22 December. From Blakeney to Cambridge

The storm has left Blakeney and so did we. We were southbound to Cambridge, where we would spend 4 days there, while H will leave for Stevenage on Christmas Eve. It would be 2 precious days with our kid before we next see her again in 2024.

9am. We checked out and drove towards Ely. It was a 1.5 hr drive, just in time for lunch. 

We toured the little town of Ely, parked at the Ship Lane car park which was free all day. The Great Ouse was full and fast flowing, but not to the point of breaching the banks. The riverside walk was beautiful and calm, with many sluice gates installed along that section of the Ouse. (trivia fact: Virginia Woolf took her life at the Ouse at E Sussex)

At High St, we located the Almondry, which is the cafe arm of Ely Cathedral. H told us Ely is a popular spot for Cambridge students because it is near Cambridge. High St Ely was very lively with many secondhand shops. It indicated a well to do area as  the inhabitants were able to give away good quality clothings.

At Almondry Tea Room, we had sandwiches which were superb and affordable. Then we walked around the church grounds to admire the immense church and stone buildings around it. I thought it was grander than the Salisbury Cathedral to be honest.

There was no ice cream to be had so we walked back to the car at Ship Lane. It look us 30 minutes, with an unnerving start because all of us had no data, hence no live map to guide us Cambridge.

The traffic into Cambridge started to build up as we got nearer to city. It was not yet 3pm, but cars, buses and bikes jostle for precious limited real estate on the road into the Cambridge Center.

We drove into Regent Terrace and looked for the black gate behind our private car park. The car park was behind the building, with its gates thrown wide open. After accessing the key in the key box, we found the obscure door leading up 2 floors to the apartment. The metal spiral staircase made me very nervous and I stayed in the smallish apartment while H and Pat brought up the luggages. 

The car park was used as storage for exposed Covid ART kits, clearly expired

To be more precise, it was 65A Regent Terrace, not Regent St. The apartment was narrow and deep, enough for 3 person max. The kitchen was well stocked and the apartment adequate. The only bugbear was the spiral stairs down/up to the back door and a gate that requires unlocking a padlock to get out of the compound. Otherwise, the living room has views of Parker's Piece and the bedroom and kitchen as views of Regent St. Both from and back were well lit.

We bought some rice ball dumplings from Jia Mart, stowed it away in the apartment and set out to Grand Arcade, where each of us have something in mind to buy.

Pat unfortunately could not locate the penshop, I bought a romper (14 gbp) for Claire's baby and H had a pair of Doc Martins boots (146 gbp). I considered it a fruitful mission having accomplished our shopping goals in less than an hour.

Dinner was Indian at Tiffin Truck. The food was excellent and lip smacking good esp the nasi bryani and lamb.

As usual, we stocked up at Sainsbury Local before calling it a day. To celebrate the winter solstice, we even had rice dumplings in red bean soup.

That little celebration, it took 9 years to happen.