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TWO GOOD VISITS THIS YEAR!
THE LONDON EYE AND PUNTING AT CAMBRIDGE
The Summer Visit was a river cruise on the Thames with lunch on board— preceded by a trip on the London Eye. It took place on Wednesday June 13th.
36 Faradians and friends booked to come and 36 actually made it!
The weather was very good, quite sunny, no rain and warm. All those going on the London Eye arrived for coffee and our President lan Alexander turned up with our tickets. We left the Premier Travel Inn at around 11.15 and set out for the Eye to catch the 11.30 "flight". Yes, that's what British Airways call it ! We queued up and gradually moved forward, somewhat upset by a group of Faradians who somehow got "fast tracked" straight to take off. The "flight" takes 35 minutes (the time the wheel takes to rotate 360 degrees). You certainly get very good views of London from the cabin. The windows are marked with North, South, East and West and some of us had purchased picture guides to show what the buildings were. Eventually we came back to earth and disembarked. Here you can buy a picture of yourself taken through the glass of the cupola as you land. Some of us went back to The Premier Travel Inn Bar and had a Gin and Tonic.
Then at 12.30 we were due back at the pier to catch our boat. This was the "Symphony", one of the Bateau London boats. Our tables were reserved and we all boarded. It was very hot Inside, somehow the air conditioners didn't seem to be working well. We removed our jackets and then It seemed more reasonable. We ordered our drinks and
we were served with a selection of pates followed by a chicken dish and then a sweet, which was chocolate torte. This was followed by coffee. During the trip we sailed along the Thames under Tower Bridge and up to Butlers Wharf. We did not go as far as Greenwich as we had expected. This may have been due to the fact that the Ark Royal was sailing into Greenwich on the same day. We turned and went back to Waterloo accompanied by a commentary on the speaker system. It was a very good day and I think everyone enjoyed it.
The Autumn Visit was a visit to Cambridge and we all went in two chauffered punts along the backs of the University colleges.
We arrived between 10.30 and 11.00 with all the motorways working well. We parked in the forecourt of the Masonic Hall and a cup of coffee and a biscuit. After being welcomed by our President, lan Alexander, and having chats with some of the 24 Faradians, wives and friends we set off to find the punts.
It was a ten to fifteen minute walk to the punts. Having seen two punts being prepared we assumed they were for us. But no! We had to wait for two more punts to arrive. About 12.10 the first arrived and a group of us piled in. The punt was chauffered by a pleasant young man called Ben.
He was very well informed about the buildings we passed, the dates they were built and interesting facts about them. Traditional Thames pleasure punts were not introduced to Cambridge
until about 1902-1904, but they rapidly became the most popular craft on the river, and today there are probably more punts on the Cam than on any other river in England. This is partly because the river is shallow and gravelly (at least along the Backs) which makes it ideal for punting, but mainly because .the Cam goes through the heart of Cambridge town centre and passes close to many very attractive old college buildings. However, the popularity of punting beside the old colleges in Cambridge produces significant congestion on this relatively narrow stretch of the river during the peak tourist season, leading to frequent collisions between inexperienced punters. These collisions are mostly harmless. We saw several punting gaffes. At the start of our trip we saw a chap punting under a bridge but his pole stuck between the bridge arch and the bed of the Cam - unfortunately the punt kept going! Other punts were broadside on to the river but our punter (Yes! that's the proper name) was good at his job and avoided the hazards.
We saw the Wren Bridge (designed by Christopher Wren in 1695), The Mathematical Bridge was built in 1749 by James Essex the Younger which is made of wood and has been there for 250 years (It joins two parts of Queens' College), Clare Bridge, which has fourteen stone balls along the walls, one of which has a slice cut out of it. One story has it the builder of the bridge was not paid in full so took a section out of one of the balls.
We also saw the Bridge of Sighs (1831) [see picture on page 1] which joins two parts of St John's College and looks to be one of the best bridges on the river. After going down to Magdalene Bridge (1823) we turned in the punt and headed back. Very shortly we passed the second punt containing the remainder of the Faraday House party.
Having got back to our mooring we disembarked and walked back to the Masonic Hall where we had lunch with a glass or two of wine. We enjoyed a prawn cocktail followed by roast lamb and then a sweet and a cup of coffee. We headed for home having enjoyed our day with no rain! Well done, lan!
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