Mayday in Oxford – something everyone should experience. You have to get up early and leave home while it’s still dark, but as you approach Oxford, you’ll be one of thousands of people silently walking towards the centre of the city. Some will have got up early, while others haven’t been to bed at all. Yesterday 18,000 people gathered on the High Street to watch and listen to the Magdalen College choristers sing in the May from Magdalen tower.
At precisely 6.00 am, 18,000 people suddenly go quiet as the choristers start to sing. And when they’re done, bands strike up a tune, everyone turns round to face away from Magdalen tower and starts walking the other way, towards Carfax, the Radcliffe Camera, Broad Street and all the lanes and alleyways that make up the heart of the medieval university town of Oxford.
All around, Morris dancers do their bidding, jugglers and acrobats entertain the crowds, pubs are open (or haven’t closed yet), ordinary people wear wreaths of flowers and flowing dresses. Everyone is happy and good natured and the revelry carries on throughout the day. The Morris dancers will eventually go home, or to village pubs to continue dancing, while college students go home to prepare for exams, business men and women grab a strong coffee and go to work.
This is only the third time in 45 years of living in Oxford that I’ve gone to May day. Maybe it’s because I know it’ll be there next year if I can’t be asked to get up early. But this year I went, and I’m so very glad I did. It was the perfect start to what was to become the first day of our long trip on England’s waterways.
Towpaths and Turnpikes 
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