Punting the River Cam and other Cambridge delights

With a sunny Saturday forecast, and Mel & Nath planning a day trip to Cambridge to visit family, Nick, Belle, Andy & I decided to join them for the day for a bit of a punt! After nearly missing our train from Kings Cross to Cambridge (Nick and I having to do the madman dash through the rat’s nest that is the London Underground!), the four of us boarded our 45 minute train up to Cambridge. It is so nice to get out of the city sometimes as see some of England’s wide open spaces.

We met Mel & Nath at the bus stop and proceeded to head immediately to the River Cam hoping for a cheap punting price! As it was January, it was much easier to get a punt and get out on the water pretty quickly. Our punter, Alfie (what an appropriate name!), was our guide for the morning as we passed through the Backs of Cambridge. It was actually surprisingly pleasant as we made our way up to Cam Bridge and back. Alfie even threw in a couple of local tales (about his siblings who had studied at Cambridge) for good measure against the historic, well known Nightclimber ones.

After lunch at The Eagle, the pub where the University scientists first announced that they had discovered “the secret of life”. They had finished their proposal for DNA, and celebrated in this pub over a few pints! The ceiling of this pub is also graffittied with notes and signatures of RAF pilots to their loved ones from WWII. For lunch I enjoyed a Beef Yorkshire Pudding Wrap: that is, beef wrapped within a curled up Yorkshire pudding! Interesting. And lovely washed down with a Bulmars.

We signed up for a walking tour of the colleges in the afternoon, and I enjoyed this less than the punting. Although the guide was very good, her tour was laid out for 60 year old daytripper, not the young daytripper and her taletelling reflected this. Either way, we had a glimpse within the colleges and learnt a few tales of Cambridge’s past.

Unfortunately for the tour guide, the Siberian winds started to whip in and caused us to lose concentration on the tour and focus solely on trying to keep warm! Hence, at the end of the tour we headed back to The Eagle for a lovely hot coffee, before boarding our train back to London.

I really enjoyed Cambridge, and our trip up the River Cam by boat. It’s a shame the weather turned frosty at the end and we had to spend the end of the day indoors!