Woke up to overcast skies and light rain, as well as a bad nights sleep, but I was still determined to get another stretch of the Thames under my belt. I would be passing through Oxford hopefully stopping off at a Hindu Festival at Rosehill I had seen posted on Facebook. I was up early and unusually had scrambled eggs on toast for breakfast.
Where to end the walk was a challenge, the Pear Tree Park and ride was about the right distance but a half mile walk from the river. My plan was to park at Wolvercote near the river then walk to the park and ride, but when I got there I was right next to a bus stop so after a short wait I was on my way to the city centre to get the 35 to Lower Radley where I had finished the week before.
Whilst in a queue of traffic near my destination I saw a woman and no less than three young kids on a three person bike (one kid looked too young to pedal) they were on an incline and very low gear but they got to the top in the end. The bus to the centre took in a neighbourhood with some very large three storey houses, I wonder who lives there perhaps the Oxford professors?
A short walk from one end of the high street to the other was needed to get the bus out of town, then a short wait for the 35. The first bus was £2.10 and the one to Radley station was £2.60, what with the free parking it would be a relatively cheap transport day.
The path is a bit over grown from the rowing club and I noticed a few Fresh water clam shells on the path. I’m not sure what would be able to dive for them then eat them, and also leave them on the path. I heard a Cuckoo which sounded quite close, and after scanning the tops of the trees I managed to get a glimpse, I always think it is better to see a bird than just hear it to claim the tick on the year list.
At Iffley lock I headed away from the river and up hill through a very well to do area called Rosehill where the Festival was being held. It turned out to be not what I was expecting, it was a small affair all indoors, I was expecting a big setup. I did not stay long as the food was not ready and I was expecting rain early afternoon and needed to get a move on.
The towpath became very good as I approached Oxford, and I passed a lot of college boat houses. Many of the boats rowing past were being shouted at by their coxes, one especially wax causing everyone one on the river bank to look round to see this small woman in the back shout at the top of her voice. I passed an interesting building which I later regretted not checking out. it was the Isis Farmhouse at Iffley it is a pub but s inaccessible by road, there were blackboards advertising food and it looked run down in a good way. I skipped it because it was too early for lunch. I eventually got to the Head of the River pub in Oxford, I looked around for a good establishment but there was nothing else near by I ended up spending £15 on a Prawn and Crab Linguini.
On the way out of Oxford I came across a pub called The Punter, a bit if a player in words, do they mean a customer or a person in a boat, or both. The river was tree lined and a boat with a French name was moored up, at a glance you could have been in France. Soon the I was in a rural area with meadows on each side, the buttercups showed evidence if ridge and furrows farming.
At Godstow lock there us a ruin of a nunnery and I found out that the meadows had not had chemical fertiliser on them for 4000 years and many rare wild flowers grow. Four walls but no roof was left if the nunnery. A short walk in land got me back to the car, it turns out I had parked near the wrong tributary. The total mileage was 11 miles a good distance. The next leg was going to be a challenge, not many towns, villages or roads about.