Coming into Cambridge.

Stourbridge Common was mainly enclosed in 1811 and had been the site of the biggest fair in Europe! King John granted a fair in 1199 and it grew and grew, bringing lots of visitors an revenue to the town and university. right up to the late 1700's when it went into decline. There are cattle grazing, like everybody, wanted to cool down but they needed a drink more.

The Cambridge Museum of Technology was an early example of integration. The Cheddars Lane pumping station was built in 1894. The steam to drive the pump was raised by burning household rubbish. The sewage went to a sewage farm a couple of miles away and there was used to grow crops that were used to feed the horses that pulled the carts that collected the rubbish to take to the pumping station. I think this bank used to have loads of boats tied up. I think that the Council has been moving them on when they can.

As you move closer to Jesus Lock you pass a series of Cambridge University college boat house. This was is Emmanuel College boat house. It also house boats for Hughes Hall College and Anglia Ruskin University.

Tgis great weather vane sits above the Trinity Hall College's boat house. I think 'Nostrum Vox' means, 'our voice' or voices.

This is Lady Margret Boat House next to Victoria Bridge that was opened in 1889/90. We were nearly as far as we could go.

We tied up outside Jesus Green Lido to fill up with water and were amazed at the constant queue that there was to go and use the outdoor pool.  The Jesus Green Lido was built in 1923 and is open between May and September. It is one of the longest swimming pools in the country at 100yds long, but it is only 15yds wide! It is 3'9" deep at each end but 8'2" in the middle where diving is allowed. I was more surprised that as people arrived they were shocked to see such a queue. The hottest day of the year!! Dooh!!!! Once filled up we moved over to the other side of the river and tied up.

Jesus Lock is the head of navigation for us, but boats with a lower air draft can access it over the winter period when the backs above the lock are not completely rammed with punts!

 

The day was being largely touted as going to be the hottest day since records began in England. This was the temperature we recorded. I don't think it was actually the highest. The upper number is the temp. in the boat and the lower outside. The steel gets so hot you can't touch it so must radiate the heat to make it 40C. It turns out that the highest temperature of 38.7C was recorded in Cambridge Botanical Gardens, that is 101.7F!!! No wonder that I felt that I had been in a tumble drier after standing on the back of the boat.

This is looking up to Magdalene Bridge where a lot of tourists will hire their punt and punter. You can join a load of other 'punters' and take a seat in a punt with others for 45 min with the 'driver and guide, all for £12!

When I first saw this building I thought that it was the side of an old station. It is in fact the Corn Exchange. It was built in 1874.75 in the Florentine Gothic Style. From the outset it was used as the trading floor and a concert venue. The trading discontinued in 1965 and is now a venue for Cambridge.

With the heat of the day we sort out a pub. One of Helen's friends used to play at her aunt's pub in Cambridge, called the Eagle, so we went to find it. It is a nice old coaching in with a courtyard. The righting you can see on the ceilig was burned on by candles, cigarette lighters and lipstick during WWII by RAF and USAF crew. It is also the place where Francis Crick and James Watson, who were working at the Cavendish Institue nearby, used to work on their ideas about the Double Helix of DNA, and in 1953 their discovery was announced to the world from here. Quite a nice pub for a drink, despite the prices!!