Oxford and Cambridge – 1st – 8th May

From the Isle of Wight we took the ferry across to Portsmouth.  We spent the afternoon wandering around the old harbor area of town, which has some pretty terraced houses, a fire-bomb damaged church and a small pebbly beach.  We stayed the night at Hamble-le-Rice, chosen purely for its name, before heading for Oxford the next day.

Portsmouth 'beach'- check out the guy sunbathing.  It really wasn't that warm!

Random funky building in Portsmouth

Bomb damaged church in Portsmouth

We stayed four nights in Oxford at a great site just out of town and handy to the cycle routes along the Thames River.  It was great to be able to cycle into town so easily and the route along the river is very pretty. It passes some good pubs and river locks, which were neat to see working.  In Oxford itself we spent a lot of time wandering around the various university colleges, including Balliol, Christ and Merton, all of which are set in beautiful grounds and have the most amazing buildings.

Balliol College in Oxford

The duck of truth or something.  It was looking at me funny.

Bad to the bone

The "Martyrs' Memorial"- google tells me it is a memorial commemorating the Oxford martyrs

 We found a great bar/restaurant, built in the former prison and therefore called Malmaison.  We had some well-deserved cocktails and a lovely meal there.  During our stay we also managed the obligatory Pimms by the river- delicious!

Despite this some of our best food was actually cooked in the van by Morgan himself- the Thai beef salad was the best I’ve ever had and the jerk chicken with rice was unbeatable. 

Malmaison- restaurant built in the old prison.  Very cool.

My version of cooking!

A random gorgeous building by the river

Outside Christ College

Lovely cobbled streets- pretty but not so great for those of us with walking/tripping difficulties 

Radcliffe Camera was a highlight- a “Camera” is the mediaeval name for a room, and this reading room is an impressive circular building with a beautiful copper dome.  We got a particularly good view of it from the roof of the adjacent St Mary’s Church.  The reading room is associated with Bodleian library, which is one of two libraries in the UK to receive a copy of every single new book published in the UK!  Morgan was very keen to point out, that (as told to him by his father) this includes magazines, even dirty ones!

Radcliffe Camera

Views from St Mary's Church

St Mary's church

Pimm's by the river- you've just got to really

On our way out of Oxford we visited Blenheim Palace, where Winston Churchill was born and lived.  The inside was very grand, so it was a bit of a shame you couldn’t take photos but there’s a few of the outside to give you the idea.

Blenheim Palace

Blenheim Castle- not actually the main front of building, which was covered in scaffolding

The back of Blenheim Castle

 We then made our way to Cambridge where we had an absolutely lovely weekend hanging out with our good friends Josh and Helen.  Cambridge has a lot of similarities to Oxford and we did some similar things…but everything’s better when experienced with friends.  My highlight was definitely going punting, which I’ve always wanted to do.  Despite the number of other people doing the same thing it was very relaxing, and Josh did a super job of doing all the actual work.  We had a lovely picnic in situ within the punt and really enjoyed meeting Josh’s relative Julieanne and her gorgeous daughter Hazel.  Other high points were going out for a great Indian meal and cycling along the river for another fabulous picnic.

St John's College in Cambridge...I'm pretty sure...there were a lot of them

This one is definitely St John's College in Cambridge!

We visited St John's College which had some beautiful buildings and grounds, and a lovely replica Bridge of Sighs.  The highlight though was definitely the church, and we were lucky enough to be there when the boys choir was practising- breathtaking.

In front of a replica of the Bridge of Sighs

St John's college

And again

The lovely Josh and Helen

Apparently the tongue helps with concentration

Helen and friend picnicking by the river

Male bonding over uninterpretable instructions

All in all, our first few weeks in the UK have been awesome.  It has been so wonderful to catch up with friends and family and find out feet with the campervan.  Plus we've been super lucky with the weather.  We’re pretty excited to now be heading off to Europe.  Brugge here we come!