Taking advantage of the late, late indian summer in London and wanting to make the most out of the sunny weekend, we decided to go punting. We all took turns as the punter and surprisingly enough, no one fell on the water while taking a chance on it. It is rather easy to do it, although it requires some strength to punt a long way.
A punt is a flat-bottomed boat, designed for use in small rivers or other shallow water. The punter generally propels the punt by pushing against the river bed with a pole. Punts are actually pretty similar to gondolas, the main difference being that a gondola is propelled by an oar instead of a pole.
Punting in Cambridge was introduced in the early 1900's and it rapidly became the most popular craft in the river. Today it is a popular leisure activity on the british rivers and the crowd punting along the old colleges in Cambridge is so big that in peak times, punting may well be a tough challenge.
