looking at the view.
Years ago I used to have a workshop in Ely and used to drive across the fens most days.
ReplyDeleteThe flat landscape and the cathedral gradually growing from a spec to the size of a toy always made me think of the pilgrims walking to Ely.
There were wonderful water fowl (pecking for grit) beside the road. The massive sky puts everything in perspective.
what a magnificent view. I love your thought wondering what it may have looked like centuries ago. Makes me consider some of my own views and what they may have once looked like. Being a writer, that certainly conjures up all kinds of possibilities. (PS: it looks like I just may be heading back to Sooke Harbour House in the New Year) Goodness, that coastline would have looked very different centuries ago.
ReplyDeleteDiane, Sand to Glass