We arrived in the UK yesterday morning after a long red-eye flight to Heathrow, and made our way up to the banks of the River Cam, Cambridge, to try to adjust to England time.  It was the perfect spot to recover.

Our hotel in Cambridge, a Doubletree by Hilton, rear left on the River Cam. Photo by me

Our room was not ready when we arrived late morning, but we managed to sit in the back garden of the hotel, and watch with great amusement as people made their way down the river on the classic mode of transportation, the punt.

The punts lined up on the River Cam ready for action. Photo by me.

Right down the block there are many vendors offering “chauffeured” punt tours of the river, a perfect way to see the backside of the great university and colleges that line the shore. By chauffeured, they mean that someone does the hard work for you.

Some “punters” were quite skilled and comfortable with the boats. Photo by me.

But you can also rent the plain wooden punts yourself, and many did on this mildly warm summer afternoon. We decided to stick to the river’s edge, and watch the action from the shore.

A perfect day to rent a punt. Photo by me.

The level of expertise at guiding the boats down the river with long wooden poles pushing in the mud, varied greatly.

But it was all done with great humor, and much camaraderie and laughter.

The best was to watch the older boatmen try to move the punts from one part of the river, over the embankment by lifting it and repositioning it in the new tributary.

In order to get the punt from one side of the tow path to the other you had to lift it out and carry it over. Quite a procedure. Photo by me.

It became even more humorous when a parade of cows coming by on the same path, who obviously had the run of the river shores, decided to join the chaos.  My camera was still in my bag waiting to get to the room so I missed the shot of the day, but we will talk about that site for years to come.

It’s good to be back in England.