Oxford, not by river, nor by canal

Tuesday, 16 September 2008 21:15

But by bus However it was a brilliant day

We, that is Graeme and Louise from Nb Faith and the two of us, decided over drinks, nibbles and scrabble to go to Oxford today. Prime purpose - to follow The Morse Tour in our own time. The tour is downloadable from T'internet.

The bus to Oxford goes from Reading Station via Wallingford and takes just over an hour. On the way we caught glimpses of the River Thames, still brown but flowing more slowly we think!

We had printed out the walking tour and once alighting from the bus near the University Church of St Mary the Virgin we began the tour.

We discovered that "doing our own thing" rather than the guided tour on a saturday meant that we could spend time where we chose. We went into the Ashmolean Museum to look at the Egyptian Antiquities and had lunch sitting outside. We were not tempted by a cream tea at The Randolph Hotel - look at the prices!


We then went towards the Oxford Canal and Jericho. Notorious in the boating world for the problems at the boatyard there.


Morse enjoyed a tipple at the Bookbinders there. We had a good look at the church in Jericho, St Barnabas. We were really disappointed that it was locked as it looked very interesting inside.

We thought the best bit of the tour was finding the Eagle and Child pub.


Its famous patrons, The Inklings, have a considerable literary reputation. We sat for beer and coffee in the room where JRR Tolkein, CS Lewis and the other members frequented. The letter from The Inklings is displayed as are many other interesting photos and plaques. Modern day writers included Colin Dexter who penned the Morse books and his leading character spent some time there too!

The Pitt Rivers Museum was fascinating, natural history in a wonderful building that is also part of Oxford University.


Another pub followed - the Turf Tavern at the end of Bath Place, itself a location for Dorothy L Sayers and the Burtons of acting fame. The Tavern itself has featured in Morse and was a favourite drinking place for Dylan Thomas.


A look at the Sheldonian Theatre, Brasenose College (the fictional Lonsdale College) and our final destination another pub - The Bear Inn, built over a bear pit and like The Turf claiming to be the oldest pub in Oxford!

You can find the tour we took here and more photos and details of the places we visited here
What a day, much to see and much more to see when we eventually get to Oxford via the Thames and canal

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