Trip to Cambridge (via Nottingham)

I felt a bit guilty having time off work when we are so busy so I didn't and rather than setting off mid afternoon I got to JJ's at about 6:30. But it was a quick journey to Nottingham where Ed was to greet us. We went for a walk round Nottingham campus, drank and went to bed.

Getting lost 0:0 Midge bites

Late Saturday morning we set off for Rosie's house in Cambridge. The route I had printed though was a direct route. For example if I had wanted to go from West to East London it would have involved going straight through London rather than the M25. I'll check this in the future. It rained too as you can see from Ed's picture. We got there without getting really lost but no-one was there so we passed the time by being quite bored just waiting for Rosie to arrive.

Once we had got settled we went bowling where I started to understand spinning it. The FA Cup final was on too which was a bonus (tough it was crap so didn't miss much anyway). Rosie got the highest aggregate score which shocked everyone :-) My scores were 75 and 109 so i am gradually improving throughout the year. We then walked lots, all had pizza and chocolate fudge cake, walked lots more then played Cranium (which Rosie, Raff and I won, beating Bill's team which is always something to be proud of) and drank and talked lots. I eventually got to sleep at about 5:30am.

Getting lost 0:0 Midge bites

Yesterday we went punting on the river Cam which was good fun. I did not do the punting as my lack of balance added to general dislike of water made me quite fearful of falling in but it was nice and relaxing while (certain) other people were doing it. This gave me time to think. We walked back through the town and saw a busker playing guitar in a bin which was different! We left Rosie's for Nottingham at 4:25 aiming for a journey under 2 hours, going on quicker roads. This would have worked had we had got out of Cambridge without seeing signs for 4 of the 5 park & rides in the city first. Arrived in Nottingham 6:45.

Getting lost 1:0 Midge Bites (lots of midges seen but they don't seem to be biting this early in the year)

This was my last ever visit to Claude Street and after only staying half an hour, got to JJ's about 8:45 even after cunningly getting on the wrong road which turned out to be a quicker road and more direct, just slightly more random than the plan. Then came the scariest point of the trip as at the top of Salterhebble Hill, the traffic lights went green so I crept forward and manic boy racer flew through the red lights at 90 degrees to me. Quite easily the scariest part of the trip.

Getting lost 1:1 Near death experiences

It was a lovely weekend. Thanks for the hospitality Ed and Rosie.