August 4th - Dorchester-on-Thames

Hello!

Today I traveled with Jack and my world religions professor to Dorchester-on-Thames, commonly referred to as just Dorchester. 

I met them outside at the bus station, where we hopped on a bus and rode it down to Dorchester Bypass. From there, we walked into the heart of the village. Our first stop was Dorchester Abbey, a Church of England parish church established in 1140 but built on the site of a Saxon cathedral dating to 634 AD. This thing is almost 1400 years old! It was really cool, and I wrote our names in this little log book they have so our visit is immortalized.

After the abbey, we walked through the hills and fields of Dorchester.

Eventually, we reached the nearby village of Shillingford, where we went down the main road, through a narrow footpath, across the River Thames, through fields of sheep and horses and wheat, and through the woods. 

RAF helicopter

We eventually reached Wittenham Clumps, a nature reserve that features two hills, Round Hill and Castle Hill, on the outskirts of Little Wittenham. The name actually stems from the clumps of beech trees (the oldest in England, dating to 1740) that sit on top of the hills. There actually used to be a fort dating from the Iron Age on Castle Hill, and further archeological evidence suggests activity since the Bronze Age. 

Then, we went all the way back to Dorchester, where we went into a Co-op supermarket and grabbed a quick lunch. I ate a chicken wrap with a soda and a millionaire's shortbread. Yum!

After lunch, we hiked all the way back to the bus station and got on a bus to try to get to a restaurant for dinner. Unfortunately, we were unlucky since they had just changed the route for the busses yesterday, so we ended up pretty far away from where we wanted to go. We ended up just walking the rest of the way, which took about 30 minutes. 

Peacock on the side of the road

We finally got to the restaurant, which was called Polish Kitchen Oxford. We met Heather and my technical communications professor there. For a starter, we enjoyed pierogies and kielbasa. I also ordered Perła Miodowa, a Polish honey beer, which tasted like a mix between beer and mead. For my main, I got Placek Po Wegiersku (pork goulash with a giant potato pancake wrapped around it), served with coleslaw and pickles. It was excellent (and filling)!

After dinner, we all went back to our flats. 

That's all I did today! Check back again soon!