Punt Tour on theCam

A chauffered tour in a punt on the Cam is can be a wonderful way to spend an hour when you are in Cambridge.

You can take out self-hire punts, and it may be fun, but you miss out on all the information and anecdotes that your guide entertains you with on the way. Plus it probably takes more than a couple of hours tuition to become competent.

Our guide on the Friday after Easter was a recent graduate of Sheffield University, who lives locally, and this had been his summer job since he was sixteen. He was certainly very competent at punting, making it look effortless, and he also knew a lot about Cambridge.
We started by Silver Bridge, and the route to Quayside took us past several colleges, under various bridges. There are some great sights, Kings College chapel, Trinity College Library, designed by Sir Christopher Wren, and gardens stretching down to the river.
The Cam used to be navigated with horses pulling barges from a tow-path, like a canal, which worked well until they got to Cambridge, where there was no tow-path on account of the the colleges owning the land right up to the river, and buildings on both sides near the quayside.  The solution was to lay gravel on the river bed, so that it was shallow enough for the horses to walk on the river bed pulling the barges.

That is how it is that punts are propelled by pushing the pole against the gravel on the river bed. There is always the danger that the pole gets stuck in the gravel. The secret is to let go of the pole, and stay on the boat. I am sure you feel sheepish, but at least you stay dry.  We had the good fortune to see someone do exactly that, and our guide very expertly retrieved the pole for them.

Punts are flat bottomed and very stable, they have blankets in case it gets cold, and umbrellas in case it rains. Thankfully we did not need them. The full ticket price as £16.50 each, but somebody from Scudamores gave us a voucher so it cost the two of us just £26.00.
fter the tour, we went to the nearby Fitzwilliam Museum looking at ancient Assyrian and Egyptian artefacts, and French Impressionists but missed the Chinese Jade that, quite coincidentally was stolen later that night.

Celebrating Easter in Carnforth

No we were not in Carnforth at Easter, but we were there in time to see the Easter decorations in Market Street

Finchingfield

Travelling between Braintree, where we had visited the Warner Textile Archive and Saffron Walden, on our way to Cambridge, we could not help but stop at the picturesque village of Finchingfield.

Dovedale

If you sometimes think, on your way from Ullswater to Kirkstone, that some of the valleys on either side would make a good walk, then you would be right.
The last valley on the right, lying between Middle Dodd, and High Hartsop Dodd, is Caiston Glen which has a path running alongside Caiston Beck leading to Scandale Pass. This was my return route.
My outward route one Sunday last month was up the next valley of Dovedale, starting from Brotherwaters Inn, or Sykeside camping site, where the convenient parking costs just £2.50 for the day.
After some mixed weather the previous two days, last Sunday was a beautiful bright clear day, with excellent visibility and a great day for walking.

The path goes through the camp site across the beck to some farm buildings, then turns left past another farm, where there was a herd of black cows. They did not seem particularly perturbed as I walked through the herd.
The walk was gentle at first, with Hartsop above How on the right, and High Hartsop Dodd across the other side of the valley to the left, with the stream some distance off in the valley.

After a while the path comes nearer the stream, and then crosses it over a footbridge. By this point the valley has widened, the stream turns off to the right, there is a hill in the middle of the valley, and on the left there are a series of streams, flowing into Hogger Gill, that cut into the hillside as it sweeps round the corner of the valley.

The path starts to rise here, and there are some waterfalls, including one high one, which was quite spectacular.

Then there is a second footbridge, and we joined the path on the right hand side of the stream.

I had seen three men in white shirts on this path, which had missed out the cows and the waterfall. They were young geordie lads, who were just drying off and warming up after a dip in one of the pools in the stream. Very hardy young lads. While I was chatting with them, we were passed by a couple I had met at the waterfall. Six of us had the whole valley to ourselves.

looking back down the valley, towards Caudale

The path continues climbing a little higher up the hillside from the stream, which curves round behind the hill. It feels quite concealed and closed in at this section. It is a river valley with steeply sloping sides rising either side of the stream.

The valley curves round behind the hill.

The path then takes a turn to the right, and becomes very steep indeed. It is almost a staircase, with stones set into the hillside making a clear path up the steep slope, which climbs to the right of the rather fearsome looking Dove Crag. The view gets better and better, across to High Street, and past Place fell across to the Pennines.

Part of the valley concealed behind the hill

Then it becomes less steep again, less rocks and more grass. I left the path here, and tried to find the cave, called Priest's Hole, but I did not find it. Then I ended up missing the path, so I scrambled up the last bit of slope to the ridge, and enjoyed a picnic looking down over Rydal Glen, and out past Windermere to Morecambe Bay.

I had my picnic looking down over Rydale, and out towards Morecambe Bay

I walked up to Hart Crag, where the all round view was spectacular, across to Helvellyn, and over Kentdale  to the Howgills. I looked down on Hartsop above How, that was towering above me in the valley not long before.

Looking out past Penrith to the pennines

The route back was down from Hart Crag, up to Dove Crag, which was quite busy, and then by a path that runs alongside a fence that keeps a respectful distance from the top of the steep slopes with the streams that flow into Hogger Gill, which I had admired earlier in the day.

Scandale Tarn in the foreground, and Windermere in the distance

I could see the three geordie lads ahead of me, and thought I might catch them up, but they went back across the top, onto High Hartsop Dodd, while I went at the bottom of the valley, walking alongside Caiston Beck.

A pond on the plateau

Caiston Glen is a river valley, with steep grassy sloping sides, strewn with rocks, and some shrubs growing toward the top on the south facing slope. The beck has carved a deep gulley at points, and there are some waterfalls. The valley runs fairly straight, and then turning slightly as it reaches Kirkstone Glen.

Waterfalls in Caiston Glen

Waterfall on Claiston Beck

From this point there was a breeze, stronger than there had been on the ridge, and coming from the North.
I met someone who has spent the afternoon climbing boulders alongside the path, who remarked that the breeze was quite cool. Then I met another man who had just recently taken up walking, who chatted with me as we made our way to the carpark, walking at some pace, so that I could get back to meet Ann at the agreed time, which I just managed to do.
What a great day's walk.

Caiston Glen has carved a deep gulley at points

Arnside on the previous evening