Painful Route to Academia

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Day 12 Hiking. Monday, July 28.

16.01 Miles. 38,492 Steps. 8.5 Hours.

Rose Revived, Newbridge to Oxford Coach and Horse, Oxford.

Started walking and felt fairly good. After 30 minutes or so the left foot sort of fell into the rhythm of the path and its owner was able to forget pain for a bit while enjoying walking along the Thames.

Walking bridge over Thames. My route did not include a pretty bridge side trip.

WWII Bunker along the shores of the baby Thames. A relic of a past world conflict.

Backpack and I took a mini break from each other as we had begun to squabble.

Almost to Heathrow

Met a young boy on his bike ahead of a more adult figure. The boy asked me if ‘such and such a place was ahead’. Had to tell him I had never been here before. He said “Oh right-o” then “cheery-o”. Polite/cute little guy.

Huckleberry - fin??

It was at this point this hiker should have figured out how to get up on that bridge and locate the supposed pub for nourishment, and a possible bus…but that didn’t happen. Kept trudging on and shortly realized that was a mistake.

Snack/lunch


Heathrow on the radar

Cute dog was obsessed with my sweaty leg below the double knee brace.

Stretched out on curved section seat of a picnic table, yes, a real table near the lock.

Narrow boat being filled with water at the lock station.

Seemed like a long stretch of trail over that long park like setting along the Thames River, swans, geese, ducks, people, paddle boards, canoes, all kinds of things happening. I just wanted a place to sit.

Wasn’t exactly sure where the bridge I was looking for was to be expected. First bridge in sight I turned left towards those spires on the horizon. Turned out this hiker got off too early.

Began wandering the streets aiming in the general direction. Stopped at a tiny grocery to get a fizzy drink (parched) and directions. No one heard of the street I was aiming for.

Went a few blocks and stopped to ask a couple sitting outside at a small table having coffee. They looked up where I wanted to go. Showed on map. Said it was about a 30-45 minute walk. I set off. Almost immediately there was a shout and they called me back. The guy (Ewan - Uwan) he was born and raised in India as he father was an engineer, said he was leaving and could give me a ride. I almost cried with relief!

Turned out the lady he had been visiting was his ex-wife and he had been doing work on her new place. He lives in Buckinghamshire about 30 miles away.

Ewan drove out of his way to give this tired hiker a brief overview of all the colleges here in Oxford. It was a bit overwhelming. Tomorrow will try to be in a better state to soak up cultural history.

Above tonight’s pillow.

In front of tonight’s pillow.

This room has real reading material and a few magazines.

Directions said 13.5 miles for the day but I did 16.01 miles. The feet, the knees, the body - felt zapped.

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