Day 9: Oxford to Wallingford: Messing About in Boats

May 28, 2012

The whole length of the Thames is naturally enough suffused in a boat

culture.

The river and surrounding lands are gorgeous

There are the long and narrow river (canal) boats, the public school

(i.e. private school) students skulling up and down, punting with long

poles, barges, and some regular fibreglass power boats. What there is not

is anyone going fast or making noise, no Jet Skis, no water skiing. It's

all so gentle and it is enshrined in all manner of books and poetry.

Wind in the Willows of course comes to mind, and we agree that there can

sometimes be nothing quite so much fun as "messing about in boats".

Our plans had been to cycle from Reading to Oxford, and back. But we

took the train one way. And to go back we hopped on a scheduled river

boat service.

The boats do not go all the way in one shot, so we first

went Oxford to Abingdon. We hung out in Abingdon for a couple of hours,

and then caught a boat for Wallingford. Tomorrow we will complete the

journey with a boat from Wallingford back to Reading.

Although Oxford had been thronged on the weekend, by Sunday evening it

was a ghost town. By this (Monday) morning, we were the only ones

anywhere near the boat dock. We wheeled the bikes aboard, and chatted

with the two crew. Then the four of us set off into a wonderland of

glassy water, reflecting flowering trees by the banks, and with swans,

ducks, and herons to watch. We passed picturesque bridges, went through a

number of locks, and dreamed about living in any number of the cottages

and estates fronting the river.

The bikes with our two private river pilots

Heading through Sandford Lock. There are many (44?) in the upper reaches of the Thames. The longest stretch between locks is 6 miles. This stretch is used by Oxford and other boating clubs for training.

Big family! (Actually a creche, with the babies belonging to many parents).

At Abingdon we found an old town with medieval guild hall, and a chruch

on the high street with an interesting story. The town had had an Abbey

which was very wealthy. Villagers resented it and were sometimes violent

in that. So a church was built on the Abbey grounds but fronting the high

street, to provide services to the commo folk but also keep them from

being in the Abbey.

When Henry VIII turned to deconstructing the power of the monks, the

Abbey was destroyed. The abbey gardens remain as does the indication of

where the former building site was. Also remaining, though, is the church

fronting the High Street.

Also in Abingdon we found a bike shop. So far we had noit been able to

draw power from the famous dynamo wheel, and I suspected the connector

clip. I showed the situation to James, the owner. He is a strong young

man, in cycling gear. As we spoke, it was clear he is also not English.

In fact he is from New York. Whether it's the Yankee background or just

his personality, a little ingenuity soon had the thing working. James

also tightened my chainrings, which had been giving a worrying click with

each rotation. He used a torque wrench and got the bolts set right. All

no charge!

Then we chatted for a long while more = from cheap bottom bracket

bearings to the Euro and Greece to how the Brits can not make a proper

donut. What fun, and thanks for the help James!

Boats waiting downstream of Abingdon lock.

Abingdon bike shop on High Street near Bridge

A pile of Haggis in the outdoor market, Abingdon

St. Nicholas Church on Bridge Street, Abingdon

Back on the river, it was more peaceful green. There were some short naps

in there too. It was great.

Flowering trees and lawns riverside. It's like this for 100 miles!

This mound had an iron age fort on top, ruins now

One of several WWII bunkers. The Thames was to form a last line of defence upon invasion

We think this house was the one built for Lily Langtry, mistress of Edward VII, Victoria's son.

Wallingford was laid out in almost the identical way to Abingdon: bridge

and dock, with a pub one one side, a "Bridge Street" leading to a high

street. Independent shops, narrow streets, one or two old churches, a

market square. Oh, and also a Waitrose.

Waitrose supermarkets are pretty much the same as Sainsbury, and both

feature an amazing variety of prepared fresh salads, desserts, entrees,

cut up fruit, prepared raw veggies, etc. - all of which are ideal for us.

The quality is A1 and the variety much greater than back home.

A stroll back to our tent site by the river still showed no Wind in our

Willow - good! Tomorrow will hopefully also be nice for the last leg down

to Reading and beginning to cycle towards Bath.

A pair of Bromptons at the campsite. The owners say they love them. Small wheel and limited gears, though, so these are probably not the choice for long distance.

Wallingford, with the church on the central square.

Dodie discovers a cache of Pimms at Waitrose. Still not sure quite what it is.

Our camp at Riverside Campground, Wallingford. Cost 12 pounds. The washroom had a six digit code to get by the lock, but it was worth it. For the record, it's C2570X!

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