Something a bit different today, a day drip to Cambridge on the coach with my brother Dean and my friend Justin. I'd been looking forward to this for ages and enjoyed the day out, but I was disappointed with the city...and of course the persistent rain didn't help. I've not been to Cambridge before and so wanted to see as much as possible and so just rushed round taking photographs. Fortunately it was only the rain that was causing problems for me operating the camera, and not my hands, which after an allergic reaction last weekend in the Peak District when they were covered in quite painful blisters are now on their way to healing...details are on my previous post.
There are some beautiful and interesting buildings in Cambridge but it didn't seem very welcoming to visitors at all. So many areas, especially in the colleges, are off limits to members of the public, or there's a quite steep admission charge, so my opportunities for photography were curtailed. The mapping and signage makes it difficult to navigate your way around the city, I struggled to find the locations of the public toilets. I'm assuming it's now the off season, but it was still very busy; there are few pedestrianised areas in the city, and even when you find one you're not safe from speeding cyclists weaving in and out all the time. The two museums I visited were cluttered, confusing, and without any focus or direction...and the churches were nothing special. Finally, at the coach drop off and pick up point there are no seats and nowhere to shelter; when I arrived at the location Justin was standing exposed on the grass, leaning on his elbow crutch and looking thoroughly fed up; he was even desperate for the toilet - luckily there is one nearby...easily missed though.
My friend Justin didn't like Cambridge at all, he couldn't find CEX, his favourite shop, the meals he was served were both too small, and he kept getting lost - he had to go inside a bank and ask one of the tellers for directions how to get back to the coach - she wrote detailed instructions on two sides of a piece of paper...but he still struggled.
My brother was totally non-committal, just saying that we shouldn't judge anywhere when we visit on a rainy day. He'd been to Oxford earlier in the year and on the journey back home I tried really hard to get him to opt for one university city over the other, but he wouldn't.
We didn't stop at the services on the journey home and so it only took just over two hours to get back to Doncaster.
I'm going to put a bit of extra effort into pimping this particular blogpost in the hope that someone at Cambridge City Council or Cambridgshire County Council might read it and maybe some feedback might get back to the relevant authorities...you really do need to make the city more welcoming to tourists; it's not just all about Town and Gown.
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