On a trip to Cambridge you are never short of options for things to do. For our recent weekend visit the Saturday had the better forecast, so we elected to walk along the River Cam. An early start had us catching the train out to Waterbeach so that we could return along the tow path into town. We were joined for the day by Lynn, Janet, Marion and Dave Mac, which swelled our numbers to 16. It was lovely getting the chance to catch up with everyone, but it did make for a long queue when we stopped for coffee at Milton Country Park. The walk starts pretty rural and slowly gets more manicured and urban as we get closer to Cambridge. As we left Waterbeach and joined the Fen Rivers Way, we passed Car Dyke: the Roman Boundary marker for the western edge of the Fens. It’s then a short distance to Milton Country Park, which is based around former brick pits. The “Cambridge Whites”, as they were known, used clay mixed with chalk to make a harder brick. There were literally thousands of examples of these bricks making up the terraces all around the bit of town where the hostel was. These days the brick pits are full of water and are home to wild birds and wild swimmers.
Lunch was had on a cluster of benches overlooking Stourbridge Common, but we had to press on a bit further to find a drink. The Cambridge Museum of Technology is located in the old pumping station that used to forward waste out to the sewage farm at Milton. The huge building with its beam engines was made redundant by a couple of electric pumps in the 70s and now houses the history of Cambridge waste management, with a separate display for the tech firms that thrived in the city from the thirties onwards. More importantly, The Engineers House next door had a bar, toilets and a nice line in hot spiced cider.
As we got closer to the city centre, we passed through Midsummer Common, where the Cambridge Marathon was just running to a close. The elites were all curled up in their space blankets, but there were enough stragglers still being clapped home to make negotiating your way across the road a bit of a trial.
At this point we lost our day-trippers, who returned to their families, sadly missing out on the rest of our fun day – which largely consisted of rocking up at the pub for drinks and our own body weight in food.
Ali
Keep on Running
A hearty congratulations to Debbie and Steve for taking part in the Cambridge Marathon. Not that they finished it, or even that they started it, but the 25 yards they ran in order to cross the road without being mown down were truly inspirational.
The Man who came in from the Cold
After deciding against the Saturday walk in Cambridge, George headed for the Scott Polar Research Institute to learn about the history of polar exploration.
Later that day was a special talk on the recent discovery of the wreck of Shackelton’s Endurance, but it had been sold out for months. George decided to enquire, just on the off chance, and in a remarkable turn of good fortune was told a couple of tickets had been returned at the last minute – paid for, but the owner could no longer attend. Free tickets to an exclusive film and talk, what could be better? Look out for the formal release on National Geographic channel later in the year.
A Walk on the Wake Side
Dave J led us on a fantastic walk in the Colne Valley, starting at the Chappel and Wakes Colne railway station. The station is named after two neighbouring parishes, with Wakes Colne to the north and Chappel south of the River Colne. The valley itself is spanned by a massive viaduct built of around 7 million bricks and reputed to be the largest brick-built structure in the country. The area is known as the four Colnes: White, Wakes, Earl and Engaine. Not to be confused with Four Candles, the hardware shop in Earls Colne.