As I looked out of the window last night before going to bed, there was a vast flotilla of Canada geese not doing anything in a highly suspicious manner.

Yes, the picture was taken through the window of the boat because there was no way I was going out there. I know all about ambush predators.

This morning we spent a while at a huge antique warehouse, then on to the cathedral.

I’ve never been in a building with such a sense of verticality. I had to turn my camera sideways more here than I think I have done so far this trip put together.

In the center of the building is an octagonal tower.

This was a replacement for the original tower that collapsed in 1322. Of course the extra weight of this tower put additional stress on the already problematic North West transept, and that collapsed in the late 1400s. The building was getting dangerous again in the late 20th century, but enough money was raised to shore it up again. Just as well. In previous eras, the bits that collapsed were replaced by things that were even better, but I’m pretty sure the 20th century would not have been able to pull that off.

We met our friends Adrianne and Derek at the cathedral, and had tea on the lawn surrounded by sinister ducks that we were not allowed to chase.

I suspect they have some compromising video of the bishop. When the server cleared our table, she threw the crumbs from Adrianne’s cheese scone to the fowl. That must be a blackmail payment.

After an excellent lunch (thanks Adrianne) we proceeded to the much less grand and more recent Catholic Church of St Etheldreda (also know as Æthelthryth and Audrey).

Audrey was a Saxon princess who remained a virgin and a nun in spite of the best efforts of both of her husbands.

She founded a monastery in Ely in the 7th century. The vikings sacked it in the 8th century (as one does) but it was restored, and the church granted cathedral status in 1109, after the Norman conquest. Audrey’s body, meanwhile, seemed to be miraculously free from decay. It was housed in an old Roman coffin in the cathedral until Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries in the 16th century, when her tomb was destroyed and her remains lost. Apart, that is, from her left hand, which some medieval souvenir hunter had detached.

This holy relic passed through several hands until it was handed down to the church of St Etheldreda in 1953. Here it is, in a handy niche by the font.

As you can see, it remains perfectly preserved, thanks the the miraculous power of St Audrey’s virginity.

Well to be honest, it looks like a kipper, so maybe giving up sex wasn’t such a good idea after all.

But there’s more to the story than that. Her followers would buy modest lace dresses at an annual fair in Ely. However, by the 17th century the area was awash with puritans, and lace dresses were regarded as cheap and showy. St Audrey dresses became corrupted to “tawdry”. The poor woman gave up sex for life and still became tawdry.