blogging backwards - thursday first

as fast a blog as i can make it. was up at 5:10this morning and out the door to run just before 6am. pretty cold here and i had no real idea where i was going and decided to run down the street we are staying on and head north. we are in a B&B several blocks just outside of cambridge proper in a town called girton, home of an all women's college-girton college.

so down thorton road i went all the way to a dead end and turned around and went right and north. running through a residential neighborhood of a mixed bag of single family houses, townhouses, and apt buildings. very quiet at that time of day and other than two boys delivering papers i saw nobody for a long time. finally a dog walker and two bike riders. went past a world war memorial to the 31 people from girton who died in the first two world wars and a monument of sorts to a "find" of a shield type thing from an old roman village found in the girton college field. ran into two more dead end streets and did u-turns and along the way saw some nice farms and horses out grazing with their foals. went past a few pubs, one built in 1792, pretty old and then a really old church. the oldest stone i could read was 1875, but many others had their carvings worn out.

saw a sign for the girton golf course and went that way to find out it was open to the public and that visitors should not change in the car park. they would cringe at americans putting on their golf shoes in the parking lots back home. and finally turned back to the b&b. wanted an early start as gail was due to be out of the library at 3:30 today and rain was coming in about 4pm they said on the weather report.

had a nice breakfast with a family also staying at the same place and getting ready to go to scotland. the son was a golfer and we talked of several courses we had played including one he had-mac chrahanish in campbeltown. and after breakfast i walked gail to Churchill college and then i grabbed a bus to city center. it had started to rain while i walked to the bus, some 7 hours early. from city center i had to the golf course i wanted to try and play today and i walked through a shopping area and open market and stopped long enough to buy a lob wedge for 4pounds-about $8. it was a dunlop and i figured it might come in handy if i got to play the little course i had found.

it was raining harder now. i realize that a sensible person would have given up on golf for the day and found a dry and quiet place to spend some time, but that is not my nature and i wanted to play some type of golf. so with lob wedge in hand i stopped at a local store and bought a golf vest. we had a credit at the same store in oxford and i used it and 3 more pounds to get the water and wind proof 3 pocket golf vest. that was pretty lucky and i went back out to keep walking towards the golf course.

another two+ miles later after taking cover twice in a bus stop overhead i made it to the course and went in to ask if they were still open. i had seen 4 people walking off of the course and the lady behind the counter told me they never closed and i wanted to play they would let me. for $11 i could play 9 holes and for $4 they would rent me 4 clubs, 3 balls and a small bag. she said that it was only 9 holes, all par three, but that it was challenging. she was right. she also said a replay was half price.

when a course has the name -lakes- in it you know it will have some water. 6 of the 9holes brought water into play, but that was fine as it added to the beauty. i bought a diet coke and headed out. as i walked to the first tee the sun started to come out and the rain lessened. by the time i put a ball on the tee the rain had stopped. was i meant to play today or what? and because i thought i might be, i had brought 3 of my own balls- 2 of mary's taylor mades and a number 5 pro v from julieta. pro v to start. hit it on and over the green. won't bore you with all of the details, except a couple. the course was in great shape and very pretty with pheasants and ducks and geese and rabbits running around but not in the way. the greens were pretty true and undulating and very large actually7 unless you had to hit over water to get on and then they were smaller.

the signature hole was quite short, but you had to hit over some bushes and a small lake to a roller coaster green guarded by trees and bunkers. but short enough to hit a sand wedge from the tee box. i played 18 holes today and parred and birdied the hole so that was nice- my only birdie despite hitting the flag on number 9. the guy on the practice green told me i was sort of cheated there he said as the ball bounced some 30 feet from the cup.

all in all not bad for my first golf in awhile- shot 30/30 for 6 over and didn't lose a ball. did get rained on a bit the second nine but was mostly drying out by then. spent some time putting on the brand new practice green rolling at 11 they said. it was quick. and headed back towards the city.

stopped and had some lunch and did some sight seeing along the river cam and around town and in the one mall area i found. by then gail was out of the library and we met up for afternoon tea and shortbread and walked around some. eventually we had dinner at a nice little cafe rouge and then headed back to the b&b. got home at almost 8pm and here i am. a pretty long day, but a decent one. have a new vest jacket and lob wedge and a couple of old books from the market; a good lunch and a decent dinner. met a nice artist and some friendly people from town- this town is different in many ways from oxford-more on that later. the shower beckons as does the newspaper. all in all a pretty good day. 7 miles of running and about the same in walking. walked about 16 miles yesterday but more on that later.

a trip to the botanic garden in the morning after breakfast and then back to oxford. tomorrow is the middle of may and we have 2.5 months to go. 75 days...