Day 3 - Camden to Cambridge

The day began with the sight of a woodpecker on the bird feeder two metres from the house where we were staying. Very exhilarating.

From Kentish Town we took the 134 to Friern Barnet and from the same bus stop, the 234 to Barnet Church and that was the end for us of the remarkably efficient London transport system. Then to St Albans and separate buses to Stevenage, Letchworth, Royston and, finally, Cambridge. The leafy suburbs of north London are in great contrast to the transpontine brick desert of the south east. Actually we weren’t very impressed with anywhere we travelled through today. Endless identical high streets between towns which nearly merge into each other. The only exception was Welwyn Garden City which lives up to its name. It is delightful and the centre (probably protected by listing) is still an elegant twenties square uncluttered by advertisements or neon. Letchworth Garden City is also very pleasant.

Some of the buses today were extremely crowded with school children and others. But it is amusing how all these buses, called service buses in the trade, suddenly do a figure of eight to pick up passengers from a trading or housing estate, a hospital or a supermarket. If you think you have seen that allotment site before you probably have.

The connections between today’s buses were excellent except for Letchworth to Royston. They only run every two hours so we had lunch there. A happy drunk who heard us discussing this problem could not understand why we didn’t catch a train and offered to escort us to the station. Letchworth also has an excellent independent new and second hand book and music shop called David’s.

But now we are in Cambridge and all the clichés apply.