After the 14 miles yesterday from Newbridge to Oxford, which seemed far longer in the rain, today was almost a rest day! With only nine miles to Abingdon, I was in danger of arriving in the morning if I left by my normal target time of 9 am. So, to keep my legs in practice, I thought I'd wander around Oxford for a couple of hours.
In a Youth Hostel you can always find leaflets so I grabbed a few and headed out, to see this City of Spires. It's funny, some parts are just like any other town centre and then you get all this yellow-stoned gothic (?) architecture everywhere. I don't know if J K Rowling had visited before she wrote the books, but Oxford must have come in handy for the films. With only a couple of hours available and having to fight through the hordes of tourists (not me obviously), I was delighted to find that the University of Oxford Botanic Gardens were not only nearby but also relatively small. I'd got the hang of the pretty buildings and they were mostly shut.
At the Botanic Gardens I queued behind a senior German couple and their pushchaired grandson; they politely claimed their discount and went in. I smiled sweetly and said all that I could come up with was my Friends of Kew membership. The man looked excited and asked if I had my card because I could get in for free! Result. Didn't even have to be over 60 ;-) If you were reading my travel exploits last year you'll know that I do pop into the odd botanic garden or two.
These gardens are the oldest scientific gardens in the country, pre-dating Kew. Small but perfectly formed, one thing I did enjoy seeing was a group of schoolchildren, about 7 years old I suppose, being shown around by a really enthusiastic lady, explaining about different plants, what they're used for etc. If one child out of that bunch grows up thinking science is interesting then she's a star. Oh, I took lots of pictures. Of plants. How exciting is that.
I made my way back via St Mary's Church one of the few buildings that was open and free. And impressive. Determined to do the whole Thames Path, I walked upto where I'd left it yesterday and then retraced my steps. It's ok though, I hadn't started my garmin.
The beginning of today's walk was well, a bit busy. I've got used to strolling along, minding my own business and there comes this charabanc full of bliddy tourists. Walking on *my* path. The river has got a lot wider and busier, with more pleasure boats ploughing up and down. It took quite a while before normal service was resumed. A dog taking its owner out for a bike ride didn't know whether to bark at me or keep running, so it nearly fell over trying to decide. There were lots of geese, no cygnets, not so many butterflies (were they all washed out of the sky yesterday?). And a dead swan 😢 Lots of lovely scenery and I made it to Abingdon in 2 hours and 58 minutes.
I found my accommodation without any trouble. I'd picked St Ethelwold's House because it sounded so interesting and calm. Sandwiched between two nights at Youth Hostels, it was probably well timed. This place is a charity and serves as a place for retreat with Christian values but also offering itself as a place for meditation, yoga, classes for the local community and basically a place to chill. The building is really old, ranging from 12-13 century beginnings with a Georgian frontage. The bit where I am has a long corridor with no right angles! If you were tipsy you'd probably come out feeling the place was ok! I love it. So much character and history and peace. There are rooms and places where you can simply go and be. The garden is beautiful and overlooks a branch of the river. Abingdon itself looks great. I need to check tomorrow's plans to see if I've time for a look around.
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