Day 9 Cambridge with Ruth & Ian

A brighter, dry day and we had arranged to have a day with our good friends Ruth and Ian which is always special.  We had previously arranged to go to Cambridge for the day, a lovely city where we all had associations.  They collected us at 1000 and we were soon underway and catching up with friend and family news.  Ruth had broken her wrist in September and it was still giving problems.  They had arranged parking near the city centre and we soon found it.  The initial priority was refreshment and we soon found the Copper Kettle for a good cup of coffee and a pastry.  We then walked through some colleges but 

Kings College Chapel

were not allowed into Kings without paying a minor fortune and as we had all visited before we declined.  Christine and I had attended the Christmas Festival of lessons and carols when Christine was studying midwifery at Addenbrookes hospital.

We soon came across 

Magdalene College

Magdelene college where Michelle-Hannah (Ruth & Ian's daughter) had studied.  We entered the college quadrangle I took some photos and a video.  If you 

Ruth & Ian at Magdalene

look carefully you will see Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, who is now master of the college as well as Ian.  We looked into the college chapel and the formal dining hall before seeing the Samuel Pepys library in the next quadrangle.  All 

the river on a lovely day

very interesting with lovely company and we carried walking across the greens and over the river.  By now it was late lunch time and I had seen on tripadvisor a highly recommended pub in the vicinity.  Well, this advice will belong to our hall of fame!  We entered what was not a very well appointed pub but it had a food menu and we all selected a course to keep us in good fettle.  Unfortunately for Ian and I the fruit crumble and custard was no longer available and so we had to rechoose.  Eventually the food arrived and it was quite good quality and so it was not all bad.  We soon carried on walking, talking, visiting the market and going to the John Lewis store.  It was now afternoon tea time and so we walked to Brown's hotel and enjoyed a fine cuppa.  Whilst there we booked an evening meal at Fowlers the pub next to our Premier Inn.  When we emerged from Brown's it was getting dark and so we made our way back to the car.  The journey back to Braintree was uneventful but there had been a lorry fire on the other side of the M11 carriageway.   We had a long wait for the meal when we got to Braintree but the food quality was good when it eventually arrived.  The delay provided more time for talking!
All too soon it was time to say goodbye and we waved them off after a very enjoyable day.