It was a lovely, mild sunny morning yesterday and I thought “I haven’t been to Godmanchester for a while”. A quick check of the flood notes confirmed that the river levels had  dropped to around normal so off I went. My ‘normal’ walk around Godmanchester starts with parking along or near Causeway, heading over the Chinese bridge up river as far as the lock at Portholme Meadow (the largest in England). There remains evidence of quite extensive flooding on the meadow. My walk would then follow the little canal created below the sluice which was still running fast. While on that leg I chatted with a local chap who was feeding swans and he suggested I go over to St Mary The Virgin church where there was a fascinating gravestone. He remembered the story but not the unfortunately lady’s name, Mary Ann Weems. It was a good tip. A walk through the, overgrown in places, churchyard revealed many ancient graves and I managed to find Mary Ann’s. A salutary tale indeed. The mute swans are pairing up for the spring and don’t seem to mind that a potential nest site is right by Causeway.