Return of the Native 2.1 - Part 12 - Cambridge

Barry and Trevor decided they'd like to have a day in Cambridge and as chance would have it we'd booked a midsized car for our long weekend on Fordham.  They came around to give us a hand with the pack and tidy up of the flat then the four of us set off to Oxford Circus Tube Station and on to the Europcar depot at St Pancras.  The Golden Union Fish Bar was just opening as we passed by and the manager gave us a friendly wave and called out "Teddybears' picnic, lads?"

And that's exactly what it must have looked like given the two large bags of Pret A Manger sandwiches and pastries Barry had thoughtfully purchased for a farewell picnic at a yet to be sourced location by the banks of the River Cam.  Barry was always thinking, especially when it came to food so just to keep it all safe Trevor put it in the boot of our very roomy Vauxhall Insignia along with the luggage.  I sensed that en route snacking might have been an issue on previous excursions.

So with Peter and Barry in the back, Trevor in the navigator's seat and me behind the wheel off we set out onto the streets of London in a generally northbound direction.  Barry and Trevor suddenly broke into "We're All Going on a Summer Holiday" and I joined in confident that nobody could tell me to stop or get out of the car this time since I was driving.

Trevor was an excellent navigator and in just a little over an hour we were sitting by the River Cam on Jesus Green enjoying our picnic.  Odd name for a park but nice.  We all had other places to go though so Peter and I dropped Barry and Trevor at Cambridge Station which is a good place to start the Hop-On-Hop-Off bus tour then be pointed in the right direction for London at its conclusion.  We were a little sad to say goodbye to the Santas but Te Kuiti isn't really that far from Hornsby Heights so certain there'd be future trans-Tasman visits we went on our way to Lara, Nikos and Yiannis in Fordham near Ely.

Lara, Nikos & Yiannis

We were delighted to see them all and Lara was surprised to hear that we'd just been picnicking with her late Uncle Ray's sister's son.  She even remembered Barry and Trevor from a family do at Aunty Eulene's house in Pukekohe at some point of time before she left New Zealand to study at Cambridge.  So much for six degrees of separation!

Lara is the daughter of my oldest aforementioned Kiwi mate Philip and great niece of Aunty Eulene who must be in her 90s now and going strong.  I'll bet she still turns out a beaut gem scone as well!  Lara went off to Cambridge to do her PhD in some kind of mathematics which is completely beyond me, met and married Nikos who has his in some kind of physics that is equally beyond me and produced Yiannis who has just completed Year 3 so I'm completely up to pace with what he does apart from what he learns at Saturday Greek school.

And speaking of things Greek, Nikos prepared his signature saganaki prawns for dinner that night and I think it was even better than three years earlier when we enjoyed a summer solstice dinner together by the River Snail which runs through the foot of their lovely garden.  What a great evening of catching up topped off by a slow and contented stroll back to nearby Trinity Hall where we stay whilst in town.

Bridge of Sighs

Trinity Hall is a magnificent Victorian B&B run by Sue and her daughter Hannah.  It's on a working farm and is a little bit grand without being over the top.  We had the same huge room as last time with a bathroom that's the size of a regular hotel room itself.  And Sue's breakfasts are the best!

Sunday saw us on a guided tour of Cambridge which Nikos knows like the back of his hand having lived there most of his life.  He is a fellow of Selwyn College so we had lunch there as we did on our first visit in 2015.  The Oxbridge colleges are considerably different to my beloved Drummond College at the University of New England which was really a hall of residence rather than a traditional college as such.  I enjoyed it though just as I enjoyed our rambles around and through the colleges of Cambridge with Lara, Nikos and Yiannis.

In fact I enjoyed it so much that we went back next day when Lara, Nikos and Yiannis went off to work and school.  Never having been built for cars, many cities and towns in the UK have park-and-drive systems where you leave your vehicle in a large lot on the edge of town and take a shuttle to any one of a number of points within.  It works perfectly and the buses are all double-deckers so if you're lucky you can sit upstairs at the front on the right and pretend to drive just like you did when you were a kid.

Punting on the River Cam

Our final night in Fordham; and in fact the UK itself ticked another box.  We finally made it to an Indian restaurant and had the National Dish of England - Butter Chicken!  It's also where we said goodbye to the Nikiforakis-Jamiesons for now.  We look forward to the next time be it here, there or perhaps Aotearoa.

Our flight to Singapore didn't leave till just after 10.00pm on our last day so we lingered around Trinity Hall after a long and very satisfying breakfast then said goodbye to our hosts and headed for the the Stained Glass Museum in nearby Ely which was a treat.  They have works from the 13th to the 21st century with 125 pieces on permanent display, 1000 more in the collection and numerous special exhibitions throughout the year.

Ely Stained Glass Museum 

That was a lovely way to finish our visit but the SilverKris Lounge at Heathrow beckoned and I was determined to get every cent of worth out of our business class flights.  So off we set through the Fens of Eastern England, an area of drained marshland that's flat as a tack but very pretty.  This is where England was joined to Holland prior to the last Ice Age and the rivers of the area flowed through a much tighter English Channel to join a longer version of the Rhine unless you're a Flat Earther in which case God made it all exactly as it is about 5000 years ago.  

The Victorians were responsible for the bulk of the drainage systems though, Victorians being obsessed with changing landscapes as they were.

So farewell to England's green, pleasant and sometimes drained fields for now.

Draining the Fens