title A Postcard From Peterborough, Cambridgeshire - 29th May 2026 intro A chance to do a rather special trip to Normandy has come up, however the return date is the same day on which the passport reaches less than the three months' validity required to visit any of the Shengen countries. This therefore means a) visiting Peterborough for a same-day passport renewal appointment and b) having to leave the Red Lion Hotel in Cromer a bit early in order to drive the 80 miles in time for the 11am appointment. Luckily, the hotel is particularly accommodating and lets us do breakfast a bit earlier than usual. The passport process itself only takes around 15 minutes, after which there's four hours to kill which we do by looking around the cathedral, wandering around a bit and then doing lunch like teenagers in Nando's. There's also the revelation that Peterborough's quite nice in places - all that can be remembered about previous emergency-passport visits in 2002 and 2007 is the cathedral and some grim concrete underpass, but then the passport office has moved since then. imgp9085 Isobel waits for early breakfast in the Red Lion imgp9087 The hotel restaurant is, unsurprisingly, quiet imgp9088 Isobel gets some very fancy eggs for breakfast imgp9091 Peterborough's town hall imgp9092 Isobel gets a coffee in the Argo Lounge imgp9093 Peterborough's Guildhall and cathedral square imgp9095 A fancy late-Victorian building imgp9097 Peterborough Cathedral's grand entrance portico imgp9099 The cathedral close imgp9100 Peterborough Cathedal's nave imgp9101 Isobel looks up at the ceiling imgp9103 The south aisle imgp9104 The south aisle flanked with crochet curtains imgp9106 Crochet poppies and flags imgp9110 A titanosaurus skeleton in the cathedral imgp9111 The cathedral's choir imgp9113 The chancery and its grand ceiling imgp9114 Unusual fancy tiled floor at the crossing imgp9117 A titanosaur skeleton lit up in purple light imgp9118 The titanosaur ribcage imgp9119 There are some tiny dinosaur models around imgp9122 The titanosaur, from one end to the other imgp9124 A later Gothic fan-vault ceiling imgp9125 Isobel looks at stuff imgp9127 A stegosaurus on a capital imgp9128 Another dinosaur on a bench imgp9129 A memorial to Bishop Mandell Creighton imgp9131 The eastern nave window imgp9132 One of Peterborough's 12th-century sarcophogi imgp9133 Capitals and arcades in black and white imgp9135 The spectacular chancery ceiling imgp9137 The 8th century Hedda stone imgp9141 Looking right up at the crossing imgp9142 The intricate carving of the choir imgp9143 The titanosaur's head imgp9148 There's some sort of fossils display on outside imgp9149 Bridge Street in Peterborough has a European vibe imgp9150 A model cow outside Food Hall imgp9152 A nice fruit and veg stall on Bridge Street imgp9153 An empty shop imgp9154 A concrete relic of the 1960s imgp9156 The 80s-ness of Rivergate Shopping Centre imgp9157 City Hall on St. Peter's Road imgp9158 An alternative view of the Cathedral imgp9160 Very fancy windows in the NatWest bank building imgp9161 The western Great Gateway imgp9162 Cathedral Square and the Great Gateway imgp9163 Isobel outside Pizza Express imgp9164 A view from Nando's imgp9165 Isobel gives the hairy eyeball imgp9166 Peterborough Nando's imgp9169 There's a statue on a building-society roof