Punting at Cambridge | Day trip

The more you explore UK, the more you fall in love with it. An enchanting country, this place lives the history we have read.

Following is the itinerary of a day trip to the place which has and continues to bestow many scholars. The university city of Cambridge, about 50 minutes away from the capital by train.

I did that as a part of my Solo-Scape | UK and Ireland | #BucketList2019

Located by the river Cam, Cambridge is a county town of Cambridgeshire. Everything of it seems scholastic, and literally so.

So we started our train journey from London's King's Cross station in the morning.

As we reached the station, we took a bus to the city to commence a walking tour around the historical place.

Most of the interesting part of the walking tour happens along The Backs. It allows you to watch all the colleges in line foregrounded by sprawling green gardens and trees. While walking, you will see the famous King's college and its marvellous architecture. A Gothic structure, it is mesmerising to think what it would be to study in it and why did it take the longest time to get built.

The many streets and lanes amidst the colleges that the place hosts, are filled with different instances of the history. One thing that still stirs me is the Corpus Clock or famously known as the Time Eater. It was created by Dr. John C. Taylor, who was said to be passionate about clocks.

The clock is designed to show the right time once every five minutes. The insect on it seems to walk the clock. And although it seems slow, it catches up. It is fun to just stand and stare at the Time Eater and make your own inferences as to why is it called so. An erudite creation!

While walking through the bridges, you will also come across the Mathematical bridge, located near the Queen's college. It follows fascinating architural and engineering principles and is said to have no nuts and bolts in it. So how is it still there on just straight planks of wood? That was the intelligence of William Etheredge and James Esse who built it. Though the myth is that it was built by Sir Isaac Newton.

Post the walking tour, which takes about 2 to 3 hours, we went for the more exciting part - punting. Punts are long narrow boats which are propelled with the help of a long pole, usually in shallow inland waters. Before you get on the punts, you can take along some nibbles and bottle of wine along to enjoy the ride even more.

Moving along with the river, you will dig a lot more into the history of Cambridge with your guide. The ride is about an hour, which poses the university city in a different light, and a different perspective.

We took the train back to the bustling capital city of London, feeling rich and inflated with Cambridge's vibe.

When in England, do visit this trove of pedagogy.