Cambridge

Thursday 7 June

Day 56 and 103 to go

It is so nice being able to have a place to call home for the next few weeks.
We were out of bed a little earlier this morning to get ourselves ready to head out. We had breakfast and watched the morning news as well as checking on news at home.
Dario arrived by 9.30am and we headed for Cambridge about 45 min away. We stopped at the park and ride and caught the bus into the city for the final 10min. Once in the city we found our way to the tourist info and picked up a map along with some info on what we could do. We then proceeded to wander the streets looking at the old buildings. Much of the town is filled with University buildings and there is a vibrant student culture. Many students getting around in fancy pants and jackets with wild hair or interesting clothing combos and generally on bikes that are chained to everything.

Normally you can enter the uni buildings at a price and wander around, but they must have known we were coming and as usual were closed to visitors. They were actually shut due to exams.
We made our way to the river where there are punting boats. At 20 pounds each we gave it a miss.
We walked along the banks of the river watching the fish and dodging the cows that were grazing. We walked a loop of the river and returned to the town where we stopped at one of the pubs for a pint and a chat while watching the students wander carrying bottles of champagne.

We continued our walk through the city checking out the market stalls in the centre square. We then walked through the shopping district and out through a large park.
With all the walking I was starving so we went in search of a pub to have lunch. For a university town it is sadly lacking in the pub department, much like Freo these days. We did find one eventually but it was packed and the only place to sit was outside. I ordered the lunches and when I returned to the table it was raining so we moved to a new table under the large central umbrella. We continued to chat and enjoy our drink. 45 min later our lunch arrived!

We enjoyed our meals as the rain set in and with lunch complete we wrapped up in our coats and high tailed it to the bus, returning to the car and driving home. Dario left after have a cuppa to thaw out. We sorted out a shopping list and took the Suzuki into Hitchin to buy up groceries so we could make dinner.
When we returned we got started. I made a sticky date pudding and Paul cooked up a pork fillet Chinese style with veges. We fumbled through the kitchen locating what we needed and by 7pm we were enjoying our dinner while watching the world news. Dessert was then devoured with gusto. YUM!
Paul watched the Isle of Man TT highlights before I headed for bed.