Oxford and beyond

As much as we try not to plan too much into the future, there are times when a hard date dictates where we go and how long we can stay. We had ferry reservations to leave England and return to the Netherlands on September 4, so we had a few days left to see what we could see along the route to the ferry. We left Wales in our rear view mirror and made our way to Oxford.

When we stayed in Cambridge, we started watching “Grantchester”, a Masterpiece Theater series that was filmed in its namesake village and all around Cambridgeshire. We like to visit places we’ve seen in the show and find we learn a lot when we do.

A few weeks before we got to Oxford, a friend on Facebook asked for recommendations for shows to watch. I love these questions because we always come away with new ideas. This time, one show was mentioned over and over. It was “Endeavour”, a prequel to the popular “Inspector Morse” series from the 1990s. And, as luck would have it, it was set in Oxford! So perfect!

We loved the show, even though the storylines could be so convoluted. At the end of each episode, I would turn to Steven and say “I have no idea what just happened.” But it didn’t matter, because it was the characters that we really loved.

After we finished Endeavour, we began watching the old Inspector Morse series. Now, I wouldn’t say it’s great TV, but it’s kind of addictive and the character of Endeavour “just Morse, everybody calls me Morse” is most beloved.

Morse (John Thaw), Lewis (Kevin Whatley) and Endeavour (Shawn Evans)

Oxford, England

So of course we had to spend a few days in Oxford getting to know the city and visit the places where the show was filmed. This was made easier because we took a walking tour called “Endeavour, Morse & Lewis”. Lewis was Morse’s sergeant in the show and he later had his own series, which we have not watched yet.

It’s great to have a focus when we visit places, it gets us out of Bijou and we learn a lot. Oxford is a beautiful city, but I will say I don’t think it’s as beautiful as Cambridge. Still, we enjoyed our visit there.

This was one of Morse’s favorite pubs in the show and his most famous quote. 🙂
Scenes from Oxford. The Hertford Bridge, inspired by the Rialto bridge in Venice, Italy, the Radcliffe Camera (“Camera” in this case just means “room”, an old hat shop and the Covered Market.
Oxford University boasts 39 colleges.
Scenes from around Oxford.
Punts on the river Thames.
Blackwell bookstore is very unassuming from the entrance, but the rooms run underground and end to end, there are three miles of bookshelves. The Norrington Room, seen above, is in the Guinness Book Of World Records as the largest single room selling books.
We visited the High Street Cafe for cream tea on more than one occasion 🙂
This is a soft serve Pastel de Nata ice cream, the flavor of that delicious pastry from Portugal.

Harwich Ferry Port, England

Leaving Oxford we made our way to the ferry terminal and spent the night at the port. Sometimes I don’t know how we can just rock up to these places, park and spend the night. I mean, where is security? Ferry terminals are nothing like airports, we usually just buzz around like we own the place. It’s weird!

When we arrived here we were the only ones, but plenty of others showed up by dark. Again, where is security??
In line for the ferry, boarding and finally in our cabin. We had a fab cabin on this trip. One thing I appreciate about ferries is that they have showers in the cabins! We always try to take advantage of the warm room and unlimited hot water. Such a treat!

Hook of Holland, the Netherlands

When we reached Hook of Holland after an uneventful ferry ride, we made our way to a free spot right along the water. It was a great place, or so we thought. The next morning our neighbor came over to tell us he was reviewing his security cam video and said we had a visitor at 3 a.m. A guy came by checking out our bicycles on the back of Bijou. We have those things triple locked, so while somebody might be able to steal them, they would make some considerable noise. We didn’t hear anything, but after giving them a shake to see if they were accessible, the would-be thief moved on presumably to find an easier target.

Fiery sunset as seen from our freebie camping spot.

Even so, we decided to stay one more night. Steven found a place where we could get our two front tires replaced and we really needed to get that done. It was the only issue that came up on Bijou’s recent inspection.

We found nearby “Revolution” laundry machines. These things pop up in the weirdest places, this one was at a gas station! Then we moved down the street where Bijou got some new front tires.

After those chores were done, we returned to the freebie place and hoped that we still had our bikes when we woke up the next morning. We did, so off we went.

