Oxford to Eyemouth Transition

 

This post begins with a few random pictures of Oxford on my last day - sort of a good-bye as I wandered around between the other things I did and lingered a bit late into the evening.

Wall of Brasenose Lane, Oxford

Christ Church Meadow late in the day

Deer grazing in Christ Church Meadow

Rowing practice on the Thames ("Isis") in Oxford

The five pictures above were all taken on my last day in Oxford.  The rowing in the picture directly above is something that I saw nearly every time I crossed this bridge - every day at nearly every time of day.  Rowing must be a big deal in Oxford. On the opposite side of the bridge from the picture above is a brick tower on an island in the river.  This tower had also caught my attention during a pervious trip.  This time I almost didn't even take a picture of it because it just seemed so out-of-place in Oxford to me, and it doesn't relate to anything I'm studying.  But I did whip out my camera take a couple of pictures because my policy is, "If it catches my eye, I'd better get at least one picture, because chances are I'll wish later than I had."  I wasn't too serious about the images as you can tell from the poor composition of these pictures.

I hadn't intended to even post these, but while looking at Google Maps for information while working on another post I noticed a name on the map where this tower is.  It's called Bacon's Tower.  I had read from Anthony Bacon's papers earlier in this trip.  Was it the same Bacon?  The ensuing search proved rather interesting.

It turns out there's no relation to Anthony Bacon but rather to a much earlier Bacon, Roger Bacon, the famous 13th-century natural philosopher, theologian, and astronomer.  This tower is thought to be an homage to one known as "Friar Bacon's Tower," which was built in the 1200s straddling Abingdon Road at the south end of Folly Bridge -- a defensive tower replete with drawbridge and portcullis.  It's said to have been used not long after the time of its construction by Roger Bacon for astronomical observations.  It was a prominent landmark for centuries but was pulled down in the late 1700s in order for the road to be widened.  The current tower was built in 1849 for an eccentric mathematician (imagine that!), and the niches, crenellations and so on are thought to be an attempt to make it worthy of its famous location.  But that's not all!  Though Roger Bacon has come to be credited with developing the scientific method, in the early modern era, he came to be thought of as a wizard, so, in some sense he is the original "wizard in a tower."  The river on which this tower stands is the Thames, but it is known as the Isis in Oxford.  The original tower was a guard tower to the city, hence an "Isis guard."  In more recent times, Oxford Professor J. R. R. Tolkien wrote a trilogy known as The Lord of the Rings in which the wizard Saruman inhabits the tower of Isengard  .  .  .  sounds a lot like "Isis guard" to me.  All that to say, even the most random of things can lead on an interesting journey!

Speaking of journeys, it was time for me take one once again, so the next morning had me headed to Eyemouth, Scotland.  And, speaking of stories, when I got to Kings Cross Station I did try to get through the barrier between platforms in order to board the Hogwarts Express, but, alas, I am no wizard.

The River Tyne as seen from the train

Before I traveled for the first time (2016), my plan was to spend one day in Copenhagen, then two days in Norway, then two days in Scotland, then three days in Lincoln, then  .  .  .  etc.  A widely traveled friend absolutely insisted I should find a "hub" to situate myself in and then to take day-trips from there.  He expressed how hard the travel days are when you are moving from city-to-city and that they should be few and far between.  I took his advice, and he was so right.  The difficulty of travel days is a lesson I continue to re-learn on every trip.  Even though I'd been settled in Oxford for 8 days and was "rested" from travel, this was a difficult day.  Though negative, I am going to record details, mostly for the sake of my own memory so that I continue to try to make wise decisions when traveling (in other words feel more than free to skip the next paragraph). I had two options for my train ticket: through Manchester or through London.  I chose London since I had just spent 10 days there and was abundantly familiar with the train stations and tube, which means I'll be fine, right? 

