Day Thirty-Seven - Dorchester to Oxford

We were keen to set out from the banks of the Thames to get to our destination of Oxford as soon as possible. We left at eight thirty and arrived at one o’clock and had a late lunch. It was still very chilly but thankfully it didn’t rain. Henk had all his warm gear and gortex jacket on again to try and keep warm. It’s the wind factor that seems to be keeping the weather chilly. I’m wearing my long johns, a singlet and spencer under my clothes. This afternoon Henk bought some t-shirts from Marks and Spencers to wear under his shirts to keep him warm.
We thought it was best to moor on the Thames River side of Oxford which is just ten minutes from the city centre rather than go through two further locks which would have taken us onto the Oxford Canal. We figured there could have been more canal boats moored on the Oxford Canal rather than pay the steep licence fee to come onto the Thames. We’ll find out the day after tomorrow when we leave Oxford and start making our way up the Oxford Canal to return the boat to Napton this Saturday.
When we headed into Oxford mid afternoon it started to rain. We decided to board a City Sightseeing Bus to get out of the rain and to get an overview of the city. The tour was very good and they covered so much it was hard to take it in. We thought we might do it again sometime tomorrow as the ticket remains current for twenty-four hours.
I dragged Henk to Evensong at the Christ Church Cathedral at six o’clock. The choir sounded lovely but the choice of hymns could have been better. The cathedral is apparently the smallest in England with the largest diocese. It is compact but it had a good feel about it.
Tomorrow we can sleep in before we continue to see the sights of Oxford.
Photos: Sunset on the Thames where we moored our boat near Dorchester; Abingdon near Oxford; Canoeists coming out of a lock.