July21, Wallingford

This was a circular walk day, supposedly 10.5 miles, and granted I did a few tributary paths, but did not think I would log over 18 miles.  I walked bits of the Ridgweay, the Chiltern Way, Swans Way(!), and a few other Ways.  For a change it was not all flat.

One long stretch was in the woods, sort of:

But these woods are maybe fifteen feet wide with huge, cultivated fields on either side.  It was the strangest thing.

All dressed up and no place to go:

Fields of flowers:

Not exactly a field of flowers.  It is a crop of some sort:

It didn't rain:

today.

The last portion of the walk was on asphalt (the worst) and you will never guess where I was!

Since this is a slow news day, there is time and space to talk about money and how it works here.  Some places won't take cash; some places will only take cash (the minority), and some, like grocery stores, will take either, if you are lucky.  I discovered that no one likes £50 and I have quite a few, so I went into a bank in Oxford, not exactly a backwater town, to exchange some notes for smaller denominations.  "Are they paper?"  "Yes."  "Paper is no longer legal tender."  I show the guy the £50s.  "These are OK.  They are plastic. Do you have an account with us?  "No."  "We can only change bills for account holders.  Try the Post Office."  I leave and go to another bank.  Same story, only this guy takes longer at the computer to then say NO.  By chance, I pass a Post Office.  I go in.  It is mobbed.  They do a zillion things there.  You take a number and, like at the DMV, hope it will be called before the turn of the century.  But, aha, I see a woman who seems to be answering someone's query.  When she is finished, I make a bee line over to her, tell her my story, she is sympathetic, explains that the problem with £50s is that there was a counterfeiting scheme a while back that focused on 50s, which is why no one wants to take them.  She tells me that the Post Office can't really exchange bills, but she does it on the Q.T.  I now have ten 20s. in lieu of four 50s.  It is a start.