So, as is no secret, I flew back to the UK at the end of July and went to visit family and friends in Cambridge. I’ve spent the vast majority of my life in Cambridge so still consider it to be my home, even having lived in Australia as a permanent resident for two years. Having been absent, I have very much missed my family and friends. I’m back for a wedding (which I didn’t really take any pictures of), to see the new member of the family, my baby niece Sophia and to reconnect with old friends.
One of those friends would be Alex, we’ve always shared a common interest in photography. Whilst he is a master at people photography (having already featured in photography publications), I’ve always been more of a fan of landscape and architecture. Cambridge is a perfect place for both of these topic, so last week Alex and I spent the day in Cambridge for Photo Day II (we did one just before I left the UK).
We spent some time at the mill pond where some of the punt stations are located, and the punt touts are definitely of a less aggressive version than those at Garret Hostel or Quayside.
We walked along ‘the backs’, and being too cheap to pay the entry fees into the site (who also only accept cash), we looped back onto Garret Hostel Lane and headed back into the city towards quayside.
We walked through the narrow and sometimes cobbled streets and took a few photos into the Trinity College Great Court.
Then onto bridge street down to quayside. The photos at Quayside were taken on Magdalene Street (pronounced Mawdelin of course). Many summer days having been spent drinking down in the quayside courtyards.
We walked up towards Castle Hill. Cambridge really lacks in natural vantage points. In fact most of the county is flat. Any available vantage point is usually restricted to churches, office buildings and car parks. I’ve always known Cambridge to have a height restriction on buildings in the city centre, which doesn’t provide much variety in the cityscape, but with the new development at the train station it’s probably a lot more relaxed, for the sake of progress! So, up to castle hill, where the view was a little underwhelming.
As the weather greyed even more and rain spat down on us, Alex and I headed to the Prince Regent for lunch. On the way, we popped into Emmanuel College, passed by the Regal (when it was build pretty sure it was one of the biggest pubs in the country with a capacity of 1500 over three levels.
After getting rained on half a dozen times I headed home via the guided bus way. It’s a pretty nippy service! But my enthusiasm to catch it had me walking for some time as there are no stops near where I was staying.
