Oxford and Somerset

Remind me next time that I need a stopover between NZ and UK! A long journey with very little sleep. 3 days in and nearly back in sync. I just loved Oxford - could have spent at least a wwek there. So much history and Magdalen college is like a fairytale setting. Lots of films books and TV shows have used Oxford as a backdrop e.g. Morse, Harry Potter, Alice in Wonderland. Oxford is the 3rd oldest university in the western world behing Bologne and the Sorbonne. It is made up of colleges, some dating back to the 13th century. This collegiate style university is unique to Oxford and Cambridge. Some of the buildings are of the era, others built in 17th and 18th centuries but in the "Gothic" style, I have taken way too many photos. Yesterday I took two trains and a bus and walked a crooked mile to the YHA in Alcombe near Minehead. A very quiet setting on the edge of Exmoor Forest. Today I walked about 15km to Porlock Weir. I had my pack delivered to my destination - just this once. The weather varied from hot and sunny to nasty cold squalls, so I was very glad to have Nina's gortex jacket. I stopped for lunch in Bossington - a lovely little village almost entirely owned by the National Trust. The last part of the walk from Bossington to Porlock Weir was unpleasant - salt marshes and stony beach, but the village is lovely. I am staying in a hotel tonight - very quaint, furnished with antiques and objets d'art. I had a beef and ale pie next door at the Ship Inn and will be heading off for another early night shortly. Tomorrow I walk an extra 5 km and I carry my pack, so we will see what I am made of.