Wednesday 27 July 2011

July 25

Day 5 - Oxford to Watlington

Breakfast at the File Mile View - we also had cereal, OJ, and coffee!  Breakfast is my favorite!!!!


Fun Fact: there are muffins of a peculiar flavor here in the UK...


Just in Wolvercote, over the bridge by the railway overpass...lots of cows in this field too!


Karen stopped to smell a rose :)


"Keep along surfaced path passing to immediate left of ruins of Godstow Abbey."  This is the view of the inside of the ruins.


Also inside the ruins - notice the maintenance worker and portable water closet :)



The outer side of the ruins at Godstow Abbey.


"This was founded in 1139 and Rosamund de Clifford, mistress of Henry II, was buried here, after her mysterious death."


"...along pleasant path with the River Thames never far away to left..."  We finally reached the river!!!!


There was a herd of horses along the River...


...and a large herd of cows...


Karen, do you see it?  Is it really there?  Really?  You see it too?  PIZZA!!!


After a wonderful lunch, Karen and I shopped for Oxford University T-shirts! :)

A merry band of street musicians in Carfax, the centre of Oxford.


The tower of St. Martin's Church on St. Aldate's street in Oxford.


The rest of St. Aldate's street in Carfax, Oxford.


The entrance to the Museum of Oxford...sadly, we did not have the time to pop in :)


"...Christ Church on left, with its splendid Tom Tower, the work of Christopher Wren..."

Alice's Shop!  "...Charles Dodgson, the writer of Alice in Wonderland, was a maths tutor at Christ Church and...Alice Liddell, the inspiration for his books, was the daughter of its Dean..."


Even more cows!  So many cows in the UK!  Love this!


"...over long footbridge crossing the Hinksey Stream where it empties into the Thames..."


Yay!  We are finally out of Oxford!  And...back in the fields.


See the "woods" ahead?  This will be the worst patch of the entire walk.  Whoever was supposed to maintain that stretch of path obviously did not.  It was horribly overgrown and hard to fight through.  Also, a bee bit me on the ear on a patch of sunburn - it tore off some skin!  After struggling through this patch, Karen and I decided we had had enough for the day.


This became our next stop, the Mole Inn at Toot Baldon.  The directions read "turn right at road junction just before reaching The Mole Inn and go down surfaced drive..."  We said "not gonna turn."

We decided to have a Pimm's and call a taxi.  We were exhausted!


We soon arrived at the Fat Fox (formerly the Fox and Hounds) in Watlington.


The pedometer said: 15.5 miles; approx. 32,800 steps; 1400 calories burned.
Total so far: 63.5 miles.

1 comment:

  1. mmm...breakfasts would be my favorite too!! (but, you can keep the muffins...) heehee ;)

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