Today started in an unusually relaxed fashion. It was a bit bizarre to think that we would never be doing this again, and a little sad too. We have had a lot of fun on this trip, it has been a fantastic adventure. We rolled along in the normal fashion, popping ourselves through a few locks along the way. It was a little odd having to explain to people that we weren’t from Oxford at all – we really had come 200 miles from Cambridge. Tragedy struck at the 11th hour as Andy casually dropped the windlass into the punt, it caught the rim of Beckie’s hat, and flipped her previously safely placed glasses into the canal. Beckie was asleep so there was a brief window of opportunity to retrieve them on the sly. Andy stripped and started feeling around whilst Toby distracted Beckie as she woke up. Things weren’t looking up so we came clean and the three lads all got into the canal whilst Beckie found clean towels. The boys felt gingerly with their feet through the twigs, bikes, broken glass and other detritus – don’t go in canals, it’s rough. As things were looking down Karl’s eyes suddenly brightened, and his foot emerged victorious from the murky water, glasses clutched between his toes. Hoorah! We dried off, applied antiseptic liberally after the many warnings from passers by about weils disease, and set off again. We eventually rolled by an Oxford punt hire and pulled into the Head of the River, encouraged by a rousing cheer from the people sitting in the garden. Three takes later and Karl and Andy finally got it right for the camera. We did a few interviews and then had a delicious pub lunch courtesy of the Marshall clan. We handed the punt over to Steve from Balliol Boat House who is kindly looking after the punt until the trailer arrives, and then headed to Chloe’s house. Chloe is a school friend of Karl, and very kindly putting us up for a few days.
Plans now are to sleep, sleep some more, and maybe do a little punting around Oxford. We’ve had a fantastic time and would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has donated to Help for Heroes, hosted us for a night, or just showed us a spontaneous act of kindness. You guys have made this trip for us – thank you. If you’re ever in Cambridge, give us a ring, we’d love to return the favour!
