CHAPTER VI CRUISING FROM OXFORD TO NUNEHAM The Toil of the Tow-Path The River Cherwell Iffley, the first Lock Sandford and Nuneham Courtenay The Beaver-Tailed Dame of the Banks of Nuneham. Russell He It was six o'clock on a bright cool Monday morning in July that Russell began disturbing the peace that rested upon the "Mitre" at Oxford. rang for "boots" at a time when a surgeon is required to open a servant's eyes; asked for hot water before the lazy English fire had warmed the range; ordered breakfast for a time shockingly inconsistent with that deliberate British service which had years and years agone expunged the word speed from its vocabulary. Where Russell was not himself a difficulty, he made one. He seemed to thrive on other people's troubles in which respect he was like English solicitors and barristers, who, having possession of Parliament, enact laws to incite litigation and perpetuate injustice. Russell had the wind and bluster of the savage in his blood. He was at ease only when producing noise, that chief of American products which the wise traveller would leave at home. He was always hurrying off on some undefined mission, snatching a sensation here, showing emotion there-an impulsive, generous, clever fellow whose intellectual ebulliency seemed for ever restlessly experimenting with him. As we put our two light parcels of luggage aboard the Fuzzy-Wuzzy at Folly Bridge, the trim launch Isis was being ship-shaped for the American party we had left at the "Mitre." We should fall in with this merry crew later on. Cruising from The morning was emerging from a soft gray mist which hung low over the river as we glided down stream, Russell in the bow, the luggage in the boat's waist, and I in the stern "for steering and paddling purposes as Russell informed me. Sometimes Russell would lay aside the guide book he read aloud as we plied our pretty course, and plunge mightily with his short paddle, more to impress the village watermen, I suspect, than from any genuine desire to work. Russell was in all respects a being of luxury; he was small and fat and soft. Besides, paddling interfered with his enjoyment of the tranquil scene, with his frequent pipes, and the assiduous attention he paid to his thirst. The reach from Folly Bridge to where the two arms of the river Cherwell empty into the Thames is lined on the Oxford side with the fantastic boat houses and barges of the college crews. These are used as club houses by the students, and afford many comforts and much sport. Here Christ Church Meadow, with its public promenade and embowered students' walk, comes to the river's edge. On Saturdays and Sundays this reach is a busy scene of pleasure craft. Occasionally the students give a concert or a dance on the upper decks of their barges, Japanese lanterns swing in the summer breeze, and prettily gowned girls and athletic young collegians enliven the meadow banks with their simple English pleasures. Such events are charming and display an admirable side of English rural life. The Toil of the Tow-path The tow-path which extends along the river bank from Oxford down to Teddington, near Richmond, is used for towing both pleasure boats and the heavy barges of commerce. It is a novel and an unpleasant sight to observe a sun-sweltered man struggling along the dusty path towing a boat up stream, the occupant of which seldom seems to realise his laziness or the beast of burden he is making of his fellow-man at a shilling an hour. The River The Cherwell is perhaps more concerned with the inner student life of Oxford than the Thames itself, in that its course through the University City lies within the grounds of Magdalen as well as Christ Church. It rises in the Arbury Hills, near Davantry, in Northamptonshire, flows past the town of Banbury, of "cakes and ale" fame, continues, an unnavigable stream for forty miles and on its arrival at Oxford surrounds an island appertaining to Magdalen College; then ripples on beside Addison's Walk-that sun-dappled bower for meditative exercise which may be seen from the bridge that spans the Cherwell at High Street, near the Botanic Gardens. A short distance below the mouth of the Cherwell, on the opposite bank of the Thames, is an interesting backwater with several islands and estuaries; one arm flows back in the direction of Oxford, the other finds the Thames again at Rose Island, a pretty little green spot below Iffley Lock. Iffley, the Iffley is a quaint village, the site of the first lock below Oxford. It has a fine example of an Anglo-Norman parochial church dating from the time of King Stephen. This church was built by the monks of Kenilworth some time before the twelfth century, an aged yew tree in the churchyard recalling the early custom of building a church hard by the yew tree when the practice of archery was enforced by law. Thus knights found their bow staves upon sacred soil. Sandford and Sandford, two miles below, is a picturesque combination lock, weir, and mill. On the nearest hill to your left the mansion of Nuneham Courtenay can be seen rising loftily above its beautiful park. Opposite, half a mile from the river, lies the village of Radley, behind sloping acres on which pedigree cattle graze in the morning sun. Just below Nuneham Park a very picturesque island is well worth exploration, provided the old lady who lives in the straw-thatched cottage near the rustic bridge which joins the island to the park will permit a landing. This old dame |