We began the New Year with a pleasant walk along the River Thames into the centre of Oxford again! It was much needed after the last few days of eating and drinking.
We made a diversion to a place called Long Bridges, one of Oxfords outdoor swimming pools and a place my family frequented regularly during the 70’s at weekends and during school holidays. A time when it was deemed healthy to swim in rivers.
Leaving my memories behind we carried on into Oxford passing the college boathouses until we eventually arrived at Folly Bridge and The Head of The River. Rather than walk up St Aldates into town we decided to have another walk around Christ Church Meadow which for any visitors to Oxford is well worth a visit and make time to visit the Cathedral.
After a couple of hours walking our stomachs told us that it was time for something to eat. We decided to try something new and healthy so went into itsu We both had a chicken miso pot which was really tasty and while eating we were discussing the nutritional benefits of this kind of food. Also how easy it was to create. We liked that if you order a coffee you get a free banana!
We have decided that next time we go shopping we will get the basic ingredients to create these type of dishes to help us on our quest to live more healthily than at present
It is just as well that we ate because we decided to walk back to the van via High St, Iffley Rd, Jackdaw Lane then onto Donnington Bridge Rd all of which were part of my old stomping ground as a child.
Before leaving for Cambridge we had a few more meals with family and friends. Angela went into Abingdon to see her mother. They met in The Narrows for a meal and after dropping Angela off I went to visit an old neighbour from Curtis Ave for a natter. It was great to catch up on all of the gossip but amongst it was some sad news also. We must have talked for ages because I got a text from Angela saying she was ready to be collected!
Later that evening we visited Sherry & Frank where we shared a Chinese meal and had a catch up.
My mum hasn’t been to see us in the van for years so we decided to get her round for Sunday dinner before leaving. It made a change as she is always cooking for us. I’d like to think that she went away happy in the knowledge that our van is nice and cosy and that we still love living the way we do.
We (Dean) made a mistake with the booking at Oxford. We didn’t find out until we were about to go out on Monday (4th Jan) morning. We said hello to Marcus the manager and mentioned that we were off the following morning only to be told we were due off that day!
Needless to say we extended our booking for one more night which wasn’t all bad as we got my sister and her husband round for a meal before finally leaving on the morning of the 5th Jan.
Hi Dean and hang, good to hear you are both well, we met your wardens at Malvern they seem ok.we are at home at the moment and getting ready to go to lady Marg on Tuesday ,Malvern was good but looking forward to getting back to work ,hope you have a good season . Talk to you soon,all the best phil and sue.