Oxfordshire 2 - Oxford and its dreaming spires , Inspector Morse, comparing Cambridge with Oxford

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It was that time to get Suzy on the road again. Her boots were taking root. They were developing flat spots. That meant we didnt need much of an excuse to get away for a day or two in her. Where to go though? Last year we visited Castleton in Derbyshire , it rained, the food was average for our Christmas meal and we felt as if we were in the middle of nowhere. So we needed somewhere warm. A city is warm isn't it? Somewhere dry. A city has indoor markets, museums, shops, cafes and restaurants. We needed a campsite near to a city or one on a bus route. So where to go? We had been to Cambridge earlier in the year and over the last week or two had been reading an article in one of the motorhome rags written by a motorhomer who compared Oxford with Cambridge. So it's Oxford then. We booked the site a Camping and Caravan one a few weeks ago. The friendly club as it is known has a site near to the Park and Ride and is cheaper to stay at than a Camping Club site. We could stay and see the haunts of Inspector Morse, the Christmas markets and the museums.

Suzy was hurriedly cleaned, a rock hard Welsh cake extricated from a cupboard, a couple of soft cream crackers that not even Mickey Mouse would enjoy. The ACSI book 2016 had arrived and we loaded this and a few clothes into her and hit the road. The day was dismal. Grey everywhere. A grey M1 full of traffic and traffic jams, a grey old sky with just slivers of silver sun shining through the grey clouds. We stopped off at yet another grey Watford Gap services where we ate bacon baps and drank coffee . The bacon looked frightened by the grill. It was so undercooked and pale. Still it was better than nothing.

We arrived on site and tried to book in. The wardens were on their lunches but arrived once I rang the bell. They welcomed us to the site and issued a booklet with information that we would need whilst we were there. The reason why we had not been able to book last week became clear. There was little hard standing and we were told to park on the road where we would have a flat surface and would be clean and dry. The Caravan and Camping Club is called the Friendly club and is less regimented than the Caravan Club. The staff pointed us in the direction of the park and ride which ran from just outside the site. We used our free bus passes, plonking them on the machine which turned green and we got into Oxford for nothing. It is a lovely feeling riding for nothing.

We started to compare the two cities Oxford versus Cambridge as we drove in. The sites were both similar although Oxford was probably much neater and tidier and the shower block more modern. Nevertheless Cambridge was serviceable. The park and ride was closer in Oxford than the bus was into town in Cambridge so that was a bonus. The houses and shops on the way in were exactly the same. The bus set us down and we rummaged our map out of our pockets in order to hunt out Inspector Morses haunts. The city was busy. Comparisons came to mind again - rivers everywhere. Punts available for hire. Here I think Cambridge scored more highly. The river was prettier and the punts more magical . Oxford had walls which we found down a side street. Then there are the colleges. Preferred Cambridge where many were open and free to peer into. Here all the walls surrounded them like fortresses. Gates were slammed shut . We just saw glimpses here and there.

So what did we see on our first afternoon and night. A wonderful Christmas market . Stalls lined the streets selling christmas wreaths, gluwine with fruit, churros and chocolate and bags of hot chestnuts. 5 chestnuts for £2 - Sion soon ate them. They didnt fill much of a hole. Carols were being sung by a choir dressed in Dickensian costume. Music drifted out from every street corner. The smell of coffee filtered out from street stalls. There was everything from jumpers to jewellery for sale .

We headed off to see the sights . The Radcliffe Camera was our first stop. The name means room in Latin and the building was built in the neo classical style between 1737–1749 to house the Radcliffe Science Library. It is a building only to be seen from the outside . Then onto Oxford Castle Quarter which was once home to the Norman Oxford Castle, then the infamous Oxford Prison. Parts of these historic buildings remain, and have shaped the development of Oxford Castle Quarter as it stands today, including St George's Tower and the Castle Mound. A fast moving weir flowed past the castle. We stumbled on the Bridge of Sighs. This Bridge of Sighs came into being because the building of New Court made necessary a second crossing of the river between it and Third Court, and New Court's architect seized the opportunity for some more charming and allusive romanticism. It must be noted, however, that the only real similarity between the Bridge of Sighs and its Venetian namesake is that both of them are covered bridges. Today it is part of the main thoroughfare through the College and used daily by those who live and work here. The great gatehouse built in the 16th century was magnificent. Again sadly we could not see in.

And so to our first museum of the trip. In between the Sheldonian and the Camera is a small museum which is jam packed full of ancient sundials, astrolabes dating back to the 11th century. Scientific instruments we could only guess a use for. Mathmatical scales filled cabinet after cabinet . Globes both terrestrial and heavenly plus medical instruments. A completely different museum to the usual. You expect roman stuff, egyptian artifacts, coins and costumes but this was something completely different. It was free to enter as well so that was a bonus. Tomorrow would be two other museums and they would both be very different to this one.

Cambridge had nothing like this. So if its museums it has to be Oxford .

From here we walked out of town to find La Cucina where we had booked an evening meal. Would it be better than our offering of last year.? Bruscetta with tomato, raw beef with rocket followed by lamb, curly kale and rosemary potatoes and gnocci with sauce . It filled a gap. Not the best but not the worst meal and then the walk back to the city.

So what else was there to see? A Saxon church tower, a couple of ancient churches and a busy High Street with a wonderful collection of shops both large and small. A vibrant city centre one we preferred to Cambridge. EAch though seemed to have something different and we wandered about comparing and contrasting what we saw. We never did see Inspector Morse or his haunts but we did see some lovely buildings bathed in the night light and covered in christmas decorations and lights.

Tomorrow the Ashmolean and the National History Museum and Pitt Rivers Annex.

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

You've found another one
Always look forward to the clocks around the world. You've found some wonderful ones.

[JenGog]

clocks
I love clocks and have two in the house. One an oak old fashioned one that should chime the quarters and another skeleton which rings the hour. I cannot get enough of them. I just love them and we seem to find such beautiful ones hidden in corners. Love your FB page and we are following you in your new home.