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City & Village Tours: 0845 812 5000 info@cityandvillagetours.com
On our new tour we’ll use your coach to transfer to
Folly Bridge for the cruise after lunch if you have
opted to include morning coffee and lunch but if you
are planning to have free time to do your own thing
we’ll stop by the famous covered market which is
only a short walk from the pier at Folly Bridge.
But today we walked through Christchurch Meadow
- it’s a bird watchers thing. Along the way I played
Raman the song of the wood warbler on my natty
Iphone app, which bird was featured that morning on
Radio 4’s Tweet of the Day. We agreed that it
sounds like a coin spinning on a marble table top.
At Folly Bridge we popped into see Liam at the boat
company in their crumbling headquarters that looms
over the river here before striking out along the tow
path. Very tranquil of course, past Christchurch
Meadows and the boathouses of the college rowing
clubs. On foot it took us about 35 minutes, by boat
it takes about 25 minutes. This is the course of the
university rowing regattas of
Torpids
and
Summer
Eights
and there were students training out on the
river. Iffley Lock is one of the prettiest on the River
which is called Thames below the lock towards
London but is called the Isis above the lock as it
flows through Oxford. It’s truly an academic thing,
Oxford claiming that they are right because at
Oxford the River Isis meets the River Thame giving
us the Celtic name for the river -
Tamesis.
We walked up the gently sloping lane above the lock
that leads into Iffley - this was an ideal spot for a
settlement, safe from flooding. On our new tour
you’ll journey by boat from Folly Bridge Oxford to
Iffley Lock to step ashore for an hour and follow in
our footsteps for the five minute walk through this
picture postcard mediaeval Thameside village to the
long, narrow and incredibly beautiful Norman church.
You just can’t get to Iffley Church by coach and we
think arriving by river is more fun anyway. As soon as
you enter the glorious blues and greens of the John
Piper window fair takes your breath away. Magnificent
and inspiring. We walked back to Oxford but if you
join us for this new day trip you’ll return by boat.
There’s a big pub on Folly Bridge where you can buy
tea or a shandy ready for the coach to collect you here
at 4.45pm. We think that many groups will love this
new tour which is available daily from March to the
end of October and costs £19.50 including admission
to Brasenose and the cruises to and from Iffley Lock.
If you’d like to add morning coffee and a fish & chip
lunch at the oldest pub in Oxford it will be £28.50.
Booking for 2013 now on 0845 812 5000.