Things to Try Before You Die - Punting

Things to try before you die. Punting. No I'm not talking about American football. Probably not one of life's most exciting activities but if you have never tried it and you plan on going to England this Summer, or you are lucky enough to live there then there is no better time or place to give it a go.

If you're an adrenaline junkie or thrill seeker it may not seem like the most appealing of activities but taking the time out of our hectic lives to live out your fantasies, read The Wind in the Willows with a flask of hot tea or to serenade your loved and a 19th century fashion can still be equally fulfilling.

The best place to try this is England. Where the skilled professional punter - thrust boatloads of tourists along Cambridge's river Cam. It speaks of the simple sensory bliss to be found in the interaction of the firm riverbed, the gigantic pole (wielded with a masterful grace) and the punt itself, pushing against the bouncing up-thrust of the gentle waters. In fact, you will soon realise it is like driving a shopping cart with a joystick from a seat where the shopping would usually go.

Your punt will logically be attracted to other punts, blocking the river under the mocking gaze of the city's adolescents, who sit to watch your incompetence from one of the city's many attractive bridges. Your reaction should be to affect an ironic indifference; something achieved more easily when you console yourself with the idea that perhaps punting was never meant to be done well. The point is to drift with unhurried apathy, admiring the beautiful college gardens and architecture, while hiding this incompetence as abstraction and reverie.

The slow river is lined with some of the grandest architecture in the country. You recline almost at the waters level as these great buildings rise around you in a sequence of noble set-pieces. Perhaps the two most note-worthy sights are Christopher Wren's library for Trinity College, which has the same rigorous perfection that many find refreshing (or overwhelming) and the chapel at King's College, a structure of dedicated authority.
When you're done punting, the colleges are fascinating places to investigate, if they'll let you in; the rules of admission vary from college to college and season to season, although you can always try behaving as if you have every right to go wherever you like and see how far you get.