our lady & english matyrs church, hills road

set off for a day trip to cambridge monday 25.8.2014.

we enjoyed 3 days of glorious sunshine over the weekend, weather was wet on monday, so we were hoping to escape the rain by going to cambridge. but no luck! at least we were armed with disposal raincoats + an umbrella each. sigh! 😦

it was bank holiday & son booked on internet a very cheap day return fare just £26 for 2pax for the 46mins journey from kings cross. 🙂

i found this easy walking route. the guide says “If you are visiting Cambridge, and want one walk to see things, this is the walk. You will see the Round Church, St Johns and Trinity gatehouses, the Backs, Kings College Chapel (from the outside) and the Mathematical bridge“.

we took the 8.44am train from kings cross & arrived cambridge at 9.30am. there was a slight drizzle.

our lady & english matyrs church, hills road

we checked out the map at the station & followed the station road to hills road. i took some photos of our lady & english matyrs church.

downing college lawn

we continued on regent street, and entered downing college, a college that does not charge entry fee. 🙂

st andrew’s street baptist church

i took a photo of st andrew’s street baptist church. it incorporated stone pebbles on its exterior wall design. 🙂

market square

market square

we passed by market square & also walked through the grand arcade.

round church, bridge street

we passed the round church.

view from magdalene bridge

view from magdalene bridge

& got onto magdalene bridge. it was wet & not many punts were out.

trinity college

we followed the walk past st john’s college to trinity college on trinity street. we paid £1 at the porter’s lodge to visit the trinity quad & chapel. 🙂

trinity college quad

trinity college quad

quad (or trinity great court) was nice. weather was depressing. 😦

trinity college chapel

trinity college chapel

trinity college chapel

there was a collection of sculptures at the trinity chapel. the one above is sir is sac newton.

view from garett hostel bridge

view from garett hostel bridge

exiting trinity college, we found garret hostel lane and walked on to garret hostel bridge.  the extensive backs adjoining river cam & many bridges are mostly private college property & not accessible unless you pay the entry fees. garret hostel bridge is 1 of few which is a public bridge.

from here we could see clare college ground & further king’s backs.

king’s college (view from the backs)

king’s college (view from the backs)

after crossing the bridge we walked on queen’s road, passing king’s college. i took some photos of king’s backs & the famous college buildings. 🙂

we next passed queen’s college, followed the guide & proceeded along silver street. the mathematical bridge was located within queen’s college compound & could be viewed from the silver street crossing over river cam.

a popular myth has it that-

the bridge was designed and built by sir is sac newton without the use of nuts or bolts….students or fellows of the University attempted to take the bridge apart and put it back together, but were unable to work out how to hold the structure together, and were obliged to resort to adding nuts and bolts….

newton cannot have been directly involved since he died in 1727, twenty-two years before the bridge was constructed.

king’s college

king’s college

from silver street we turned left into trumpington street & to king’s parade. we enquired about the entry fee. it was £7.50 to see king’s college, chapel & backs.  these days i treat entrance fees as worthwhile donations (which they are) for the upkeep of important museums & historical places etc. on this occasion though we did not need to visit so we did not enter the college.

the short walk was completed & we proceeded to cote brasserie for a very satisfying lunch. 🙂

c.h.e.f andy