When I was about eleven or twelve my cousin Richard and I ventured into Cambridge on our own. The purpose of this first excursion was to buy a Meccano clockwork motor,. We boarded the double decker 151 bus at Huntingdon and set forth for a day of adventure. On that first trip we left the bus at Drummer Street before walking first to the toyshop in Mill Road. I can remember us returning via the fish and chip shop in King Street before the bus station in Drummer Street. I can’t remember anything else about the day, other that it was an enjoyable experience, it was after all, sixty years ago.
Over the next few years we would repeat the visits to this nearby city, as we grew older, it would be evening trips to the cinema or to perhaps a dance. Then we met the girls we married and the trips stopped.
Erlier in the month on a Friday Richard and I visited Cambridge together again, catching the Guided bus from St Ives Park and Ride.After walking from the bus station it was into Wetherspoons in Andrew Street for a quick bite to eat and a cuppa. I was writing a short piece about Gonville and Caius College and wanted some photos, so that was our next port of call. Richard had been a regular visitor to Cambridge when he was working and knows a lot more about the colleges than I do. He worked for a company hiring access platforms so would be lifting stone masons and builders often to roof level to work.
We ambled along Trinity Street then St John’s Street to the junction with Sidney Street at the Round Church. Just past Sidney Sussex College a right turn took us into Green Street and the short walk back to Trinity Street, then along Kings Parade. Since I used a photograph of The Grasshopper Clock on the cover of Killing Time in Cambridge I like to keep an eye on it. We had a good look at the Grasshopper Clock at Corpus Christi College, before making our way towards the Guildhall via Benet Street.
It is good to see that Rosalind Franklin’s name and a few others have been added to the blue plaque on the wall of the Eagle pub commemorating the discovery of DNA.
Near the Guildhall, a very curious looking statue took our eye I had noticed it before but had only given it a cursory glance. It was difficult to make out what or who it was of, I found out later after google research that the statue in Guildhall Street was of Talos by Michael Ayton. Talos was a legendary man of bronze, guardian of Minoan Crete.
Our next destination was Norwich Street, where one of our great grandfathers had lived in 1921, it was a fair walk for two old men. On the corner of Norwich Street and Hills Road is the controversial Statue of Prince Philip, as bad as it is thought to be, it is probably slightly more lifelike than the statue of Talos.
We looked at the House where Great Granddad lived then made our way via Francis Passage and Bateman Street back to Hills Road, the bus back into town saved our legs. After a coffee it was back to Drummer Street and a stroll in Christ’s Pieces, before boarding the bus back to St. Ives.
We had a great day out in Cambridge and a trip we intend to repeat in the future.
Posted by purplesandyh on April 14, 2024 at 4:42 pm
I fell in love with Cambridge in 1971, when I met my husband as students down in London, visiting his family in Cambridge. We used to walk from their home into the city and it was a whole new world I loved. There was a particular second hand bookshop we enjoyed browsing in. Sadly, when we married, he wanted to live in Kent where I was from, to commute to London. I was so happy later in life, 1992, second marriage, to move to Cambridgeshire, but never visited Cambridge at all. I enjoyed a great U3A trip on my birthday one year to see an Irish dancing show in Cambridge and felt very emotional.
Posted by fenlandphil on April 14, 2024 at 5:57 pm
I am sure at some stage the Local History Group will have another day out in Cambridge, if we do you are welcome to join us Sandra.
Posted by purplesandyh on April 14, 2024 at 6:03 pm
Thanks Phil
Posted by Cathy Cade on April 14, 2024 at 5:18 pm
I don’t recall how long ago it was when I last went to Cambridge. It was almost in another life!
Posted by fenlandphil on April 14, 2024 at 5:59 pm
I like Cambridge a lot, when Arnold Lane gets another outing I will probably visit it frequently again.
Posted by Marsha on April 16, 2024 at 3:35 am
Your trip sounds lovely, Phil. Mom and I took a trip to England with a University Writing Project when I was a fairly new teacher in 1992. We visited several towns in England, and I think Cambridge might have been one of them. I’ll have to look through my pictures when I get back home.
Posted by fenlandphil on April 16, 2024 at 7:46 am
Cambridge is for me, an interesting city full of character, my cousin told me his wife said, “The thing I like about Cambridge is whatever I’m wearing I never feel out of place.”
I use Cambridge as a setting for many of my short stories as well as my novel. I often wonder whether I am walking past a Nobel Prize winner in the street or someone who will be.
One of my short stories is called The Eagle featuring the pub of the same name.
Posted by Marsha on April 16, 2024 at 9:59 pm
It’s fun to have a place like that you can go back and visit, too.