I know, I know, I have been sadly negligent with my blog for the last few days, but there has been good reason: Something happened in the UK, and I had to react with the speed and agility of a ninja who has mated with a crocodile (they're pretty quick aren't they?).
'So what happened in the UK?' you ask, eyeing me suspiciously in a sideways fashion.
The sun came out - that's bloody what. After months of drab, dreary weather, it suddenly came out in force, that is, 28 degrees celcius (82F). It was a proper Indian Summer that was as unexpected as Victoria Beckham cracking a smile. See here ...................
Pic.No.1 As this example shows, all newspapers splashed with the heatwave
So I decided to take full advantage of the balmy weather by having a few days off to do random stuff outside. I love doing random stuff, I do. If I didn't have to earn money, I would spend my entire time doing it.
The first thing that I wanted to do was explore Oxford's rivers. If you look at Oxford city on a map, it has a plethora of waterways snaking through it's ancient streets, and I had been meaning to explore them for ages.
I mentioned the idea to my chum Steve, and he loved the it, so we took some time-out and plotted an 8-mile hike that took in the vast majority of Oxford's rivers and canals.
He turned up 20 minutes late, sporting a large rucksack.
"Are you ready?" I asked him.
"Yep," he replied, "I'm fully loaded with my hydration pack, GPS, and flares."
"We're going for a hike in Oxford," I said, "we won't be more than 100 metres from a cafe at any given point."
He frowned at me, "it's that laissez faire attitude that results in death," he said.
Men.
So dahlink, here are a few pictures of our hike to keep you entertained .....................
Pic.No.2 This is a map of our planned walk (the dark blue line)
And here are a few photographs to show you what it looked like ......................
Pic.No.3 We started out by walking through the meadows of Old Marston. That is Steve and Naughty George in the picture
Pic.No.4. The meadows were alongside the River Cherwell. That's me that is
Pic.No.5. The River Cherwell. Believe it or not, we were in Oxford city at this point - it's called 'University Parks'
Pic.No.6 A flock of cows in University Parks - look at the bastards - they have murderous looks. NEVER trust a cow. I speak from experience
Pic.No.7 And then our walk took us away from the parks and across the city centre. Starting with the Chemistry Department of Oxford University
Pic.No.6 And a random round building
Pic.No.7 The gates to one of the University colleges
Pic.No.8 This is Broad Street in Oxford. As you have probably noticed, virtually EVERYONE travels by bicycle
Pic.No.9 Steve and Naughty George walking past Trinity College (Oxford University) on Broad Street. You can see Steve's hydration pack (the blue thing hanging off his shoulder)
Pic.No.10. Cornmarket Street - The main shopping area in Oxford
Pic.No.11 As quickly as we reached the city centre, we were back out of it again. This is the Oxford Canal
Pic.No.12 Loads of people live on these brightly coloured canal-boats that are moored along the towpath
Pic.No.13 Here is a canal-boat going through a lock. It's a bit of a faff
Pic.No.14 A bridge over the Oxford canal
Pic.No.15 And then after walking along the canal, we suddenly encoutered Oxford's 'Port Meadow' - a huge flat plain to the North-West of Oxford
Pic.No.16 Port Meadow was bordered by the river Thames. Now I REALLY want a boat
Pic.No.17 Crikey, who IS that supermodel sitting on that log over there?
Pic.No.18 And finally, we planned to finish off our hike with lunch at The Trout (see above - it's a public house / restaurant). Except the bastards refused to serve us because the outside space was full (no it wasn't), and we couldn't take Naughty George the dog into the indoors restaurant
Pic.No.19. So we walked to a pub that was in the village next door. And I managed to get a picture of Steve where he didn't have his eyes closed / wasn't gurning / wasn't grimacing
I have to say the food was shite. My scampi was obviously jet-washed from the carcasses of a flock of Cod and then deep-fried. And the chips (fries) were pre-formed oven fries. Bad effort.
But, despite the lunch let-down, it was a bloody great day out, and my legs are now wobbling like the Greek economy.
So dahlink, what do you do to enjoy the sunshine?
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