Day 5 - Farmoor to Iffley Lock (Oxford), 9.8m

This was our walk through Oxford day, so we set off early to avoid the worst of the traffic, and managed to miss the worst of the traffic.  Today we saw more of everything, boats, people, geese and even clouds of tiny flies. We had a short road walk almost immediately, then it was back to the river and a variety of walking, woods and meadows.  Unfortunately, we could very soon hear the traffic on the Oxford bypass. 

Clockwise from top - Farmoor reservoir, Swinford Bridge, Oxford Cruisers boatyard

Swinford Bridge was sold in 2009 but despite widespread local opposition to the toll and lobbying for its removal, the bridge was sold to new private owners for more than £1m and the toll, 5p for a car, remains as does the traffic congestion!

Eynsham lock

There are quite a lot of locks on the Thames and I expect there's a "best kept lock" award every year.  Eynsham must be a strong contender.

Clockwise from top left - nice walking, more geese, peaceful Thames, King's lock

After a miles of meadows beside the river, we went under the bypass and into Oxford. The amazing thing was that as we passed Godstow, we were still in a green corridor within the city.

Godstow bridge and the ruins of Godstow abbey

The city comes into sight beyond Port Meadow, though the dreaming spires were hazy and the cranes were higher.  Port Meadow across the river is full of cattle and horses and gets the "biggest flock of geese so far" award. Amazingly the there was no traffic noise from the bypass or the city, but there were lots of walkers (though most were not English and not doing the Thames path).

Views across Port Meadow towards Oxford

The green corridor continues right into the city and it is only just before Osney Bridge that the buildings begin.  This bit was really disappointing, as we walked past the backs of some very uninspiring property with high walls covered in graffiti.

Medley Bridge to Osney Bridge

The next bit over Osney bridge was equally uninspiring, though there are some newer, nicer properties on the far bank.

Osney

We almost stopped for lunch by the river in the centre of town, but decided that the view of the river was not inspiring, the table by the river was tatty and the meal prices were high, so we walked on.

Oxford centre

The next part of the walk is into a second green corridor past the university boat houses where we saw a couple of rowers. We finished our walk at Iffley Lock which has a very nice looking riverside pub but sadly it is shut on Wednesdays.  Pubs that aren't open every day is becoming a bit of a theme! 

Top - the college boathouses and bottom, Iffley lock

We collected the car, drove back across all the bridges we had walked past and found The Perch at Binsey, which we had spotted a sign for earlier and enjoyed a very nice bar snack in their garden.