Cruising into Cambridge

Well, my spelt loaf was doing very well.  After its second proving it was beautifully risen in its tin until I followed Mr Hollywood’s final instruction before putting it in the oven…… “Finish off with some diagonal slashes across the top of the loaf..”  Mr Hollywood’s bible is not to be ignored so I selected a sharp knife and made my first slash.  My loaf popped and sagged like a burst balloon.  So did my heart.  My lovely loaf…. I quickly popped it in the oven, but half an hour later it was cooked but still a bit on the flat side – like my bread morale.  But it tasted fantastic!!!!   Next time we will forget the slashes.

The slowest lock in the world - Baits Bite Lock.  It does not have a bite about it!

So, we’d been at the Wicken Windmill in the pouring rain, but the next morning it was brighter and we set off for the water point at the top of the lode to fill up before going through the sluice.  It was a funny day weatherwise.  When the sun appeared and you were out of the breeze it was lovely, quite warm, but then the sun would go or a breeze would pop up and it was cold.  We had a couple of heavy showers, typically as we were going through the first lock of the day, Bottisham Lock, which took us off the Great Ouse and onto the River Cam, which is not managed by the Environment Agency, but by the Conservators of the River Cam.  We’d had to pay £27 for a year’s licence to cruise this waterway, even though we would only be on it for a week or so, but hey ho, it still works out cheaper than a Thames licence.  The rain was here to stay so we looked for the first available mooring which was rather nice at Clayhithe Bridge.  A nice evening meant I could go for a run on the very well kept towpath.

The next day was a shorts day – glorious warm sun and clear skies, for our arrival at Cambridge.  It’s a very pretty route along the River Cam.

Houseboats on the left - boathouses on the right coming into Cambridge

Moored alongside Richard on Cailin for the night

Rowers everywhere!

The moorings were quite confusing in Cambridge; whilst the residential moorings were fairly clearly marked, where we expected to see visitor moorings, as per our map, it wasn’t clear and there seemed to be ‘permanent’ boats moored there.  We got to Jesus Lock, which is as far as you are allowed to go between 1 April and end of October as the punts are on the go at this time, and where there was a sanitary station where we could pump out (the red light on our new gauge had come on that morning – big excitement!!) for the princely sum of £3!! - almost worth the journey for that alone!  There was a chap using the water point and pump out and while we waited he chatted away and explained the mooring situation, as he was a resident boater and had a mooring just on the other side of Victoria Bridge.  The good news was; the other side from the sanitary station is all visitor moorings for 48 hours, but they’re not policed so you can stay as long as you want.  This meant the bad news was they were full, with a couple of boats that are ‘permanent’ one of which was taking up two spaces (and got raided by the police in the early hours of Saturday morning – exciting stuff!!).  Further good news; one of the non-permanent boats was Richard, the solo boater we’d been passing and being passed-by.  Mike went over to chat with him while we waited and he said we could moor alongside him tonight as he’d be going in the morning.  Cambridge is fantastic but the council really could do with policing the visitor moorings to make sure there is space for genuine visitors, however, they could do with offering 72 hours as there is so much to see and do there.  Otherwise, Cambridge is in danger of becoming like London for boaters, as the house prices increase more and more young people are moving onto boats and if the plentiful residential moorings get full, then the easy and free option is to sit on the visitor moorings if you’re not going to get moved on.

Our first stop at Cambridge, The Polar Institute.  Free entry and fantastic exhibition.

Busman's holiday - we took a punt on the river (chauffeured) passing the Wren Library

The punt trip was brilliant as you see the back of the colleges in all their splendour.

The Mathematical Bridge

One of Trinity College's more well-known former students

Gate of St Trinity College.  The tree on the left is a small apple tree and may be a descendant of the one famed by Newton.

Trinity College is the largest in Cambridge

Our second college visit to the second largest college, St John's

The Bridge of Sighs at St John's College - apparently nothing like its namesake in Venice

So we stayed in Cambridge for a few days and thoroughly enjoyed it, doing a couple of the colleges, going round the market, having lunch with friend Elaine, taking a punt and shopping!!  There is good shopping in Cambridge and we made full use, including upgrading some of our clothes.  Mike bought me some lovely stuff from French Connection for my birthday, so it's been stashed away til then.
Yesterday we cycled to Screwfix (well, no visit to a town would be complete without one!) and Homebase, had some lunch, filled with water, had a quick visit from Mike’s friend Chota and her kids, Arabella and Jasper, then left Cambridge.  This meant we were leaving at 6pm, just as all the rowers were out.  Mike was in his element as there were quite a few female eights around, and he sat with a big grin on his face snapping away.

Female eight getting ready to row

Me trying to concentrate and not be distracted by the male eight coming up behind me....

We went back to Clayhithe Bridge, just an hour out of the town, but it’s lovely and peaceful.  Just the rowers, runners and cyclists for company – and some rather noisy cows…….  When I had run here last week, I’d mentioned there were a few felled trees along the way with some logs, so Mike went for a look and we ended up dragging a log back along the towpath.  

I have yet to try the spelt loaf again, but we did make our own pork pies this week!!  A joint effort, Mike did the meat and stock/gelatine, while I was tasked with the pastry.  They were really quite magnificent and we’ve worked our way through all three.  Glad it’s chicken tonight for tea though…