Went up stairs last night around 11. Had been sat in the yha lounge with a chap from Mali.He was keen to watch the news channel due to all the fighting going on in his country. He was horrified saying that they are white we are black it is not Mali. J had fixed my trousers and I the tent pole.
Went to bed and someone was in J's bed so he had to get in the spare bed. I challenged the chap in the morn ....apparently he had stayed there for five days and had not realised that his bed had been stripped. J had made up the bed previous. It was funny though especially as J did not realise until he was climbing into bed.
I was awake at 6.30 and we went down to the kitchen. J cooked the fried eggs and I did the coffee and beans. Good breaky. We made coffee and took it to the tv room and watched the news....Harry in Afgan.
We packed up gear which took some time then sat having a coffee in the down stairs foyer cafe area. We were walking by 11.
The hostel was only about 100 metres from the Thames Path, joining at Osney Bridge. It had been a cold night of about -5 , every thing was pretty icy and solid.
We walked along the river passed a massive stretch of flat land called Port Meadow. I was able to make use of the binoculars to spot 10+ goosanders, green woodpecker, snipe, white fronted geese and Canadian. Massive flocks of geese were disturbed by our presence taking off honking their displeasure.
We expected the route to be wetter than it was. It was ok , yes snow was there but was not deep and plenty of folk seemed to have walked this way. We could see a fox on the opposite bank trotting oblivious to us.
We entertained each other by stupid character talk, meaningless conversations about snow in stupid voices.
Around 1pm we stopped at Swinford lock and scoffed bics until the chill forced us on.
The path followed the small meanders, irritating. Then to took a route away from the river. Away from the river bank the land seemed alot wetter with massive frozen pools of flood water. The river side is normally slightly higher and negotiatable. It was a hard stretch which had to be adapted as we went along, climbing fences to avoid a soaking. After three miles of x country we hit the road and decided to take the lane via Northmoor village hoping a shop may be there. There was not! As we wondered through we noticed a kestrel in a ditch, half in water half out clinging to a wall. I had to get a couple of sticks to rescue it and shoved it down my Snugpak top to warm it.
We were able to find a villager to take ot off our hands.
We walked onto Newbridge meeting up with the river passing a couple of pubs...tempting. We stumbled on , both wanting to stop and bored.Apart from the river the only major features was electricity pylons in this flatness. marshy flood plain.
We got to Shifford Lock hoping to ask the lock keeper for water and a pitch. The lights were on no one was home. Luckily there was a tap whith was not turned off due to freezing ,so got water and pitched in a wooded nature reserve .
We had noodles and only one cup of tea before sleep took over around 8.
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