Walking Tours

In 2008, during 'thecitywakes' festival (which ran from October 22nd-November 1st), Blue Badge guides from the Cambridge Tourist Board took Syd Barrett fans on tours around the city centre and to other nearby locations relating to Syd. These proved to be very successful.

Prior to these tours, Stephen Pyle, Warren Dosanjh and others - who had been friends of Syd and themselves had grown up in 1960s Cambridge - were asked to conduct a couple of pre-emptive city centre tours for the guides themselves. These were to familiarise the guides with the 1960s music and social venues (many of which no longer exist), that Syd and other teenagers had frequented. Of course there are many stories and anecdotes from those days, many of which have never been told or put into print.

It was strongly suggested that these city walking tours should continue. Those of us who knew Syd and - equally as importantly - lived in those influential days of a changing youth culture, undertook four successful tours during the summer of 2009.

These tours received tremendous feedback and so in both 2010 and 2011, more tours took place, both times in conjunction with Brain Damage - a very good Pink Floyd news and information site run by Matt Johns - which we highly recommend you visit. In the words of Matt: "The walking tour of the city took in many of the more significant sites which were connected to the life and times of Syd and the various bands which lead to Pink Floyd, providing a fascinating and illuminating look at those early days."

There are no set dates for tours this year. We have decided only to run a tour for 8 or more people. You may of course contact us even if you are not a party of 8, with a preferred date and we would then try and put together a group tour - as below.

June 30th - 1 place left.

Due to the economic climate we have reduced the cost of the tour to Ł12.50 per person with all the tours starting at 10.30am from the front of the Guildhall on the Market Square.

Whether you choose to attend a tour or not, you may be interested in our tour booklet free download featuring many rare photographs and anecdotal tales of 1960s Cambridge. As the fourth edition of the booklet is even larger than ever and contains many new photographs, we hope to make it available on a high quality Print-On-Demand basis later this year. Contact us if you would be interested in purchasing this non-profit product.

For a comfortable, inviting place to stay where you can relax before and after your walking tour, choose Citybase Apartments. Our serviced Cambridge apartments provide a refreshing alternative to a hotel, giving you a luxurious home away from home at a great price.

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Hi Warren. Many thanks to you and Stephen & Dave & Mick for a fun, and only slightly damp day on Saturday. We all enjoyed ourselves immensely. That bridge over the Mill pond has hardly changed over the years. Just a lot less people sitting on it. I'm still puzzled as to how you get an Austin 7 up on to the roof of Kings College chapel though!

Roger Little - Pooh Corner

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Can't fault the tour. It was great to meet-up again with a mate who had emigrated to Australia in the late 60s. There were so many anecdotes flying around that I may do the tour again next year! Warren has a very diverse knowledge of the 60s Cambridge youth scene. He and Steve provided a very relaxed narrative as we meandered around the city centre with hardly any question unanswered and loads of ad-libbing. Lots of stuff about Syd too, that has never been in print. Excellent.

Stuart Brignell - Spain

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Richard and I had a wonderful time in Cambridge on Saturday. The subject of the tour was raised on several occasions as our weekend in France progressed - there was a touch of envy from those who had not been there. It was a pleasure to meet you guys and to wander around your old haunts in such a leisurely way and in such good company. To hear the story from the horses' mouths, if you'll forgive the expression, is something really quite out of the ordinary. Your testimonies and anecdotes are literally priceless (and often at variance with the biographies). On a personal note, I'd like the tour to have been a little longer. It was fascinating talking/listening to you guys (even when off the subject of Cambridge and Syd). Being nothing of a Syd completist, there were so many things that came up that it was hard for me to put them all into perspective/chronological order and sift through them into some sort of pattern. I'm left, inevitably I guess, with rather more questions now than I had before! All the best and many thanks for an eye-opening trip in space and time.

Steve Foster - London

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Steve and I both want to thank you for an excellent tour last Saturday. We thoroughly enjoyed meeting you all and would have liked another three hours of your anecdotes and company. Thank you especially for teaching me some new facts about Cambridge - you think you know a place.........uhmm? It was especially good to meet Jenny and chat to her about Syd - slightly surreal though after having spent the last six months reading about him to meet so many people that actually knew him. I wonder what he would have thought about your tours. I'm glad that we had the chance to participate and it was an absolute pleasure to meet you all.

Kate & Steve Brown

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View Lee Woods Virtual Tour of Syd`s Cambridge

Walking Tours

View Lee Woods Virtual Tour of Syd`s Cambridge