Oxford Walkabout

We were a tad weary after passing through several locks and five of those killer lift bridges. According to the BW sign on one lift bridge you need to be fourteen stone to operate it, but they forgot to mention that you also need rippling muscles like Popeye, or the stature of the Jolly Green Giant! I think this is because during the winter months the platforms are sodden with rain and are much heavier. So you heave on the chain to pull the bridge up and the beam goes down, the difficulty is the last bit where you have to fling yourself over the beam to keep it down, so Bottle did the hard ones.

Anyway, after negotiating through Isis Lock to turn on the River Thames we returned to moor up at Jericho and dragged ourselves off along the Oxford Arm into town. Unfortunately the canal basin is one big car park which gives the impression that Oxford doesn’t really welcome the trade from boaters.

After munching a much needed steaming hot Cornish pasty it began to rain so we retreated for coffee to sit undercover outside the Pret. As we sipped our coffee swarms of people passed by like one long continuous free fashion show. With renewed energy we set off to discover the wonderful Market where there were an abundance of little individual specialist shops. There were so many tiny streets, I could quite easily have got lost!

Btw, does this pub remind you of The Two Ronnie's?