In the middle of the heat wave, I decided that I needed to get out of London for the day and was tossing up between Brighton and Cambridge. Lucky for me, I decided against Brighton as Londoner's flocked there that weekend due to the soaring temperatures. I recruited a great group of girls (Tracey, Bec and Cecilia) to go to Cambridge with me, and they were a major reason why the day was such a huge success. Jumping on a train at Kings Cross station around 10am, I wondered whether the journey to Cambridge would take a lot long the stated hour as there had been numerous reports about trains being forced to slow down due to the potential of the tracks buckling in the strange heat. Luckily, this wasn't an issue and we arrived in Cambridge and headed into the major part of town around 11am. A visit to the information centre was our first stop to find a map so we could decide what to do. Wandering around the streets, we found the buildings were just gorgeous, and even more important, not as touristy as most places I've visited. College students lined the streets, particularly by the river, and tried to sell you tours of the town and the all-important punting opportunities. And these college students are the BEST looking men (or boys) I've since arriving here - I was starting to lose all hope in the qualities of the English males but they quickly restored it! Bec and I had a similar idea of taking a tour just cuz the guy was so damn gorgeous! But I'm sure they count on that! So we sadly said no, wandered about 3 steps and were stopped by the next one. Ahhhh.... Lurve Cambridge! After a quick wander around the markets and shops (has all the good high street stores - could definitely live here!), we found a Sainsbury's supermarket and purchased lunch then took it down to the river to eat in the shade, watching the punters paddle by us. After an marvellous dance by Tracey to keep the bees away, we moved a little further away but still within view of the river and enjoyed our lunch and relaxed for a while. We decided that today we were going to just go with the flow and not bother going into any of the colleges as it was too perfect a day (34 degrees, sunny....) and discussed coming back during winter to do that kind of stuff. After lunch, we decided that yes, we would go punting. Now punting (not hunting - and not gambling either!) involved getting into a little canoe/boat and using a really big stick to push you along. The punter stands at the back (or front) of the boat and the people sitting have oars so they can row if they want to. We decided to punt ourselves, rather than take the easy option of having someone do it for us (although next time would consider this and a bottle of wine....). I have to admit that I didn't punt, as I couldn't lift the darn stick! (Now that's a shock! Especially for those who know the difficulties I have opening bottles at times!) But I used to canoe oh about 12 years ago and hoped that the skills would come back to me - eventually they did! But back to us punting... unfortunately, we weren't given any instructions on how to punt (and there were 4 girls - that's reason enough in my book!) so we proceeded very slowly, and in circles for quite a while. There were numerous traffic jams (not solely caused by us as there were many first time punters on the river) and we'd just get going and be crashed into on all sides. I had some grave fears for our ability to remain upright, and have to congratulate Tracey on remaining on her feet during some of those crashes. She was BRILLIANT!!! After a while when we were all frustrated, a very cute Kiwi boy came by with a tour and took pity on us (or more to the point, fancied Tracey) and allowed us to hold on to his boat and towed us up the river. This was when we felt safe enough to get cameras out of bags and snap a few photos (especially ones of the kiwi to show the girls back at Anson Road!). After about 10 minutes or so of powering up the river, he mentioned that he wasn't going back down and as we had to take our boat back to where we got it, we had to say farewell and figure out how on earth we were going to get back. But, this is where the girls got it together and we managed to get a rhythm going, especially once Bec and I figured out the paddling bit to give Tracey a rest, as the poor girl was absolutely exhausted. We made it back in pretty good time, feeling exhausted, wet and pretty proud of ourselves as we stumbled out of the boat and went searching for the nearest pub to get a drink. Shouting Tracey a drink for all her hard work, we had a drink in the cool Rat and Parrot and then decided it was time to go home, ending a fabulous day with a sweltering hot train and tube ride home, delays included. After saying farewell to Tracey as she headed out to Stanstead airport at 10pm for her week in Ireland, Bec and I crashed and slept like babies. And first thing Monday morning I jumped on the University of Cambridge website to see whether they had any positions available for librarians! That's how much I loved it! Top 3 highlights: 1. Punting when you know how to and can do it! 2. The men! Oh YES! 3. The beauty of the town and river Top 3 lowlights: 1. That I don't live there! 2. That I had to go back to London! 3. Punting when you don't know what to do!