Punting down the River Cam to the village of Grantchester is a quintessential Cambridge experience – and we couldn’t have had a more beautiful day to do it.
When punting in Cambridge, you can either go along the backs of the university’s colleges, or you can head out of town and into the countryside. I love going this way because it’s so tranquil and peaceful and deeply relaxing.
Apart from a few merry students here and there, we had the river to ourselves. It was just us and the local wildlife.
One of the quirky things I love about Cambridge are the herds of cows grazing on random patches of green throughout town. These guys were trotting along at a fair pace.
Those are white and black sheep snoozing around the trees.
I’m dying for one of those “sit up and beg” bicycles. Teal blue, leather seat, basket in front, please.
There were a few lunatics taking a swim.
And there were many, many friendly ducks hoping for a snack.
The kids gleefully obliged.
After a little more than an hour, we reached our destination – Grantchester Meadow!
This looks like a nice spot for our picnic.
We had some company.
Then for the way back. Elliot got a punting lesson.
Halfway through, Rob had a massive hayfever attack. Poor guy. His eyes and nose were streaming and he couldn’t see a thing. So I took the helm. I have attempted to punt a couple times before, but I always ended up just zigzagging from bank to bank until Rob eventually rescued me from my humiliation. But with him immobilized, I rose to the occasion today and actually got the hang of it. I felt such a sense of accomplishment after navigating around twists and turns and taking us most of the way back without even running into any other boats! (I may have gotten the pole stuck in the mud once and we had to paddle our way back to retrieve it, but that’s beside the point.)
Our expressions in that photo are “Oh no, not another duck!” Honestly, we meant the ducks no ill will. Who couldn’t love those adorable little featherballs?
I’m so happy we were able to fit this in before we go. Fabulous! (Apart from Rob’s hayfever. He’s still sneezing, bless him.)
1 comment :
You had me at tranquil, peaceful, deeply relaxing. And kudos on the punting.
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