Itinerary

• 10:45am  Meet at the American Airlines ticketing area at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. 

• Depart CLE 12:53pm on American Airlines flight 4602, arrive JFK 14:49, and depart JFK 18:05 on American Airlines flight 0100.

• Arrive LHR 6.20am

• Take bus from LHR to Gloucester Green, take taxis from Gloucester Green to Keble College, drop luggage off, and if we’re lucky, have a chance to freshen up (but don’t plan on it!)

• Walking tour of Oxford, Part I: plan to eat lunch or an early dinner at an Inklingy pub, and be ready to share a poem or favorite passage at Wadham College, Holywell Cemetery, or anywhere the Muse strikes you.

• Mass options: 6pm at Blackfriars Hall or 6pm (in Latin) at the Oxford Oratory

• Recommended Mass: 10.00am at the Oxford Oratory

• Catch up on sleep, explore on your own, etc.

• 12.30pm Meet outside the White Horse pub (on the north side of Broad Street, across from the Sheldonian Theatre) for Part II of our walking tour of Oxford

-- Click here for an excerpt from Lewis's Surprised by Joy

• 3.05pm Meet outside the main entrance of Christ Church College (on St. Aldate’s Street) and travel by taxi to the Catholic Parish Church of SS Gregory & Augustine for a 3.30pm lecture by Dr. Michael Tomko on "Tolkien and the Inklings' Teaching Charism."

• 9.30am Meet in the Keble College quad and walk to Magdalen Bridge Boathouse for 10.00am punting, Mass & picnic (food provided by St. Anne’s-on-the-Hill)

• 1.30pm visit Magdalen College

-- Jack

  -- The Inklings: Firor-of-the Hams (don't miss the handwritten note on p. 3)

-- Collected Letters of C. S. Lewis

-- "Mythopoeia"

• 6.55pm Meet outside Carfax Tower to walk to the Oxford Castle for a 7.30pm performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream

• N.B. Food is available at the Oxford Castle, but, as one would expect at such a venue, it’s overpriced. If you’re mindful of your budget, eating dinner beforehand is a wise choice. 

• Recommended Mass: 10.00am at the Oxford Oratory

• 1.00pm Meet at University Church of St. Mary the Virgin (outside the Vaults & Garden Cafe) and take a bus to Headington for a visit to the The Kilns. [Bus details: Matt will have passes for everyone. We'll get on the 9 City bus at 1.12pm at the Queens Lane stop (K5) and take it all the way to Kiln Lane.]

• 3.00/3.15pm Lecture by Fr. Michael Ward titled "The Abolition of Man - A Religious Work?"

• 4.30pm Depart The Kilns for a visit to Holy Trinity Church and a brief tour of some C. S. Lewis sites in Headington. 

• N.B. There are two principal options for getting back to Keble College from Headington: walking via Cuckoo Lane or taking the bus.
  The walking route is a little more than three miles. If you choose this option, be sure to stop by 76 Sandfield Road, where the Tolkiens lived from 1953 to 1968. Also note that there is a vigil Mass at 6.30 at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church (another place where the Tolkiens worshipped, and just a third of a mile from the house at 115 Headley Way).
  If you prefer to ride, take the #8 bus from Headington Shops (stop HS2, about 50 yards west of the London Road & Windmill Road intersection) to High Street (Stop L3, right before Cornmarket Street).

• There are no official activities today; if you want to spend a night in London, this is your chance! If you’re sticking around in Oxford, you are welcome to join Matt in his quest to find a world-class, authentic, traditional English-style Sunday roast. 

• Mass options: 9.30am Family Mass at Blackfriars Hall; or 8.00am, 9.30am, 11.00am (Latin), or 6.30pm at the Oxford Oratory

• N.B. There will not be time on Monday morning to eat breakfast in the Keble dining hall. There may be time to purchase food from a small market near the bus stop where we’ll board our tour bus in London, but if it’s important to you to have breakfast, you are encouraged to purchase something today that you can bring with you tomorrow. 

