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 through the college but had to retrace our steps when we found our route to Christ Church Meadow barred by a locked gate. Eventually we were able to eat our sandwiches by the Cherwell.
In search of hot drinks, we made our way into the covered market. We could only drink standing up. It soon transpired that the only early morning place to sit and have a cup of tea was McDonalds. Yes, we went in! - despite the controversy over their prosecution of two members of London Greenpeace (for more 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 visiting colleges 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 school and club ties. Here an eighth person joined our party.
In the afternoon/evening the group split up exploring different sites in Oxford. Some of us took a punt out.
Sunday involved a substantial walk. We crossed Port meadow to Fiddler's Island, walking along where Alice had her adventure in Wonderland.
Leaving the river bank we headed for Church Farm, Binsey. Here there is St. 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 carving of a woman holding a cross and standing in the mouth of a creature half frog 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 large amount of geese. Then we caught the bus back from Wolvercote.
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