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Cambridgeshire; Cambridge City

August 2019 - March 2025
Visits to and walks around, Cambridge Read more
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  • TravelerCambridgeshire; Cambridge City

    Urban Ramble, part 1

    August 13, 2019 in England ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    I received an excellent Christmas present from Sarah - a book called Urban Rambles which documents walks covering both a city and it's local countryside - and have finally got round to using it! We have lived in the Cambridge area for over 30 years and this walk showed us quirky things we have not seen before and provided information we did not know.

    Starting in Cambridge City centre, we walked down to the River Cam and the Backs taking in the classic views of the Mathematical Bridge (connecting two parts of Queens College) and Kings College Chapel. There is an aluminium statue of DNA in Clare College, where James Watson was a graduate student. Crossing back via the Garrett Hostel Bridge, we saw Trinity Hall's modern Jerwood Library, saw the magnificent Trinity Great Court and the original Trinity College gates before turning up along Trinity Street    Read more

  • TravelerCambridgeshire; Cambridge City

    Urban Ramble, part 2

    August 13, 2019 in England ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    The Round Church, one of the oldest buildings in Cambridge, is one of four medieval round churches still in use in England. A short diversion across Magdalene Bridge brings you to the Museum of Cambidge which is housed in what was until 1934 the White Horse Inn; in the yard is a sign for the old Canbridge based Dales Brewery, which ceased brewing in 1958.

    Doubling back and cutting through the delightful Portugal Place, we saw the sculpture representing a DNA helix outside the house where Francis Crick lived in the 1950s.

    Walking over Jesus Green and Midsummer Common, with views across the Cam, and diverting further upriver brings you to the Museum of Technology and its characteristic chimney; the shaft is 175 feet tall and was used as part of the original pumping station steam engine house.    Read more

  • TravelerCambridgeshire; Cambridge City

    Urban Ramble, part 3

    August 13, 2019 in England ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    We went next to Mill Road Cemetery where it is hard to believe you are close to the centre of Cambridge. Walking down Mill Road and along Parker's Piece brings you to the Catholic Church (Church of Our Lady and the English Martyrs); here you can divert to the War Memorial.

    Heading back to the church and left down Lensfield Road takes you to Hobson's Conduit, named after Thomas Hobson who financed the conveying of fresh water into Cambridge in 1610 (he is better known for the expression "Hobson's choice"). We passed by the Botanic Gardens on this occasion and then walked through the Empty Common Allotments and its community garden.

    We then proceeded through the tiny Clare Woods and along side the Guided Busway with views of Addenbrooke's Hospital before entering Trumpington and heading to the beautiful village of Granchester.    Read more

  • TravelerCambridgeshire; Cambridge City

    Urban Ramble, part 4

    August 13, 2019 in England ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    After a detour to Byron's Pool, where Lord Byron regularly took a swim, we went through Granchester Village noting the statue of Rupert Brooke in the garden of The Old Vicarage where he used to live (the house is now owned by Jeffrey and Mary Archer) and proceeding to Granchester Church.

    Doubling back to the Orchard Tea Rooms for a peep, the walk takes you along the bank of the River Cam, through Granchester Meadows (part of the broad green flood plain also encompassing Lammas Land, the Backs, Jesus Green, Midsummer Common and Stourbridge Common) and back into Cambridge itself - punts can be hired at Scudamore's Boat Hire down river to Granchester and back.    Read more

  • TravelerCambridgeshire; Cambridge City

    Cambridge lock down, part 1 - Town

    June 2, 2020 in England ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    Helen and I thought we would walk around Cambridge mid-week during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown to enjoy a local and tourist free experience - it was not disappointing.

