This holds many great memories for me. It became a welcome retreat from the toils of business for many years. Somewhere I could escape, recharge and unwind.

Something I didn’t get a chance to do as much as I should have.

For a few years I lived in Norwich but the constant commute back to Nottingham every Monday became harder to face. So finally staying where my business was made more sense. But, the escape to a quiet place where no one knows you have always had a strange appeal.

I love exploring and understanding history, I also believe it is more fun and more educational if you are learning about somewhere you have been or are visiting.

As if it somehow transports you back to that time when you can almost imagine yourself in whatever period in history.

So it was nice to return after many years on one of the limited weekends I managed to get away between lockdowns, mask-wearing, and antiseptic hand-washing trips amid covid.

Taking my Mom for the first time was also a nice reward. Although I suspect the extra walking she had to endure, because where I thought the next coffee shop, Pub or restaurant was just around the next corner, turned out to be many corners away I am not sure she appreciated it.

Regardless, we had a good few days and even managed a punt on the river, with a cheeky but knowledgeable young student enrolled at the local University.

Many offer their services as river guides I guess to earn a few pennies whilst time off from studying.

The river cruise was a great way to see a different side of a city I love so well.

I learned in Bangkok, Thailand that if a city has a river running through it, you gain a different perspective and appreciation of a place by seeing it from the water.

History

Cambridge itself is made up of over 31 colleges all managed independently but importantly comprised to make up the university.

Among its former students or Alumni are over 100 Nobel Prize Laureates and nearly 50 heads of state for more information on who, visit here.

Among those well-known around the world to this day are undoubtedly Professor Stephen Hawkings, Sir David Attenborough, Charles Darwin, Lee Kuan Yew, (founding father of Singapore), and our own future King, HRH Prince Charles.

I think those names sum up the motto perfectly.

Motto

Hinc lucem et pocula sacra (From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge).

Cambridge’s wealth was so vast, that until only recently it was said you could walk from Cambridge to Dover without setting forth off land owned by the University.

I guess it has either been divided up or sold off now but the university today still has considerable wealth and is the center of a huge infrastructure of high-tech industry around the world.