Visit to the Big City

It was the day of the Hay School Fete today - American themed for the 4th July - but I'd already arranged to go into Hereford for shopping, the Magna Carta at the cathedral and the Beer Festival.

An added bonus was the Farmer's Market in the square - lots of interesting stalls. There were buskers around too, the best in my opinion being the bagpiper, in a kilt, outside All Saints.
Coming up the alleyway towards the cathedral, I found a new yarn shop called the small gallery, selling some more unusual yarns like linen, nettle and hemp alongside the usual wool. Definitely one to go back to.
The cathedral green was covered with picnicking families, and there were some young men juggling with diablos. And some mad people abseiling down the tower.

In all the years I've lived in Hay, I've never been to see the Mappa Mundi before - I suppose because it's on my doorstep and I could go any time, but over the summer the cathedral are advertising the showing of their copy of the Magna Carta too. Since the signing of the Magna Carta happened right in my re-enactment group's period, and Llewelyn the Great was actually there at Runnymede to witness it, I thought it was something I had to see.
It's so short! Habeus corpus, rule of law, setting standard weights and measures, and a clause about fish weirs that was still being referred to into the twentieth century - and it covers just one side of one sheet of parchment.

The Mappa Mundi, on the other hand, looks like it was drawn onto the skin of an entire cow, with lots of little pictures including the standard "Here Be Dragons" that everyone thinks of when they think of ancient maps.
They also had the Saxon sword on display from the dig that preceded the building of the Mappa Mundi Building. I actually met the man who discovered that - I knew the archaeologists at the time, and even got invited to the end of dig party (mostly I remember chilling out around a bonfire, and a sheepdog. At eight o'clock in the evening, the sheepdog was desperately trying to get anyone to throw his stick. At two o'clock in the morning - he was still at it, without stopping once all evening!). I do remember that, at the time, the archaeologists were really happy to find anything that wasn't a human bone! The dig took place right over a charnel pit where the remains of hundreds of people were buried.

And so to the Rowing Club. Whereas last year the signs for the Beer Festival were small and inadequate, this year they were non-existant. Luckily I knew the way. The weather was better than last year (which wasn't hard!) but there was no entertainment while I was there. The beer, however, was excellent. My favourite of the day was Alchemist's Ale from Pictish Brewery - which, despite the name, is brewed in Rochdale, Lancashire!