Every trip in Peggy seems to combine history, unexpected discoveries and a healthy dose of nostalgia, but our journey to Cambridge had something extra special about it.
The adventure began with a stop in Huntingdon, my birthplace, for a quick lunch. Huntingdon may look like a quiet market town today, but it has a fascinating history stretching back over a thousand years. It was once an important trading centre on the Great North Road and is perhaps most famous as the birthplace of Oliver Cromwell. As we wandered through the town, it felt strange knowing that this was where my own story began before Peggy carried us off on countless adventures elsewhere.
Suitably fed, we continued towards Cambridge, one of Britain's most famous and beautiful cities. One of the great advantages of travelling in Peggy is that sometimes luck is on your side, and on this occasion we managed to park right outside the colleges. Not bad for a motorhome!
Cambridge is a city where history seems to stand around every corner. The university dates back to 1209, making it one of the oldest universities in the world. As we walked through the ancient streets, surrounded by magnificent college buildings, it was impossible not to imagine the generations of students, professors and famous thinkers who had walked the same paths before us. Scientists, poets, kings and prime ministers have all left their mark here.
For me, however, the highlight of the day wasn't one of the famous colleges. It was a visit to the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences.
The museum is named after Adam Sedgwick, one of the founding figures of modern geology and the man who first identified and named the Cambrian geological period. Inside, the museum houses an extraordinary collection of fossils, minerals and prehistoric treasures that tell the story of life on Earth over hundreds of millions of years.
But this wasn't simply a museum visit.
For me and in memory of my dad, it was a trip down memory lane.
Many years ago, he worked at the museum as its curator, helping to care for and develop the collections that visitors still enjoy today. Walking through the galleries was like stepping back in time to my childhood Every display seemed to trigger a story, a memory or an anecdote from his time there.
What made the visit even more special was the kindness of the museum staff. The current Educational Outreach Officer generously allowed us access to Dad's old office. Standing in the very room where he had once spent so much of his working life felt like stepping back through time. It was wonderful to see old memories come flooding back as he pointed out familiar corners and shared stories from years gone by.
Of course, no visit to the Sedgwick Museum would be complete without admiring the dinosaurs. Skeletons towered above us, ancient fossils sat quietly in their display cases, and millions of years of Earth's history unfolded room by room. Yet despite the incredible exhibits, it was the human history attached to the building that made this visit truly memorable.
After leaving the museum, we spent time wandering through Cambridge itself. The city has a remarkable atmosphere. Bicycles outnumber cars, students hurry between lectures, tourists queue for punting trips on the River Cam, and centuries-old buildings stand proudly beside bustling cafés and bookshops.
The colleges themselves are architectural masterpieces. Their grand gateways, ancient courtyards and manicured lawns seem untouched by time. Some of them are over 500 years old and have survived civil wars, plagues and world wars, continuing to educate some of the brightest minds in the world.
As the afternoon drifted by, we found ourselves reflecting on how unusual the day had been. Many of our adventures focus on discovering somewhere new, but this journey was equally about rediscovering somewhere familiar. For Dad, it was a chance to revisit an important chapter of his life. For the rest of us, it was an opportunity to see Cambridge through his eyes.
As always, Peggy waited patiently for our return, parked amongst centuries of history and ready for the next leg of the adventure.
After leaving Cambridge, we made one final stop at St Neots, before heading home with heads full of fossils, family stories and happy memories. It had been a day of dinosaurs, discovery and nostalgia—a perfect combination for another unforgettable adventure in Peggy.
Create Your Own Website With Webador