The Oxford Trip
March 20/21st, 1993
Seven people met at dawn. First we visited Tom Quad, Christ Church
College.The dawn's rosy light softened the colour of the stone. We
wandered throughthe college but had to retrace our steps when we
found our route to ChristChurch Meadow barred by a locked gate.
Eventually we were able to eat oursandwiches by the Cherwell.
In search of hot drinks, we made our way into the covered market.
We couldonly drink standing up. It soon transpired that the only
early morning placeto sit and have a cup of tea was McDonalds. Yes,
we went in! - despite thecontroversy over their prosecution of two
members of London Greenpeace (formore information contact McLibel
SC, London Greenpeace, 5 Caledonian Road,London N1 Tel:
081-837-7557). We couldn't find a proper cafe.
The rest of the morning was spent wandering around the town centre
visitingcolleges and St. Michael's church, which contained a very
old Shiel-na-gig.At lunch time we went to the Bear, noted for its
collection of old schooland club ties. Here an eighth person joined
our party.
In the afternoon/evening the group split up exploring different
sites inOxford. Some of us took a punt out.
Sunday involved a substantial walk. We crossed Port meadow to
Fiddler'sIsland, walking along where Alice had her adventure in
Wonderland.
Leaving the river bank we headed for Church Farm, Binsey. Here
there isSt. Margaret's Well which was decorated with flowers,
candles and corn offerings.The church pre-dates the Oxford colleges
and is dedicated to St. Frideswide.
Inside the pulpit of the church there was an interesting modern
carvingof a woman holding a cross and standing in the mouth of a
creature halffrog half crocodile. The site used to be an Island
covered with thorn thickets.The chapel is attached to the Cathedral
in Christ Church College.
We walked up to the ruined nunnery at Godstow, where there were a
largeamount of geese. Then we caught the bus back from
Wolvercote.
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