Oxford or Cambridge

Another not so great start to the day when Martin, attempting to shower in the shower-above-the-bath (I have to say our hotel is lovely but the bathrooms really let it down) slipped over and hurt his arm and leg. Still my inventory was not to be tampered with, and after a very hearty full english, we set off for ... Morrisons!!

Yes despite there being a perfectly good 24 hour Tesco garage a stone's throw from the hotel, Martin had insisted I find out via the net where the nearest Morrison petrol station was so we could tank!!

After that it was on to Cambridge. We decided to use the Park and Ride, but were astonished at the price. Unlike Canterbury where they charge per car and up to 4 passengers, here they charged per person and whats more they charged more if you paid on the bus rather than use the ticket machine, and to add insult to injury the machine didnt give out change.

Unlike our visit to Oxford, where we had a long list of places we wanted to go see, Cambridge didnt seem to have any focal points so we grabbed a free map from off a stand in the shopping centre and just wandered around,....... and then wandered some more .... and then wondered just what there was to see.


Oxford teams with little shops, huge interesting architecture, narrow alleys, and best of all, a bustling atmosphere. Cambridge just felt tired, was all bitty with no main shopping centre or high street, was a mix of mainly newish (60's and 70's) type buildings with the odd older type historic building thrown in.

Of course there are the punts down the river Cam and we spent a few entertaining moments watching a guy who was totally pants at punting attempting to take his wife up the river. This wasn't easy as she was at the front of the boat with one oar rowing in totally the opposite direction to him!

According to the guide map there are more than enough museums, so we tried the first one we found open. It wasnt very intereactive, in fact all we could see on shelf after shelf were stones and bones!



So we had a coffee in the park and listened to a busker playing some pretty cool blues numbers, and then decided to head back to the hotel. Of course only we could get sidetracked by a spot of shopping. As we searched for the Park and Ride bus stop we passed a shop selling suit cases. Ours gave up the ghost last year and we had used my scrapping tote for this holiday but that was only meant as a 1 off, so thats how we ended up dragging two large empty cases round most of Cambridge before finally finding the bus back to our car!

Back at the hotel we decided we would try out the free leisure facilities but it seemed that you had to have booked a spot early in the morning if you wanted to go swimming between 4 oclock and 7, so we lazed in our room for the rest of the afternoon before heading off across the road for a swim. Then we has a drink in the bar before off to bed as an early start was needed for our day at Knebworth in the morning.