May 6, 2008
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Bank Holiday
Monday was a Bank Holiday in England. We Ah-MUR-ih-kinz would call it a Federal Holiday. We didn’t have any real plans, but since it was such a sunny, warm day, we decided to walk to Grantchester and have tea at The Orchard, a tea shop frequented by writers in the past. TGD abandoned the office in favor of a day with us, and we began our walk. After 30 minutes of walking and getting warmer and warmer, TGD said, “Why don’t we punt to Grantchester?”
What is a punt, other than something you do on fourth down, you ask? Imagine a wooden canoe, but flatter and wider with a platform at one end for someone to stand on. The punt is propelled through the water by that standing someone pushing a long pole into the river’s bottom. It’s quite a popular activity in Cambridge.
We got to the punt rental place and found it was 14 pounds an hour for us to punt ourselves and 90 pounds round-trip for them to take us to Grantchester. We opted to go by ourselves.
We loaded our sodas and lunch into the punt and headed out on our “It should take you a little over an hour” trip to Grantchester. Ten minutes later, still an easy stone’s throw from the dock where we launched, the rental owner called to us. “Are you planning to go all the way to Grantchester?” he asked, concern on his face.
“No, I think we’ll just see how far we get,” I called back sheepishly.It turned out that we didn’t get very far. We were able to walk the distance we punted in about 10 minutes, but it took us an hour’s punting to go that far. It didn’t matter, though, as it was a lot of fun. We all took a turn at it, even Little Miss (with Wit’s help).
The Cam River has an upper and lower part, which we did not know. We had to take the punt up over rollers to get onto the river for Grantchester. Little Miss enjoyed sitting in the punt when we had to roll it back down. We saw two different people fall in while trying to get over this roller. We stayed dry (and smug).
We also got quite familiar with the trees on each side of the river. Punts are NOT easy to steer!
Low bridge, every punter down!
Crusin’ down the river on a Monday afternoon…
Ah, bliss.
Have you experienced bliss lately?
Comments (22)
Sleeping in is bliss. I wish I never had anywhere to be before noon.
About a week ago, Baby J slept for a few hours in a row, and I only had to get up with Jersey Junior once during that time…bliss!!
fun! sure looks easier than it is, huh? what a good way to spend an afternoon! kind of reminds me of what i’d imagine a gondola to look like.
That is just too cool! Wish I could do it! Did you ever make it to Grantchester?
You all do SUCH FUN family things! Bliss…I got to spend time with both of my boys today at the same time! Ds#1 and I voted, then the three of us went to brunch afterward.
What a fantastic day!
Yesterday was bliss for me. Although we didn’t seem to have your sunshine.
x
Now THAT looks pretty cool. So people still do that, huh? wonder why no one does in the US? Too busy, I guess…
That does look like fun (if you are with people you like) hahahah
And yes, I have another house lined up. We are downscaling. I have had about all the fun I can have in a 3 story log house. I really like this house and love the location but I am ready for a little smaller.
Ahhhh…what I wouldn’t give for a little punt down the Cam.
Hey, lady, you’re tagged.
Hi, stumbled onto your blog awhile back and really liked your travel entries. This one in particular brought back so many memories. I studied abroad there and also went punting in Cambridge, complete with tree in the face and non-existent steering. Punting is hard! But I would love to go back! Did you ever make it to Grantchester? Sipping tea in the Orchard was one of the best things I remember from England.
@ivorygem -
Thanks so much for stopping by my site! No, we didn’t make it to Grantchester. We made it from Sidgwick Ave. to Fen Causeway! We decided that I’d go to Grantchester with anyone who wanted to go with me (probably my daughter only) at a later date. I do want to sip tea and have a scone in The Orchard.
how need-like that last photo
Ahhhh, lovely! Yes, btw, I am Europe sick now! An entire year!
Tomorrow I am having a “self-induced” bliss, of sorts… I am calling off school and having an entire day of gardening! A friend said something tonight at our Homeschool I.D.E.A. Exhibit Night and it encouraged me to get the kids involved and have a lovely day of hoeing and planting!!
Your punting sounds quite fun, so long as everyone kept jovial spirits inspite of the difficult steering! Maybe we’ll even follow a bit of your example, too, and take a little boat ride down our canal out to the lake!
Our trip was very good. We took 11 days and drove 6 of them… ugh! But the weather was great!! The scenery was awesome! We stopped in OK to visit my mom on the way down to Texas and on the way back, again. My grandfather was kinda grumpy… NOT his usual joking, funny self. He seemed to be annoyed even with our visits at first. SO unlike him! He’s 3 months away from his 97th birthday and we really wanted this to be a good visit, since it was probably our last. I prayed really hard before we saw him for our last visit there in the nursing home and when we got there, he really seemed more chipper and pleasant. We got to sing our silly song that we made up for him on the way down (something he’s known to do is making up silly songs about people) and tell him several of our knock-knock jokes… he even sang with us! As we left, I got to tell him that I’m really glad he is still around for us to come visit and that every day of his life was ordained by God before one of them came to be and that he’s still here for a purpose. His eyes lit up and he seemed to really be encouraged by that. I felt like that was something I was supposed to tell him when I got down there and was glad that he “got it”. He’s still got such a sharp mind & has been in fairly good health… he’s just tired of being here on earth & wants to go Home. My mom called today and said he may be on his way out, though. His blood pressure went way low and they’ve called hospice. Anyway, there’s all sorts of other “technical” stuff I could tell you, but, I’m tired and need to have a glass of chocolate milk, I think… it’s a lot less calories than a bowl of “death by chocolate” ice cream… and less chance OF dieing by that chocolate, which is nothing to sneeze at!! Oh, I think I need popcorn, too! And a movie… and a foot massage, but, I can’t imagine where I’d get one of those! O.K., just call me a glutton!!! (“Pet me! Cuddle me! Feed me!”… sheesh, I’m a stinkin’ poodle!)
Hope you have a great day tomorrow…. sweet dreams!! (you’ve probably been in bed for 4 hours by now!)
Looks like fun
God bless you, Mary.
What a lovely life you have!
No, not so much with the bliss. Occassional bouts of contentment though.
RYC- snitty not fun. Is it nessasary though? I’m not sure. It probably goes person by person. Scary! How do you deal with it? Is it hormonal?
Marvelous!
It sounds like this experience is a memory your whole family can enjoy over and over again.
Hmm. Knights and Chivalry, you say?
That looks like so much fun, even if you didn’t get far! Wow. I’m adding more and more things to my “someday I’m going to do this” list after reading about your adventures.
I reiterate, “You are doing such wonderful and different things over there.” I love the pictures of your punting adventure. I want to do that too! As for bliss, I’m sure I have missed several opportunities lately. I finally started taking Perika, it was getting so bad.