Wandering Cambridge

Monday

29 July 

Day 29

67 to go

Keenly aware of our dwindling time in the UK, we were keen to do something with our day. After getting up and organised, we said goodbye to Chell, as he returned from a morning run and made our way to the train station. We were intending on just buying tickets for our Gatwick journey on Wednesday, but instead bought tickets, $15 each, for Cambridge and jumped on the 10am train, which arrived 30 min later. 

We made our way in the general direction of town, skirting the Cambridge Uni botanic garden. I thought it might be interesting to check it out, but at $17 entry, we passed. We made our way passed the Fitzwilliam Museum, which heralded the start of many old and intricate buildings that screamed ‘photograph me’. Being a University town there were plenty of places to check out behind intricately carved and adorned doors. Again, it was unfortunate they were charging between 5 and 15 pound to have a look. We just can’t believe how nothing seems to be free to enjoy. 

We followed the road into town, passing by the Corpus Clock, a great golden contraption with a large, black metal fly adorning the top. This was a drawing a crowd of tourists. 

We continued into the square, checking out the market stalls, before grabbing sandwiches at Tesco and finding a place in the shade to enjoy them. When we were all done, we continued our wander of the interesting streets until we reached the river, where punting was being touted. At 40 pounds a punter, we were not going to be trying this out, but there were plenty of cashed up tourists happy to fork out the pounds.

The only thing I did was spend a penny and I was wishing I hadn’t needed to so badly, as the public conveniences were the most foulest smelling toilets I have ever had the displeasure of using. I wasn’t the only one feeling it. A group of Asian tourists walked in and Paul reported a couple quickly left, hand over noses and wretching. I was doing my best not to breathe in the whole time. Urgh.

We walked up some further quaint streets, before heading in the direction of the Bridge of Sighs. Down small lanes, behind parts of Cambridge University and Trinity College, we met the river again and crossed a bridge. Unfortunately we weren’t able to get the the Bridge of Sighs, as it required a lot of back tracking, so we enjoyed where we were, before beginning the trek back towards the station. 

It was a particularly warm day, getting us ready for the hot days to come in Italy. We stopped in at a bar for a drink and refresh, before enjoying the train ride home. We stopped for groceries and then hiked back up the hill to Chell’s for 330pm, glad to be back and to relax in the lounge for the remaining afternoon. 

We made dinner and watched the news, before walking back to the train station to get our Gatwick tickets, something we should have done when we returned from Cambridge. We enjoyed the evening stroll, but were happy to be home for the rest of the evening.