Ice skaters make most of freezing conditions on flooded Fenland fields

Temperatures dropped low enough for skating on a field near the River Cam at Upware, Cambridgeshire.

Ice skaters made the most of the bitter conditions in the Cambridgeshire Fens by heading out on frozen flooded fields.

Though the ice was thin in places and with some holes, temperatures dropped low enough for skating on a field near the River Cam at Upware.

Paul Jansen, 58, from Cambridge, was among those who turned out with his skates.

“It’s just beautiful, you’ve got the nature around you especially if there’s a bit of sunshine,” said Mr Jansen, who runs a management consultancy.

“If you manage to get a little bit of speed on the ice it’s glorious.

“It’s difficult to describe I’m afraid.

“It’s just lovely when you’re in a good stride, you almost go without any effort.

“You’ve got the birds around you and yes, it’s great.”

He said the sun was shining and it was a still day but the “ice is a little bit on the thin side, so it was a bit tricky and you really have to stay on the side and don’t be too ambitious”.

“There are some holes in the ice,” he added.

“There was another chap who was skating here before me and he had gone through it in several places.

“Luckily here it’s very shallow so it’s not particularly dangerous, but obviously you don’t really want to get wet if you can avoid it.”

He said the area was a “well-known spot where it freezes over fairly soon in the season if you’re lucky”.

He added: “I’ve skated from a very young age.

“I grew up in Holland where of course outdoor skating is the national pastime if the weather allows.

“I started skating probably when I was three years old.

“If you have weather like this in Holland, and the water would really freeze over throughout the country, then the whole country would pretty much take the day off and go out skating, it’s definitely a national thing.”

Engineer Ugo Sassi, who was also skating on the frozen field, said the ice was thin and “if you spend too much time on the same spot you will basically drop”.

The 38-year-old Italian used to skate at ice rinks in Rome and was introduced to fen skating after meeting skaters at a rink in Cambridge, where he now lives.

He tried it for the first time last year and had been eagerly awaiting cold enough conditions that allowed him to go fen skating again this year.

“I like skating with the sun,” he said.

“Fen skating is more about freedom, you know, you are there and you can skate all the time you want.

“All the people are very friendly, you talk with total strangers and are having fun.

“People just sit there, they have hot tea, they share teas, it’s very nice – it’s like a small family.”

Competitive skating began in the Fens in 1879, and since then speed skaters have vied for the world or Fenland title whenever a Fen has frozen long enough to allow the championships to be held.

However, the Museum of Cambridge said that the last championships were in 2010 and even over the previous 200 years there have been periods when winters have been too warm to achieve a safe thickness of ice.