Punting, Cambridge

Getting in and out of the punt wasn't as tricky as you might think, we didn't wobble much at all and I don't think we were in danger of tipping over. But as we were sitting in the punt, Donna's sunglasses fell in the river, fast reflexes prevailed and Donna was able to retrieve them. Not so lucky was Joy who's cellphone went overboard as she was exiting the punt, no way to retrieve in and even if she did, I suspect water is not good for cellphones...

As we were ambling along the River Cam on our punt Joy was dragging her hand in the refreshing water. Until our guide warned us about the pollution in the River. I suppose if you think of it sensibly Cambridge is mostly full of students & loutish behaviour. Apparently if you drink too much of this polluted water you will become very ill - Joy did suggest it may be an excellent alternative for someone that wanted to loose weight the easy way.

Needless to say we all kept our paws in the boat thereafter.

Please see Donna's very funky sunglasses, lucky for her & some fancy catching they live to sit another day on that pretty head. Unfortunately Joy's mobile phone was not so lucky & fell prey to the depths of the River Cam.

So make sure your phones & any small accessories are safely tucked away in the punt lest the same fate befalls you.

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When we were enroute to our boat to go punting, several of the punters were trying to get us to use their services. Well, it went from taking off their shirts to show how studly the punters were (I was with 4 women, so it wasn't THAT odd that 2 men were vying for our business) to dropping their trousers and displaying their wares.

And yes, the one guy on the left shall hereafter be known as Tripod!

Punting is a must do in Cambridge, but be careful! Not only that it is frightiningly expensive, moreover it is really dangerous. Everybody starts with a boat full of (drunken?) tourists without knowing how to punt. When its high noon on the cam, take your seats on the riverside or on one of the bridges and enjoy the collision-festival.

Beware when punting if you have not done it before! Every time we go we see some poor soul lose his pole in the river. Our guide on our punt tour informed us that the Cam, where it runs along The Backs, is actually much deeper at the edges than it is in the centre, and of course most novice punters keep to the edge. This makes it much more tricky and more likely that you will lose your pole!

watch out for amateur punters going backwards or running into other punts. They can cause a big backup on the Cam

If you go punting try not to leave the pole behind. It's even worse if you lose it near a bridge, on a nice summer's day, as this pair did. Almost everyone on the bridge will take a picture!