Berwick Train Station

I got in to Paddington Station from Oxford and had to take the tube to Kings Cross Station.  I had been in both stations multiple times, yet when I got off the train in Paddington I could not find the tube from the platform where I got off the train.  I finally got there, but the time lost made me nervous about catching my next train.  The tube pulled in and was more packed than I had ever seen it.  I almost held back to wait for the next one, but then I realized it would be just as packed, so I pushed my way in with all my luggage and ended up basically leaning with my back against door with people smashed up against me all around.  There was a crush of people at Kings Cross as well, and somehow there I got lost too - first ended up walking down a platform (following signs correctly, I thought), and ended up on a platform that was shrinking and with a red light and tunnel ahead; I was clearly not going the right way.  I asked for and got some directions but then I ended up trying to enter the platform through arrivals instead of departures.  In my 10 days in London I had not see the tube or the train stations so crowded, so I'm guessing that mid-day Saturday is not the best time to travel.  Thankfully the train trip from Kings Cross to Berwick was long, so I could stay in one place and let it be in someone else's hands for a while; the train was packed, and I wasn't seated at a table, so no room to spread out or do any writing.  After quite a few hours I arrived in Berwick, where I had to find a bus stop, which was not at the small train station there but rather a few blocks away.  I found that with a little help and not too much difficulty.  After my experience of the night before, however, I had no faith that a bus would come.  Each stage of the journey was stressful this day, and there were lots of stages. I was thankful to see someone else arrive at the but stop.  She was wanting the same bus, lived north of Eyemouth and, so, regularly took this route; that made me feel comfortable.  Yet again I was in a new place, so I needed to find out once I got on the bus if they took cash or not, and if so, if it needed to be exact change or not, and also how much it cost -- and, if I could use a card, whether I would need to tap it (which wasn't working on this trip with my card) or if I could insert it, etc.  I finally got settled in.  The bus was so full that there was no seat open.  It looked like I would have to stand with my luggage for the bus trip, but a very kind man stood up for me and let me have his seat, which I really appreciated.  The lady who had been with me at the stop said she would look out for me and let me know when to get off.  After about 20 minutes, the bus stopped for a really long time, which made me think we were at a stop, and the lady started signaling me, so I walked to the front of the bus and asked the driver to let me out.  He kind of shrugged his shoulders and opened the door.  It was after I got out that I realized it wasn't a bus stop!  We had been stopped due to road construction.  I felt pretty foolish.  I was too tired to even get my phone out of my purse and try to look up the location of my airbnb, but it's a small town, and I'd looked it up online many times previously as I had worked on booking. Also Toby and I had driven through town the year before, so I had a pretty good idea of which direction to head, so I just started walking.  It took about 20 or 25 minutes, and I finally saw my accommodations (my tower!), but then I realized I didn't have information for check-in.  This was my first airbnb on the trip, and airbnbs, unlike hotels, do not have front desks for easy check-in.  That too then was a scramble to get figured out (was my own fault for not being forward thinking on that and checking messages - I'd been too focused on bus and train and tube transitions).  By the time I got inside, even though it was somewhere I'd wanted to stay for 3 years and had booked and canceled and booked and canceled due to the pandemic, I wasn't even excited to be there.  Not only that, but I didn't even feel relief.  I was just kind of numb.  That'll be hard to believe looking at the pictures below, but I was just devoid of emotion by that time.  It took somewhere between 9 and 10 hours to complete these travels from doorstep to doorstep.  (I've probably made myself sound either like a complete fool or a complete wimp.  Perhaps this comes easier to others, or they just roll with it better, but I find bus and train travel involving multiple connections to be very challenging.)

My airbnb is the little tower with the red door on the right of the pictures above and below.  You can see why I wasn't too worried about being able to spot it once I got nearby.

Once I dropped off my luggage, I did keep walking  .  .  .  I walked into town and treated myself to a very substantial dinner accompanied by a reasonably substantial drink (more fruity than potent, but it was yummy).

On the walk back I got a different view of MY tower.

Who could resist having their very own tower to stay in? I had been dreaming about staying in this place for 3 years (and, believe it or not, it wasn't very expensive at all!).

I even have my own canon!  (For looks only, of course!)

It really did feel like a special privilege to stay there, especially with the sign on the gate saying, "No Public Access," but that didn't apply to ME, and in the gate I went! HA!  :-)

It's very welcoming inside, and the owner even left a welcome gift.  I appreciated the thought but didn't drink it.  It seemed like the right amount for a couple and not a single, and, not having had prosecco before, I'm not sure if it "keeps."

It even has a porthole as one of the windows, which feels especially appropriate in this harbor town. 

It also had a window seat.

And it was nautically-themed throughout.  (David would have LOVED it!)

Though the yard wasn't exactly private, it did have a yard that was fenced in, and the owner had provided lawn chairs.  I didn't have the wherewithal to use these these first night - or even the first couple of days!  But I'll upload pictures here, since I'm going to go by themes in my Eyemouth posts rather than day-by-day, and the theme of this post is the woes of my travel day and the glories of my accommodation.

And how awesome is this?!  Hotels may be easier to check in to, but you don't get a yard and lawn chairs!

I sat and relaxed and journaled and blogged.

I looked down at the grass and flowers.

And I looked out over the town.

It's too bad it took me until the last day of my three days here to do this (Tuesday, May 24).  It was one of the most relaxing and amazing parts of my month-long trip, but once I finally did venture out into my yard I stayed out here for nearly 3 hours -- relaxing and writing and watching on that last night of my stay, and it was wonderful!

These last two photos are from the evening of my arrival (Saturday, May 21).  The sunset was so beautiful!  A phenomenally lovely end to an incredibly grueling day.