    The town centre was virtually deserted, as you can see from the pictures of Kings Parade, Trinity Street and the Market Square. The statue is William Harvey (he discovered blood circulation, apparently) and the final picture is something we had never visited before - the Ascension Parish Burial Ground located on the outskirts of Cambridge. It was formerly the burial ground for the parish of  St Giles and St Peter's and includes the graves and memorials of many academics.Read more

  • TravelerCambridgeshire; Cambridge City
    1

    Cambridge lock down, part 2 - Gown

    June 2, 2020 in England ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    As a result of the lockdown, there are no students at the University. The photos show:
    1. The University Library,
    2. Empty punts viewed from Garret Hostel Bridge,
    3. Trinity College chimneys,
    4. The Great Gate of St John's College; the animals are mythical beasts called yales, which have elephants' tails, antelope' bodies and goat's heads with swivelling horns,
    5. The Senate House and
    6. The Mathematical Bridge spanning the River Cam at Queens' College.    Read more

  • TravelerCambridgeshire; Cambridge City

    A place of springs, cliffs and lakes

    November 17, 2020 in England ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    Who would have thought that the beautiful university city of Cambridge would contain these geographical features within its boundaries?  The idea for this post came from Cambridge Critique, an occasional email on the local cultural scene, describing some local hidden delights; visiting these made for a really enjoyable few hours out and about.
     
    Springs
    Nine Wells is a small area of woodland and nature reserve close to Addenbrooke's Hospital; concealed within the trees are four natural springheads.  Hobson's Conduit was constructed in 1610 to bring water from here to the city in order to sanitise the open sewers and to provide water for the population (see Cambridge Urban Ramble, part 3); water continues to flow into Cambridge to this day.  It is a lovely place to walk around and there is also a monument to Hobson's Conduit here.
     
    Cliffs
    It is short drive from Nine Wells to Cherry Hinton, where hidden between Fulbourn Road and Limekiln Road are the Cherry Hinton Chalk Pits - a 12 hectare site.  It was astonishing to see this for the first time after many, many years of living in the Cambridge area!  It is possible to discern coloured strata in the rocks, showing the levels of ancient seas that used to cover Eastern England.
     
    Lakes
    A couple of miles away close to where Mill Road meets Brooks Road is access to a walk that runs alongside a clear chalk stream known as Cherry Hinton Brook; it is called "Snakey Path" and it was another first for me - the walk passes several designated City Wildlife Sites.  Concealed behind a fence and trees are two old chalk pits that have been filled to form private fishing lakes.  Occasionally there are some wonderful views across these impressive stretches of water.    Read more

  • TravelerCambridgeshire; Cambridge City

    Fantastic beasts and where to find them

    November 19, 2020 in England ⋅ 🌧 8 °C

    The idea for this post came from Atlas Obscura (thanks Ant) - an online catalogue of unusual / obscure travel destinations - and its entries for Cambridge.
     
    Perusing this, I saw the entry for "Reality Checkpoint"; this is a large cast-iron lamppost with intertwined, wide-eyed dolphins on its base, and is situated in the middle of Parker's Piece at the intersection of the park's diagonal paths. I have walked past this many, many times and never really clocked it! I had to go and see it - check the Atlas Obscura entry on-line or Wikipedia for the theories regarding its curious name.... 

    I also saw in Atlas Obscura the entry for the Corpus Clock and Chronophage ("time eater") which overlooks King's Parade at the junction with Bene't Street.  It features a large, toothed grasshopper devouring time and is particularly interesting on the hour and at night; I have seen and photographed this before.

    So, what other beasts are on display in Cambridge?
     
    From the University's perspective, the Great Gate of St John's College features mythical beasts called yales - these have elephants' tails, antelopes' bodies and goats' heads, with horns which can, supposedly, swivel from back to front.  Heading from here to Downing Street, we reach the University Museum of Zoology and see an excellent display showing the diversity of animal life.
     
    Shopping at Scotsdales Garden Centre along Cambridge Road is also interesting; you never know what you might see lurking in the undergrowth surrounding the displays.....
         Read more

  • TravelerCambridgeshire; Cambridge City

    Cherry Hinton Brook / Coldham's Brook

    March 17, 2021 in England ⋅ ☁️ 7 °C

    The idea for this walk came from the entry for "Cambridge - A place of springs, cliffs and lakes" by seeing the Cherry Hinton Chalk Pits (cliffs) and then following part of the route of Cherry Hinton Brook along Snakey Path (lakes).