• 7.00am Meet in the Keble College quad and take taxis to the Oxford Railway Station for the 7.32 train to Paddington Station

• Recommended Mass: 12.30pm at Westminster Cathedral, a ten-to-fifteen-minute walk from Westminster Abbey, where we’ve booked a two-hour (Matt requested 105 minutes) tour beginning at 10.30.
  N.B. A day-long, hop-on, hop-off bus tour and the guided tour of Westminster Abbey are included in the cost of the trip. If you want to visit any other sites that charge an admission fee or do an additional two-hour London Walks tour (they’re excellent!), please note that you are responsible for making arrangements. London is, of course, full of extraordinary sites. Two that are particularly worthy of your consideration are the Tower of London and the

Churchill War Rooms.

Food is easy to find in London, though if you’re on a tight budget you should plan carefully. You’re welcome to join Matt for dinner at Villa Rosa, an Italian restaurant near Paddington Station (9 Craven Road); it’s not as inexpensive as buying groceries, but it is very reasonably priced. Food purchased from vendors near touristy locations is as pricey as you’d expect.

• Your train ticket will enable you to use the London Underground, so you’re not bound by the Big Bus Tours route or schedule, and it’s also an “open return” ticket – you can take any train back to Oxford from Paddington Station on 18 July. The last train of the day leaves the station at 10.32pm. Of course, if you’re not on the same train to Oxford as Matt, you’re on your own to get from the Oxford Railway Station back to Keble College 

• Mass options: 7.30am, 10.00am, 6.00pm at the Oxford Oratory; et alia

• No official activities today; stay hydrated and try to stay cool!

• Recommended Mass: 7.30am at the Oxford Oratory

• N.B. Before visiting the Bodleian, read p. 119 of Humphrey Carpenter’s The Inklings.

• 9.05am Meet at the entrance of the Bodleian Library for our 9.15 tour– it’s between the Bridge of Sighs and the Radcliffe Camera

• 2.55pm Meet at Merton College for our 3pm tour 

• 5.50pm Meet at the main entrance of Christ Church College for Evensong – it’s on St. Aldate’s, a little south of the High Street. 

• N.B. Be sure to bring water, and maybe some food – it’s a long walk today.

• 8:45am Meet in the Keble College quad to walk to the George Street A3 bus stop; we’re taking the 9.13 bus to Burford (Witney)

• Burford AONB (6.5-mile hike through the Cotswolds)

• Mass to be celebrated by one or more priests of the Diocese of Cleveland during the hike

• We’ll aim to depart Burford on the 233 bus at 4:34pm (16.34). If you want to stay later, it shouldn’t be a problem; there are regular buses from Burford to Witney until 7.34pm. If you’re traveling without Matt, note that you’ll take the 233 bus toward Woodstock to Witney, then switch to the S1 bus and take it to Oxford. 

• N.B. Your options for lunch today are the Trout (which is not inexpensive!) or a picnic along the Thames (which requires some planning: you’ll need to get to Tesco or the market early enough to pick up some food before we leave for Wolvercote… or stow away some items from breakfast).

• Recommended Mass: 10.00am at the Oxford Oratory

• 10.40am Meet at the Keble Road bus stop and take the #2 or #2A bus to Cutteslowe Five Mile Drive
  N.B. This bus stop is quite close to the Oratory, and buses depart from this stop every ten minutes.

• Visit Tolkien’s grave at Wolvercote Cemetery

• Long (1.5-mile) walk to the Trout Inn and longer (3-mile) walk along the Thames back to Oxford. Note that the group may split at this point depending on individuals’ lunch preferences. Note as well that there’s a pub called the Perch about halfway between the Trout and Oxford. The Inklings would have sometimes visited it, and even if they hadn’t it would be well worth a stop. Opportunities abound today for readings of favorite poems and passages, and/or discussion of the novels we’ve read. 

• 7.40am Meet in the Keble College quad with your bags packed and take taxis to Gloucester Green; we want to be on the bus departing for LHR at 8.00am 

• Depart LHR at 12.15pm on American Airlines flight 0733, arrive CLT at 4:05pm, depart CLT at 6:52pm on American Airlines flight 1043, arrive CLE at 8:18pm Eastern