An early start but not rushed one got me to Iffley near rosehill Oxford by 8:30. I used a royal Cabs taxi app to get a taxi, however the GPS was not quite locked in so the taxi went to the wrong address. It took me 5 minutes to hunt them down and get them to right place. My driver was very friendly and got me to the Rose Revived pub for around 0930.
About two miles in I caught up with a group of walkers who were just a little bit slower than me. I was crossing a field of sheep and baby lambs who kept clear of me, but one mother didn’t seem to want to get or move away from me then I heard a cry from the riverbank. I couldn’t see the lamb but there clearly was something hidden by the bank. On closer inspection there was a lamb in the water up to it’s neck and it was shivering. I took off my camera and rucksack so by laying on the riverbank was able to reach down to grab the lamb. Unlike cats and dogs there’s not a lot of slack in the skin around a lamb’s neck however I was able to grab enough to hoik the little one out of the river.
I got to Pinkhill lock and took some time out for a rest and some sustenance. I took a timelapse while a few boats went through the lock, I helped them with the lock gates. The group I had passed earlier caught up, I had a chat with some of the ladies. They were also dong the Thames path they came from st. Albans. They had transport challenges as well and as a group they had started hiring minibuses to help them get from A2B.
At the trout Inn I had seared sea bass for lunch. A female Mallard was being harassed by males who in turn were harassing the dinners. Suitably amused and refreshed I talked the final stretch, south past Oxford. I passed Port Meadow and massive flat green flood meadow. The path was busy clearly popular with Oxford people for a walk. To the south west of Oxford I went wrong passing under a railway bridge when I should not have, but I saw the remnants of what would have been a train turntable. I guess it was being preserved for prosperity but it was unloved and rusting away.
I passed the Head of the River pub where a wedding party was boarding a river boat. I was tired at that point so was keen to plod on. When I got to Iffley at the academic boat house I saw a group of people putting their boat away. We had been crossing paths all day. The wedding party was being dropped off at Isis Farmhouse, a pub I want to visit one day.
I soon got to Iffley lock and headed up hill and away from the river to find my car. It had been a long day 15 miles in total.
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