    The source for Cherry Hinton Brook is a fresh, spring pool close to the Chalk Pits at the southern end of Cherry Hinton; this provided the reason for settlement of a cottage industry laundering for the Cambridge Colleges - at one time there were a couple of water mills along its route. After seeing the source, we visit Cherry Hinton Hall and follow the urban stream as it skirts the park area here; the Hall is now owned by Cambridge Council and is currently home to Oaks International School. Cherry Hinton Hall park is well known as it provides the site for the annual Cambridge Folk Festival. We follow the route along Snakey Path; the stream flows beside two old chalk pits filled to form private fishing lakes on one side and Saint Bede's School on the other. We reach Brooks Road via Burnside and then turn off behind houses and a large Sainsbury's to reach Coldham's Lane. Here, the stream is culverted under the busy Barnwell Road which we cross and re-join via a small entrance onto the back end of Coldham's Common.

    The stream is renamed Coldham's Brook at this point; it is a joy to walk this south eastern part of Coldham's Common as it seems so far from civilisation - there is scrub, woodland and unimproved grassland here. Skirting round and across, we reach a close mown area with football pitches (for English, Gaelic and American football); the urban area to the north is known as Abbey and, indeed, Cambridge United have their home here at the Abbey Stadium. We follow the path of the stream with the football stadium on one side with Barnwell Lake (now a fishery) on the other.

    We reach Newmarket Road, the A1134, and cross; it will soon be possible to follow the stream all the way to the River Cam along what will be known as the Chisholm Trail, but for the time being we have to divert via a small industrial estate and housing to reach Stourbridge Common. Before doing so, we see the Leper Chapel of Saint Mary Magdalene (13th century, Grade 1 listed and managed by Cambridge Past, Present and Future); in 1211, King John granted an annual fair to be held on Stourbridge Common behind it in order to support the work of the leper hospital - this grew to become the largest medieval fair in Europe.

    We walk across and around Stourbridge Common and see where the Coldham's Brook joins the River Cam; Ditton Meadows is on the other side of the stream. A great walk.    Read more

  • TravelerCambridgeshire; Cambridge City

    Cambridge - It's in your DNA

    April 23, 2021 in England ⋅ ☀️ 10 °C

    DNA is now known by most of the general public to carry genetic information, the instructions that a living organism needs to grow, reproduce and function.

    The structure of DNA - a double helix twisted-ladder - was first realised by James Watson and Francis Crick in 1953 at the Cambridge University Cavendish Laboratory and gave rise to modern molecular biology; the contribution of Rosalind Franklin is now recognised as crucial to the discovery DNA structure, however, as her work in X-ray crystallography established that the molecule existed in a helical conformation. Their discovery is commemorated in several relevant places in Cambridge.

    The first announcement was made by a jubilant Francis Crick as they walked into the nearest pub to their laboratory, The Eagle, and proclaimed that he and James Watson had "found the secret of life"; this lovely old pub has a fine courtyard as well as a ceiling covered covered with writing by Allied pilots who frequented it during WWII. There is a blue plaque outside it to commemorate the event (it has been recently defaced to mention Rosalind Franklin) and their old laboratory nearby also celebrates it.

    Francis Crick lived in a house in Portugal Place and there is a double helix above the door to mark this. James Watson was an alumnus of Clare College, where he began his post-doctoral research in 1951 and became an honorary fellow in 1967, and there is an aluminium sculpture of the double helix close to an entrance there.

    Further afield is the DNA cycle path, which runs from Addenbrooke's Hospital to Great Shelford; there is a double helix sculpture at the start and part of the route is decorated with 10,257 colourful stripes which represent the four nucleotides of the BRCA2 gene (discovered at the Sanger Centre in Hinxton).    Read more

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