Adventures to Honor CS Lewis

Saturday morning- it was soooo hard to wake up after such a late night...but when Kristie came into my room at 11:30 and reminded me of our plans I was way to excited to sleep any longer.

This was the day we were going to travel to CS Lewis house and Trinity Chruch, the parish he attended and the cemetary where he is buried!

This was my first extended trip by bike. I know that it couldn't have been as long as it felt, but there is this massive hill about halfway there that just wore me out completely.

My legs were wearing down, and at one point I had gotten a little behind and thought Krisite and Ryan had turned down a street..when I didn't see them anywhere on this road I got really nervous. I went down a blocked, then turned around and went bak to the main road...and still didn't see them anywhere...how did I manage to get lost on a group bike riding adventure??? Luckily after I kept going over a another hill I saw them waiting for me in the distance. The thought of being lost with no way to contact them and uncertainty on how to get back was not comforting to say the least....I was relieved to see them after my brief episode of Jennifer syndrome.

Plus my friends Ryan and Kristie and I are still learning street etiquette on the bike...so it seemed like it took us forever to get there....well, that and the fact that less than a mile away we couldn't figure out where to go to get to the exact location. I was relieved to have Ryan with us, who seems to understand the roads well.

Fortunately a nice lady showed us the way to Trinity church and pointed out CS Lewis grave to us. It would have been easy to miss because it's actually a very modest memorial...which is what I'm sure CS Lewis would have preferred despite the amount of respect from Christians and scholars worldwide.

The cemetary contends for one of the most beautiful I have ever encountered. If I were to imagine the perfect peaceful churchyard cemetary this would be it. The grass was a lively green, and many of the memorials doubled at flower beds. Some of the markers were accented with wild ivey, and purple flowers were blooming everywhere. This mixed with the perfect amount of sunshine and blue skies made then entire church yard seem enchanted by nature. I was delighted to finally witness some of Oxfords more natural magnificence.

Surrounding the churcyarch was a stone fence, on the other side of which were the greenest fields and a pair of Shetland Ponies!! I think I reverted back to the age of 10 when I had an obsessive love for all things equestrian. This truth is revealed through my look of childish excitement in the pictures with "my little pony" as I would like to title it.

Trinity Chruch was built in 1849, so its not as old as some of the churches around here...still its older than most of the churches I've been to in states. Its is designed in 15th century style so it has a lot of character. CS Lewis preached first here in March 1942. Next to the pew that he and his brother always sat at, there is a Narnia stained glass window...we weren't able to go inside to see it though.

After the churchyard, we made our way to "The Kilns", the name of the house Lewis lived in at Headington.

While most of the area around his house is now a neighborhood, part of it has been made into a nature reserve. This area around his house inspired much of the adventures in The Chronicles of Narnia. As Ryan, Kristie and I explored around the area I thought about all the wonderful parts of the forest that must have sparked his imagination...especially if it expanded even further than this nature preserve back then. We traveled around the little pond, and found this entrance to some undergound tunnel...which we could not really go in because we didn't have flash lights....it would have been neat to explore though.

The ground was extremely soft and very muddy....and of course, though I tried to balance from one log to the next I ended up falling in the mud.

On our way out we saw another path with steps that led up a huge hill....we could not resist and decided to go up...I am so glad we did! The view from the top of the hill was just amazing. I could see for miles in the distance, beyond all the little houses of Headington to the far hills!

At the end of the path we discovered a swing....which invited us to play for a while. This honestly was some of the most sheer fun I've had..just releasing all my energy and laughter spinning on this swing...and even more watching Kristie and Ryan have a go on it.

I honestly would rather spend time hiking in these woods and just enjoying the beauty of the country more than all the architectural wonders I've been fortunate to see thus far. I suppose there's just something about being able to engage with the scenery in a way that is not possible in a magnificent cathedral or the city.

I suppose because the day's excursion of the trail walks and the random swing we found would be similar to something I would enjoying doing at home with my friends, this day made me feel very much like I am more a part of Oxford now...and I'm not even sure if that's the right way to describe it, but it will have to do.


We stopped by an italian cafe on the way home, where I had a hot pannini of chicken pesto and mozarella. We split these deserts -one was a butterscotch with chocolate and the other was chocolate and powedered sugar..they were sooo good.

The ride home seemed much faster, except that it had become soo chilly!
Going down the hill, of course was much more enjoyable than going up.