Lessons learned

Saturday 10 Oct

There were some lessons learned today:

1. Don’t step down onto a slippery rock while exploring an abbey (this explains the grazed and bruised elbow shown at right)
2. Don’t cycle with your mouth open (you run the risk of ingesting too much unwanted airborne protein—ptui!)
3. It may take three hours to find a break in the traffic to cross the A40 (well, it didn’t really, but it’s difficult to cross when there are continual streams of traffic in both directions)
4. If you are going to buy a bike for the long term, it’s worth paying a bit extra for good gears (my Oxford bike is a cheapie, and the gears aren’t great)
5. If you haven’t done it for a while, you’ll really feel the consequences when you’ve done 40km on a bike (ooooh, my knees … and gluteus maximus)
6. It’s hard to be inconspicuous while geocaching if you are still wearing your fluoro bike vest (but it does rather help your visibility on country roads)
7. Cherry Bakewell tarts are rather yummy (and also probably extremely unhealthy, but only if you’ve cycled less than 30km).

I now have even greater admiration for a friend’s son and daughter-in-law who cycled for 1000 miles around the UK, doing battle with hills, navigation, traffic, and so on, while carrying a huge load of gear. This must have been a real adventure. My little day jaunt must be tame by comparison, but I certainly had to be very alert.

Today I ventured out into the countryside on my bike. My first major stop was Godstow Abbey which dates back to the 1100s. There are some quite extensive wall works, but only one notable building which I presume was the church, shown in the photo below (there was no interpretative information here). This site is near one of the bits of the Thames (which does all sorts of weird things around Oxford), and there were canal boats making their ways along the river and through the locks. I cycled along the Thames Path to avoid some of the roads; this path follows the banks of the river for 186 miles including all the way up from London. You can’t cycle the whole length of the path, but you can cycle the parts around Oxford apart from in the vicinity of the locks (for safety reasons). Eventually I regained the road and from then on most of my day was spent keeping as close to the left as possible (given that there are no verges), apart from a few diversions onto other paths (see the second photo below).

The main purpose of today’s expedition was to visit the North Leigh Roman Villa, which is actually nearer the tiny village of East End. The ruins comprise extensive foundations that clearly delineate the rooms and the shape of the villa, together with a mosaic floor that is now protected within a recent building. The villa was quite big, with a 15-20 rooms or so on each of three wings surrounding a courtyard. There were at least two sets of baths, ducted heating, and the mosaic—though faded—is impressive. There are some additional photos of the villa and the day’s other sights here.

Needless to say I searched for a few caches during the course of the day. One of them was on a hillside opposite the village of North Leigh; its church is shown in the photo below because its bells were sounding out while I was on my way to the cache. It was also here that I ate the cherry bakewell tart. My last stop was the small town of Eynsham (which is where I’d had lunch earlier in the day) and here I found a few more caches before making my way back to Oxford. After 40km in the saddle it was good to get home (the last photo shows where I am staying; my room is around the right side).

As mentioned, there are more photos by clicking here.