Grantchester trips

On Sunday afternoon we had tea and cakes at Grasshopper for the graduate students living in the area before Sam, David, and I set off for a walk to Grantchester. Grantchester is a local village near Cambridge that is historic for the intellectuals that have or currently live there.  The walk was an easy 45 minutes down a long hedge-road before we arrived at the village.

Church at Grantchester

We spent a couple hours walking around Grantchester, including The Orchard where Rupert Brooke, Virginia Woolf, John Keynes, and E.M. Forster among others spent a great deal of time while attending Cambridge. Rupert Brooke was famous among other things from his poems about Grantchester, where he talked about the beauty of a small village epitomizing England. The last line in his most famous poem was “Yet stands the Church clock at ten to three? And is there honey still for tea?” We also visited Lord Byron's (poet) pool, which has been replaced in areas by a large concrete Dam, a strange decision by the government. Sunday night was relaxed because I needed to wake up early for my first full-day in the laboratory, Day 24 of my Marshall experience, where I would begin my research.

Byron's Pool

On Monday, I went in to the lab early and began reading background information for my project, wanting to be as prepared as I could for my talk with my supervisor. Unfortunately, the King’s College Chapel Roof tour was cancelled for today, on account of wind. They were concerned we would blow off the top, I guess. So I spent the entire day in the lab until our candle-lit walk to Grantchester with King’s graduates in the evening.

Instead of taking the road to Grantchester we walked the dirty path along the river Cam, which was a beautiful path, even in the dark. However, candle-lit walks and windy weather do not mix well, and our walk quickly turned a little darker than expected. We also stopped mid-way to release small hot-air fire balloons (more like fire missiles on a windy day). A full-moon helped guide our path, and we made it alright to a pub in Grantchester where we had a few drinks before a walk back on the road. Although I'm glad my adventures at Grantchester were done (it’s a long walk!), I am confident it will become a new site that I take friends and family that come to visit.

Releasing the fire missile

My friend David and I at Grantchester Pub