Frozen Fen skaters' joy at 'such a big rink'

Keen ice skaters have flocked to the Fens to hone their skills as flooded fields froze in the current cold snap.

People came from as far as Hampshire and Surrey to skate on the fields in Upware, Cambridgeshire.

Fen skating takes place when a meadow floods and then freezes over, so the ice is often very shallow, unlike frozen lakes.

Local man Dave Butteriss, 79, from Manea, said: "The sound of the ice - and the sun - it's amazing."

The sound the ice makes as people skate seems to draw fans from far and wide, with one visitor from Guildford saying "it sings to you".

Speed skater Malcolm Robinson, who lives in the area, said: "With the outdoor skating, it's unbelievable the interest there is in it. Once someone knows where there is a bit, then the grapevine just kicks off."

Peter Carr left his home in Basingstoke at about 07:00 GMT to drive up to Cambridgeshire.

"It's a lovely opportunity to get some skating in the outdoors," he said.

"Usually I train and race in a rink - it's a very small area, and this is huge. We've got lovely blue sky and great Fen vistas, and it's one of the traditional places to go Fen skating in the UK.

"The sound you get when you skate on natural ice - you get this pinging sound, which sounds like a special effect from a sci-fi movie."

He added: "I'd seen so many old photos of people here - I just wanted to come here to skate."

Joe Allison coaches Cambridge University's ice hockey teams and travelled from Northstowe.

The electronics engineer said: "As soon as I heard that this was on, I took the morning off work to be here. This might be gone by tomorrow.

"It's absolutely beautiful. It's very rare we get to come out and skate in a place like this, outside in the sun.

"It's such a big rink - it goes miles down there," he said, pointing into the distant Fens.

Although he was enjoying hockey practice on the shallow flooded field and could see the grass beneath the ice, he stressed: "You still have to be careful and check how thick the ice is."

Dave Butteriss added that at 79 he felt "very fortunate that I can still skate".

"I compete in races - even at my age it's still possible," he said.

"I've been skating since I was a child - first on wooden skates, probably about 70 years in total."

While he mostly skates indoors, he said: "This is amazing - the sound of the ice and the sun - and friends to talk to - it's amazing."

Asked about safety, he said there was "only about two inches (5cm) of water beneath, so your feet might get wet if it does break, but that's about it".

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