The Thames Path Days 4-5

The beautiful idyllic landscape continued this morning on our way from Newbridge to Eynsham. The path was easy to walk, with the stinging nettles cut back. With the sun on our faces we passed many sheep and geese and even saw a man and a woman swimming upstream. Now that’s what you call excercising in the morning. After we’d been walking for about 4 hours we reached Eynsham and crossed the toll bridge which charges 5 pence per car to cross the river. A further half a kilometer on and we stopped at the Talbot Inn for the classic pub lunch of a baked potato filled with chili con carne. It felt extremely good to nourish the body and the next two hours flew by. We couldn’t resist having a paddle in the river to cool our feet…. aaahh wonderful!
And then we noticed more activity. After not having seen anyone for hours and hours it came as quite a shock to see many people beside the river, yes we were approaching Oxford.
Goodness you could tell it was Sunday and nice weather … everyone was enjoying the good weather. We saw many people swimming, sailing and rowing. The Thames is certainly very appreciated around Oxford. We stayed two nights in the Youth Hostel in Oxford which gave us a whole day to explore this very beautiful university town which is steeped in so much tradition. By the way, we chose the Youth Hostel because it was the only affordable accomodation in Oxford. However, sharing a bathroom with about 20 other people is not my cup of tea and that was my first and last experience of hostelling.