More sightseeing

Another Saturday, another trip through the surrounding areas by bike... Starting in Oxford, we travelled west, following the Thames for a few miles before cutting across to the picturesque village of Wytham. Lots of locks on the Thames...always interesting to watch the canal barges navigating these. And we cycled past (and into) the ruins of an ancient nunnery, Godstow Nunnery, which was built in 1133 AD and destroyed by Henry VIII in 1541... all that's left is the wall and a part of the Abbess' chapel. Quite weird to think that this was destroyed a hundred years before the Dutch even arrived in South Africa! From the Thames we cut across country to Wytham, a village founded in 948 AD (!), and then returned to the Thames path, riding across very muddy fields and dodging oxen and sheep (including a flock of sheep being directed by a sheepdog) before rejoining the road near Eynsham. Lunch at a pub in Witney followed by a ride northeast through some more lovely villages to Woodstock, the birthplace of Winston Churchill, rounded off the day, after which we returned to Oxford. The weather was sunny for most of the day, though we got caught in a few showers!

Other than that, I'm settling in and starting to work more seriously. Hopefully I'll be able to get started in the lab this week (if the supplies arrive). I'm also really enjoying my new church (St Aldates) and getting to know a lot of people, both there and in college. It's starting to get a bit cooler now though, as winter approaches...