Many thanks for all the lovely comments about yesterday's photo - it's a beautiful part of Cambridge. Today I ventured out of the town centre and challenged myself to find something interesting to take which was tricky. This is the newest bridge across the Cam - it's a split structure, half for bicycles, half for pedestrians although until recently Monty flatly refused to walk over this pedestrian half and we had to annoy cyclists by sharing their non-metallic path. The chimney is part of the Cambridge Technology museum - great if you like steam engines and oily stuff.
So if you cross this bridge and turn left you come to Stourbridge Common which may make a good picture one day if the sky is interesting but not today! However, it's a very interesting place having held various fairs from the 12th century until the Victorian era. In the 16th Century the fairs were the largest in Europe with sections for coal, tallow, fish and oysters (shells of which can still be found). In the 1660s Isaac Newton bought a copy of Euclid's 'Elements' here in order to learn mathematics and he also bought a number of optical instruments including the two prisms with which he split light. They were probably smuggled along the Fenland riverways from Venice - there was an import ban on Venetian glass at the time but it was the best quality. Today, unfortunately, there were only stinky muddy puddles with a magnetic pull over a certain spaniel.
Great shot of this very cool bridge. I agree with Monty...I'd prefer the paved portion over the metallic ~ just a personal preference. :)
I'm fascinated by Stourbridge Common. Such history all around you. Don't you love it?
@peggysirk Me too - the metal makes your eyes go funny and you can see through the gaps. The history is great & there's loads I don't know - the Common is pretty uninspiring at this time of year without it!
Judith, great curves in the path and the bridge structure. Would love to see a person in the bit of the image where the path turns sharp right :), but hey Monty was probably getting restless and would not wait for someone to enter the frame
I'm fascinated by Stourbridge Common. Such history all around you. Don't you love it?