Barrowden. church : st peter
A beautiful Monday morning in June 2008, and the first day of what turned out to be five days of churchcrawling on the cycle. A total of 57 churches were visited in that time, with most in some of the best weather of the Summer. I hadstarted out with a trip to Duddington before heading on to Tixover. From there I headed to Barrowden and neighbouring Wakerley, braving the Monday morning rush hour traffic on the A47.
This area is so beautiful. Mile after mile of lush green countryside. The odd field of yellow oilseed rape and hundreds of sheep!
After leaving the A47 I headed towards Barrowden. As soon as I left the A47 that was it for the traffic and the noise for a few hours. Amazing to think that countryside as beautiful as this is just a stones throw away from the hustle and bustle of the A47 and the A43.
Anyway, got in to Barrowden and sadly found the church locked. A very striking church this with a three stage tower with spire on top. Beautiful long lancet windows at the top of the tower. Church grounds were well maintained and colourful
For one of the few times since I have been photographing churches, the main interest for me was in looking away from the church, over the church wall to the surrounding countryside..
I live in a small farming village, a few miles from Peterborough, a few houses, a few people, no shop and a single street light. I am used to the country but this just took my breath away!
I could have stood in the same spot, just looking out over the fields for hours without getting fed up. The Sun was on my back, I was on holiday, a few days out of the rat race, and life was good!
Just standing there, the only noise was from a few birds, and the gentle droning of the bees. Sometimes I feel that we lose touch with the beauty that is around us. We have so much to appreciate and it is so easy to take it for granted!
As I was photographing here, the heat of the day was starting to take hold. The sun was blazing down and I got the map out and had a look at my planned route. Started to get a little uneasy and the mileage to come given the temperature.
Those fears proved to be well founded as I ended up in an exhausted lump a few hours later, having covered 60 milesand taken in 12 churches.
A few gargoyles and grotesques are to be found here. Nothing remarkable about any of them, but still nice to see.
Left Barrowden and made the short trip to neighbouring Wakerley. On the way I found a lovely bit of downhill, clocking 36 miles an hour on the way down. The highest achieved by some way in the five days that I was out.
As you may have gathered, loved every second of my time here, and am looking forward to one day coming back.
