Times and Travels: Ireland, UK 2017: 5/15 Day 13

"I fell in love with Oxford, the quiet glow of its morning streets."
~Deborah Harkness, A Discovery of Witches

Net distance traveled: 217 miles

Leaving Cornwall....

Nice view from our breakfast table

As we loaded up to make the drive to Oxford, Jeff asked about our proximity to the "magical waterfall." Try googling "magical waterfall Cornwall". The search returns St. Nectan's Glen--a point I had placed on our "maybe" list. Located very close to our departure point and more or less on our driving route for the day, we decided we could afford the stop.

St. Nectan's glen is privately owned land and the way is well marked. The signs direct you to a parking lot and then to the walking trail through the woods.

Along the stream on the way to the visitor's center we started to see rock stacks (cairns) or "fairy towers,"

bits of ribbon,

and coins embedded in stumps.

Did I mention the path was well marked?

The always present rock walls were found even here. And the remains of a house that had burned and left to decay.

The visitors center has a gift shop, cafe with nice outdoor eating area, and a meditation room.

After paying the entrance fee, we were offered "wellies" if we wanted to keep our feet dry. We accepted and headed down the path to the waterfall.

The wellies turned out to be a wise decision. It had rained the night before and the only way to see the waterfall was by walking in the creek and around a bend.

It was sooooo worth it!

Jeff decided to build his own cairn.

We drove through a little morning fog that didn't last long and headed to Oxford.

We eventually made it to Oxford and met up with my friend Paul. Paul is a PhD student at Oxford that I met when he was a Master's student at UW-Madison. I managed the Respiratory and International Health program at the Wisconsin Division of Public Health and Paul stepped in to coordinate the Refugee Health Program during the manager's maternity leave. I later served as a reference for Paul, and wrote a recommendation for him to receive a scholarship that took him to Indonesia where he met the woman that is now his wife. So, you might say I helped bring them together!

Paul took us on a tour of the university. So much history!

For example, Balliol College was founded in 1263. Adam Smith, an 18th century economist, attended there. (He's going to come up again in a later blog post.)