Road Trip: Cornwall to the Cotswolds Part 5

Our road trip has come to an end. Today we head to Oxford to drop the car at the Europcar depot. It is a Sunday so the office is not manned which means we just drop the car and run, which never seems quite right to me, but that's what we need to do. The depot in Oxford is quite a distance out of town so we need a taxi to take us to our accommodation to drop off our bags. 

Is it just me or is it actually a huge pain in the neck that you can't just ring for a taxi any more? No, that would be too easy, instead I need to download an app, put in details about my great aunt Mabel and sign up for a two-week yoga course. Well, not quite, but you know what I mean. I Google cabs in Oxford and not one of them has a phone number, so I download the app, put in all the required information (I JUST WANT A RIDE INTO TOWN, for heaven's sake), and not long after a cab turns up. 

He drops us at a pretty dodgy looking address in George Street, Oxford. As we get out and pay him, an American lady with a large suit case comes over and asks the driver if he's available. 'No', he says, 'you need to book on line.' 'But I just want to go around the corner,' she pleads. 'Sorry,' he says. Now, I ask you, is that madness or what?

We turn our attention to getting into our hotel to drop our bags. It turns out that this isn't really a hotel as such, no 24-hour desk etc. There is the dreaded key pad which is only useful if you know the code. I hammer on the door for a bit and eventually it is opened by one of the departing guests. Well, whatever. In we go and climb some dingy stairs to a dingy office where a dispirited looking man with not much English says we can leave our bags.

With some relief we depart for a day in Oxford's more salubrious quarters.

We buy tickets for the Hop-on Hop-off bus which are discounted today because the route has been shortened due to road closures for a half marathon. It is going to all the stops we want so all's well. We leave the bus at the High Street stop and wander off to see those iconic Oxford addresses. We come around a corner and there's the Radcliffe Camera, so familiar from episodes of Morse and Lewis.

Radcliffe Camera

The Radcliffe Camera (camera being a Latin word meaning chamber or room, this a reading room) is virtually in the centre of Oxford standing in its own square, a circular building in the neo-classical style with a wonderful domed roof. It was built between 1737 and 1749 and financed by the estate of a wealthy doctor who wanted a library built after his death. It was designed to house the Radcliffe Science Library and is now part of the Bodleian Library. 

We wander around the quadrangle of the Old Bodleian Library, built in the early 1600s. The tower in the quadrangle, known as the Tower of the Five Orders, takes its name from the decorations on its columns which feature the five orders of classical architecture: Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian and Composite (combining elements of both Ionic and Corinthian).

The Tower of the Five Orders, Old Bodleian Library Quadrangle

A few steps around the corner is the Bridge of Sighs, another favourite location for Morse and his sidekick, Lewis. The bridge crosses New College Lane and links areas of Hertford College for the benefit of students and staff.

Bridge of Sighs, Oxford

We have tickets, booked on line, to visit Christ Church, the grandest of the Oxford colleges. No longer can you just front up and pay on the way in if you hope to actually get in. When we arrive there's a sign saying 'All Booked' so it's a good thing we booked on line last night.

As we wait for our admission time, we walk past Christ Church's beautiful garden displays and beside Christ Church meadow to the River Cherwell where punts are making their way up and down river.

Gardens at Christ Church, Oxford

Punting on the Cherwell

Being in Christ Church is special for me because it is where I spent a wonderful week in 2014 doing a summer school, living in at the college and having three meals a day in the dining hall made famous in the Harry Potter films. Portraits of college deans adorn the timber-panelled walls of the dining hall and a painting of King Henry VIII has pride place over the High Table. The afternoon light shines through stained glass windows, one of which features characters from Alice in Wonderland, written by Christ Church tutor Charles Dodgson alias Lewis Carroll, whose portrait is close to the entrance. 

The Dining Hall at Christ Church, Oxford

Portrait of 'Lewis Carroll' at Christ Church, Oxford

The 'Alice' Window, Christ Church Dining Hall

Tom Quad—named for Great Tom, the the seven-ton bell in the gatehouse tower, is the largest quadrangle in an Oxford college. Paths lead to the central fountain with its classic centrepiece of Mercury, the winged Roman god. The fountain featured in the university scenes of the 1981 TV series adapted from Evelyn Waugh's novel Brideshead Revisited. 

Mercury Fountain in Tom Quad, Christ Church

Tom Tower, Christ Church

The Christ Church Cathedral is small by cathedral standards, but nonetheless magnificent with its Norman pillars, ancient stained glass and fan-vaulted ceiling. There are also some famous people remembered on floor plaques, brothers John and Charles Wesley, leaders of the Methodist Revival of the 18th century were students at Christ Church and ordained in the cathedral. 

Christ Church Cathedral

Saint Cecilia, Christ Church Cathedral

Fan-vaulted Ceiling of Christ Church Cathedral

Remembering Charles & John Wesley, Christ Church Cathedral

Our day in Oxford is over and we return with some misgivings to our accommodation and are pleasantly surprised by our room which is spacious, clean and comfortable with a perfectly adequate en suite bathroom.

Eurobar, George Street, Oxford. Better than Expected!