Back to university - Oxford and Cambridge

---

Monday 20 July - Oxford was a bit of a surprise for us, we had been there in the late 70s but only for a quick visit, it is a really beautiful town with stunning university buildings and colleges. We were quite excited to be staying in Keble College, which opens up its university student accommodation to visitors in the summer. A lovely old college with a beautiful dining hall like in Harry Potter! It was quite a treat. in the evening we had tea at a 16th Century local pub Eagle and Child, known by the locals as the Bird and Baby, which turned out to be where CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien met to discuss their writings! Place is so full of history! Did a walking tour of the university town in the morning which was great, learnt lots about the colleges and history of Oxford. it was a graduation day so some of the colleges were closed to visitors, but we visited a few, and particularly liked Magdalen College.

Next day it was over to Cambridge, another famous university town and fierce rival to "that other place" as the locals refer to Oxford. Cambridge was much quieter than Oxford, maybe because it is not directly on the tourist circuit of London/ Oxford/ Bath. The university buildings and the setting are equally impressive, but Cambridge has a more laid back feel, and the "backs" (where the river runs down behind the university colleges) are lovely. Cambridge was expensive for accommodation, so we stayed 10km out of Cambridge at a B and B, which was conveniently opposite a Park and Ride facility. Again, we decided the best way to see Cambridge was via a walking tour, and you do see much more this way, but think we were overdosed on walking tours by the end of our 3rd in 4 days! Blu was certainly over visiting chapels that's for sure. So, we picked the car back up in the late afternoon and headed off up country to Ironbridge.

---

Photos

Blu enjoys Keble College
Breakfast in the dining hall

Views around Oxford
Easy to be snap happy here!

Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

England
We've started reading your blogs recently and really enjoy following you around. Keep blogging, keep traveling.

[Travels with Kate and Blu]

Thanks!
We are taking time out to do stuff at home and earn some travel money, hopefully we will be back! Meantime, am working to complete all of our blogs for the 2013 and 2015 trips!