Oxford -- Wednesday.  The Thames River Walk and St. Mary's Tower

This map above appeared on a signpost halfway though our walk. North Light is situated about where that blue building across from Christ Church College. Our walk is the trail of orange dots beginning from Folly Bridge. Many of the things we will describe in the pictures below are mentioned on that map. We went as far as Osney bridge and then followed the river back on the other side. So that you can quickly refer to the map, it is bookmarked with links.  You can then return

The walk begins at just paces from North Light. It's hard to believe that this small river is the same massive one that runs by Big Ben and the houses of Parliament in London.  Sure nuff, and if you walk down that little stairway, they swarm thinking you will feed them I waited a bit to show a biker going up that ramp. All of England is very bike friendly and Oxford is no exception. It seems that the passage way to the right are houseboats that are more or less permanently moored in that location, and the red sign signals to keep out.  I did a telephoto of that sign (left) and it does signify that the random boater should not enter. Is that a gaggle of swans over there?  We'll be there soon. Elaine looks over the lock from the bridge. See map. Interesting contrast of row houses and boat houses.   Same row/boat houses seen from the Osney Bridge. Most of the footpath on the other side was a pavement. Now we see that exclusive marina from the other side. Remember the swans from a distance? Well, they're geese! Last rose of the Thames River Walk.

Are those swans across the way? And paddle away when you don't. Many people live in houseboats here -- note the folding bike! Left: Bridge and reflection with boat in between. Up, twin boats tied together captained by husband and wife, I think. Above is the Osney Lock. The sign below warns anyone from drinking or even dipping one's toe in the water. This really shows the two levels of water in the lock. Our target for crossing over and heading back. Funny fuzzy little blossoms. Never saw them in the USA. The path becomes dark and narrow. The final way "home" was well signposted, and we threaded our way though small streets, through narrow corridors until we got to the Thames, not the river  but the street, in front of Jill's flat.  Next; we do something completely different and climb the tower of St. Mary, the Virgin. You have already seen it's interior  in the previous page.

Oxford, seen from St. Mary's Tower

This is the tower spire of St. Mary the Virgin, on High street. You have seen this before when we described our first walk. The view from the top is truly spectacular. The picture above is looking northwest. It includes a portion of the Radcliffe Camera which is pictured in its full in the picture to the right. It was designed by James Goffs as a library and was constructed between 1737 and 1747. It is primarily a research library and is not open to the public.

The climb up is through a very old, narrow stairway. This is Elaine actually walking down when we left the tower. I would have loved to photograph that interior and the dome.

These two panoramic pictures are the view to the east of the tower. They were each stitched from two separate pictures by my Nikon panoramic software. Above is All Souls College and below is High Street. Now you can see why Oxford is called the city of spires. Forgive my stitching software for a few minor anomalies.

A separate photograph of Our Souls without the distortion created by the stitching software.

This is a telephoto (8x) of the Wren sundial. Later in the week, we wrangled our way into the college for a real close up of it.

The picture above was stitched from three shots taken from the same place on the south side of the tower. The software needed  a little help here to find good stitch points. View toward the west -- Jesus college can't be seen. From below, you can see gargoyles and a few people.

Morris Photography is the blue building on the corner. A Nikon expert there told us that our camera wouldn't flash until fixed. These two gargoyles seem to be having a spat!. This is a picture of the Exeter College dome

The picture left is the steeple of Exeter College, and to the right is a time exposure of the inside of the chapel. The stained glass windows were impressive, but the lights spoiled the rendering somewhat.

My final picture of the day involved a return to Blackwell's main reading room. I found a place where I could put by bean bag and get a time exposure of the space with the camera set to a white balance of "Fluorescent" since the primary lighting was such. It took this shot at f2.8 at a shutter speed of  1/12.1 seconds.   Now, the game to play here is "Where's Elaine", not "Where's Waldo".

Coming up:  Thursday, a short personal tour of Hook Norton and it's brewery and return to Kidlington for photographs.                     Friday, including the Oxford Science Walk and an evening concert at the Sheldonian Theatre.                     Saturday, including lunch with Cecilia Howard and a tour of Christ Church College with evensong.