Motorhome parking in Cambridge

Hi all.

We're taking the Windsor to Cambridge in a week or so (lived in Oxford for three years, never been to Cambridge), staying at the CC Cherry Hinton site. I'd be grateful for any information anyone can provide regarding parking the M/H in or around the city centre. Off to check the Council's website, Google etc, but would welcome any first hand knowledge and experience.

Thanks in anticipation

Tony

Could you not use public transport ?
We stayed at Cherry Hinton a few years ago and walked into Cambridge (and back) although it was something stupid like -7 and we aren't mega fit.
Bus stop outside site. Loads of buses.
There are park and rides around Cambridge one of which is recommended for MHs.
Cambridge is brilliant for cycling with loads of cycle tracks and parking.

I think the Trumpington Park and Ride is the only one that allows Motorhomes. Ithink it has a separate entrance for them so don't go the same way as the cars. Look out for a sign and check the website. If you have bikes, I would use them. There are no hills and many cyclepaths and lots of other cyclists. Make sure you have good locks for your bikes and secure them to something when you leave them.
There are buses from Cherry Hinton into town as well.
Parking in Cambridge is very expensive and the central car parks all have height restrictions .There is metered parking on The Backs but I don't think it is suitable for Motorhomes.
There is lots to do even in the rain. Good shops as well. I really miss John Lewis!Don't forget to visit The Fitzwilliam Museum and as a change from Cambridge how about visiting The Imperial War Museum at Duxford or Angelsey Abbey at Lode or Wicken Fen
We lived just outside Cambridge for a long, long time! It has some beautiful buildings and gardens but was not designed for cars and certainly not for Motorhomes!

Thanks for the replies.

I'd love to use my bike to get around Cambridge, but my OH doesn't cycle, and consequently we don't have a cycle rack fitted to the MH ( ). So there's two reasons for why it ain't going to happen . We also have two Springer Spaniels. They're well accustomed to being in the van, indeed sometimes at home they're left in the van if visitors (or workmen) are for some reason nervous of them, and they seem to treat it as a safe haven - a space where they can relax. But we'd rather not leave them there when on a site in case they annoy the neighbours. It's never happened, but there's always a first time...

Google (the search engine, not the one I live with ) put me on to the Trumpington Park & Ride, so that looks like it might be an option, and has the added benefit of shortening the time they'd be unattended. We'll see how it goes.

Thanks - and if anyone has any other information it'll be much appreciated.

Tony

In MMM magazine Summer2012 there is a letter entitled "Unwelcome in the UK" which talks about the problems someone with a motorhome encountered at Trumpington Park and Ride with height barriers and bollards. There is apparently a number you should phone beforehand to get directions.
01223 846821
I hope this is of some use.

I see Tony but would the dogs be any happier/safer in a park and ride (or car park) ?
People would still go near to the van and they may bark and you may have the additional problem of someone reporting them if it is warm (not much hope i know but it may be)
Perhaps choosing a secluded or end pitch at Cherry Hinton may the best option. Then it lessens the chances of people passing. Have a look at the site diagram on line and see where this could work.
Also the trip to/from the P&R may be as long as the bus from the site so it may not lessen the time they are alone.

Campievanner wrote:Perhaps choosing a secluded or end pitch at Cherry Hinton may the best option. Then it lessens the chances of people passing. Have a look at the site diagram on line and see where this could work.
Also the trip to/from the P&R may be as long as the bus from the site so it may not lessen the time they are alone.

I agree. Cherry Hinton site is made up a several small cul-de-sacs of pitches, so not many strangers will approach your pitch to disturb your dogs and that P&R is not exactly close to the city.

I think you ring that number once you get to the park and ride. They had to implement barriers because they had problems with long stay Travellers taking over the motorhome bays. The number to ring is apparently on the roundabout.
The Cherry Hinton site is almost as close to the city centre as the Park and Ride and it can take ages to get to the city centre at busy times from either place.
I think leaving the van at the Cherry Hinton Site is probably your best bet and catching a bus from there.

Tony

I know that side of Cambridge quite well; for years I used to visit Marshalls Aerospace at the Airport and it's still the side I approach it from here on the Essex/Suffolk/Cambs border. Campievanner is quite correct - if it's at all possible, leave the dogs at home in the 'van and in surroundings they've had a chance to get used to. Then get the bus. There is no point whatsoever in trying to use the Park and Ride at the Gog Magog roundabout on Babraham Road, it's only two fields from the CC site and actually further out of town. It's the one I normally use these days and takes what always seems like forever to get into and out of Addenbrookes on the way there and back. As for the Trumpington Park/Ride, you'd actually have to go in towards town as far as Addenbrookes only to fight your way out again. Believe me, the game ain't worth the candle. Cambridge is a navigational nightmare for the stranger. The bus drivers however, for the most part, seem to know where they are going!

Either way, enjoy Cambridge, it's a delight. You need to take your time though as many of the University gems hide their lights very carefully under a bushel and take finding. To the (excellent) list of visit ideas I'd add the Fitzwilliam (though not the Scott Polar Institute - they missed a real chance with their uninspired Scott centennial) and the University Botanical Gardens, a delight at almost any time of year.

Just a final operational thought in passing. If the site wardens had your mobile number and the dogs did kick off, you could always leg it back to the site. If they were in a car park and deeply unhappy, you wouldn't know and they might even become destructive.

eggnog
(as it happens the other Tony F on ASOF)