We visited a couple of really beautiful places in the Netherlands as we headed north. It might seem odd that we’re going north at the beginning of fall, and normally it would be. We are usually heading south to warmer weather, but sometimes that’s just not how we roll. We were heading north to the tippy top of Denmark, where we planned to catch the ferry to Iceland. We are finally going to visit the land of fire and ice, and Bijou is going with us! More on that next time!

Giethoorn, the Netherlands

Giethoorn is a small town in the Netherlands that has become really popular among the Instagram set. It is mostly car-free and known for its boat-filled waterways, footpaths, bicycle trails and centuries-old thatched-roof houses.
Steven is finally driving. 🙂 We took a one hour float around the canals and enjoyed seeing the cottages and shops. Such a cute place!

You can enjoy a little video of our boat trip by clicking here.

Bourtange, the Netherlands

Bourtange is a village in the Netherlands that is an old fortress shaped like a star. You can’t really tell its shape until you see it from above. Steven sent his drone up for these shots. It is a cute village of cobbled roads, historic cannons, and wooden drawbridges, but there isn’t a lot to do once there other than walk around the dykes, which we did.
Center of town. We got there so early the coffee shops were not open yet. 🙁
The drawbridge and buildings.

Flensburg, Germany

Our stop in Flensburg was strictly utilitarian. We went grocery shopping for our trip to Iceland. We did our best to take along things we could prepare in Bijou rather than spend great wads of money eating in restaurants. Iceland can be quite expensive.

Hirtshals, Denmark

Hirtshals is where the ferry leaves for Iceland and we spent a few days there getting Bijou ready for the trip. We had to eat all our food, empty the fridge and turn it off for the voyage. It was foggy when we arrived in Hirtshals, but the sun eventually came out.
Early morning at the campsite in Hirtshals.
Rainy day. The sea is right out our window, but you wouldn’t know it on this day!
Gorgeous sunset through our front window.
This is me getting a cut and color from Heidi at a local hair salon in Hirtshals. You see that thing above my head? It has been law in Denmark since the 1990s that they be installed in beauty salons. They are extractor fans that suck up the fumes from hair dyes, spray and other hair-related things. I have never seen one before and Heidi couldn’t believe they weren’t mandatory in the U.S.
There’s our ferry to Iceland! It arrived in Hirtshals at 11:00 a.m. We boarded at 2:00 pm and were heading out to sea by 3:00.

It was a glorious day to sail into the North Sea, but our luck would not last. Stay tuned for more on that in our next post!

And finally, another art contribution from Steven. This is a pencil portrait of Irish actress Saoirse Ronan. If you would like to see more, you can keep up with what he’s doing by following his Facebook art page here or on Instagram here.


Up next: Stormy seas, Faroe Islands, and finally, Iceland!


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12 Comments

  2. Vernon Hauser

    Fantastic photos and such beautiful places. I liked Inspector Lewis as much or more than I like Inspector Morse. I didn’t think it was quite as dark or a hard to follow sometimes. Endeavour I just never got into like the first two. As always a wonderful post.

    1. 2chouters

      We just started Lewis last night, so I’m sure we will like it, too. Inspector Morse was okay, a bit aged. I loved Endeavor even though it was the most convoluted of all. It did take me a while to warm up to it, though. Thanks for the comment, good to hear from you!

    1. 2chouters

      Ooh, a Cambridge gal! I just find Cambridge to be smaller, more walkable and nicer. More interesting and well laid out. I just didn’t get the same vibe from Oxford, although I really enjoyed our stay there. Thanks for taking the time to comment!

    1. 2chouters

      So good to hear from you, Dolores! I love a good cream tea and when we found this place in Oxford, we went there three times! I hate to admit I ate that many scones, but I did. We love Call the Midwives on PBS, been watching it for years. The first season of the show is set in the year I was born, so it’s been fun to see how society changed and progressed, sometimes for the better, sometimes not. 🙂

  6. Cheryl Garven

    Am reading your post from the hotel in Torshavn, Faroe Islands. You are very “brave” taking a ferry to Iceland! We left our Hymer safe & sound in the UK. Enjoy

    1. 2chouters

      Well, I’d like to tell you the ferry was great, and up to Torshavn it was. But after that… And we still have to get back on Oct. 11, so I am holding my breath and watching the weather! Hope you are enjoying Torshavn, we thought it was a nice place. Thanks for taking time to comment, we appreciate hearing from you!

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