Ledbury poetry Festival 12 th July

Today Karen and I attended a reading at the Ledbury poetry festival. It was by two women, a Brit of Nigerian  and Irish herítqge and an Aussie of Aboriginal heritage. The poetry was very powerful and evocative of the difficulties experienced as a person of  mixed race.  The British poet was Bernadine Evaristo who read from her semi autobiographical verse novel Laura. She was brilliant and is very active in promoting publication of  work by people of colour. Ali Cobby Eckermann is a survivor of the 'stolen generation' and her poetry is still filled with the anguish of her lost family and a bitterness towards white Australia. I felt quite uncomfortable actually and embarrassed that I had no knowledge of her work. Her poetry is straight to the heart. We had a lot of discussion about the issues experienced by indigenous Australians afterwards.
While enjoying a cup of tea we encountered some of Karen's Buddhist friends and got talking about the Camino and my experience. Maria a budding poet working on her first book was quite keen to hear about it. I always under estimate people's interest and worry that I am a bore but I feel encouraged to write up my trip more seriously.
Karen is involved in re-establishing a library in a renovated building at the Adhisthana Buddhist Centre so we went across to see how the  installation of the shelving was progressing and to speak with the person in charge of the library. The Centre is in an old Georgian era farmhouse and stables.  The library building won an architectural award and has a beautiful half circle roof and full height windows in two rooms. The books are sheltered in side rooms. It is going to be gorgeous when it is finished. The Centre was running a silent retreat for women over the week ahead so there were lots of women around having their last talk before silence decends!
Next was a stop at the Eastnor Castle country fair. They had massive jumping castles, lots of marquees and clay pidgeon shooting. How English! It was quite late and we decided the entrance fee was too expensive for the time left.

They run this fair over two days and also run the castle as a deer farm as well as offering camp sites. It seems all business opportunities are being explored to keep the castle viable.
We then managed to fit in a stop at a church that used to run its own ale house in the Middle Ages to raise money for the church. Very enterprising. It was a lovely black and white Elizabethan era structure. A precedence for All Saints in Hereford that has a coffe shop in the back of the church and runs services in the front half. It was a very satisfying day.

Andy and Karen were going out to a function that was connected to his work on the Housing Board so I got stuck into packing or rather unpacking my bag to lighten my load back to a backpack for tripping around Croatia. It was like putting on an old friend. I am posting excess gear home but will be sad to see my sleeping bag go. It is like a security blanket! I won't need it because we are staying in hotels and apartments-luxury for a pilgrim.

Ledbury and Logaston

This evening we have the book launch at the poetry festival in Ledbury so we are heading off early to pick up glasses and wine and get them to the Shell gallery. Andy has a meeting in another town so Karen and I will have some time to look around the shops in Ledbury and I have booked a haircut and colour because my streak has faded to pale pink! It is quite expensive at £70 but I need it.
There are quite a lot of quality shops in this town and it is fun to look but I am not really in the mood to buy anything. We need a jug to make the elderflower cordial so browse some of the op shops In the hope of picking up something useful. To my delight I find part 2 of book three of Game of Thrones so I am wrapt because I have just finished part 1 of Book three. I bought it in Santiago when I saw it and decided I had time to read and I couldn't wait till I got home to continue the series! This issue is in perfect condition and  only cost a £1.50. A bargain.
Karen and I have lunch in a cute little cafe up a lane and then make a booking for an early tea at the Horseshoe Inn opposite the gallery. It is very quaint with low ceilings and scrubbed floors.
The hairdresser is a bright young woman and gets what I want done to my hair. She hasn't  thought of doing just a streak before as most people want an all over colour. It looks great and my hair has loved being washed with real shampoo instead of soap. Nothing like a visit to the hairdresser to make you feel glamorous. We all meet up for dinner and then cross to the gallery to set up. I take charge of the drinks and nibbles while Andy mans the book sales and Karen acts as MC. The place is packed before we know it and I can't even move from the table/ bar.

  

We close the front door of the gallery so the poetry readers can be heard more clearly. There are six different readers which makes for an interesting evening. Andy sells 44 books and everyone is very happy.
Next day we are all a bit slow to move but we need to rake up the paths that have been whipper snipped in the wood to make it easier for Andy's neighbour to mow them. It is quite a large area and the day is delightfully warm so I get into my old walking gear and set to the task. From bar attendant to farm worker in one smooth move. I raked a lot of paths.

  Mole hill

 It was quite satisfying to be so physically active again. I have been a bit lazy with raspberry picking, book deliveries and sweeping the floor my most strenuous activities unless we've been for a walk.  We also have to smooth out the molehills otherwise it is very bumpy for the ride on mower. The moles in the wood  stick their noses up out of the dirt and leave little piles of dirt everywhere in the paths. I have yet to actually see a mole but I have been told they are quite small. I always thought they were large animals. Blame TheWind in the Willows children's story!
Karen's parents have come visiting and say they feel like they have got to know me through Karen's blog! It is a bit disconcerting but then we certainly feel like old friends because I've heard about them from Karen too! After my exertion and lunch I hit the couch to read but doze off. It is siesta time after all. Another delightful day in the country. It is lovely having this interlude because I have been on the move for so long and Croatia will be busy too.

Black mountain Cats paw on the Welsh border

This afternoon we went for a walk up the Cat's Paw in the Black Mountains. It isn't that far from Logaston but takes about an hour to get to because the lanes are really narrow and windy leading up to the Bulls Head pub where we intended to park the car. I found it quite scary because we kept coming face to face with cars and had to back  back into a small siding to let them pass, or they had to do that for us. I kept squeaking whenever a car came around a corner in front of us! 

 View down the lanes and this one wasn't all covered side to side with trees like a tunnel.

We had booked for dinner at this little pub so would be doing a loop. It was a beautiful walk, about eleven and a half kilometres all up. This time there were hardly any thistles, stinging nettles or blackberries. The paths were muddy because we had had rain over the last two days and the hill was bare of trees. It was so steep but the path went on an angle going up and practically straight down at the end. The views were amazing. You could see all the way to The Malvern Hills to the north and all over the Hereford county in a 360 degree arc. We saw wild ponies again and sheep but it was so quiet. Only the tweeting of birds and the light rustling of a faint breeze. It is so surprising because we always think of England as so crowded but there are lots of isolated places in fact.

 View from the hill into the valley

When we got to the pub we were the only customers for dinner but the meal was really delicious and not bangers and mash stuff but lovely interesting international food. By the time we finished we were all a bit sleepy. Fresh air, exercise, and good food does that.

 

Hereford and Ludlow 6thJuly

Today I visited the Cathedral in Hereford which has a chained library and the Mappa Mundi a famous map of the world created in medieval times. I realised I have not been thinking about England as having so much medieval history but as a more modern country.  As I travel around the county I am reminded how rich the history is and how present it is. The broken castles are a constant reminder of medieval times as well as the English civil war and the devastation which occurred during that time. We studied British history at school but I had forgotten a lot. There is so much emphasis on walled towns in Spain and other European countries you forget Britain has an equally rich history beyond London.
There is also much evidence of  Iron Age civilisation around here too.
The cathedral has a chained library, ;a librarians dream, no stolen or misplaced books! The books are individually chained to a rod that runs the length of the shelf so volumes could be taken down but not away. They also have this fascinating Mappa Mundi  a map drawn on deer skin  depicting the world which had the continents of Europe, Asia and Africa and then England identified with animals and towns etc. it was not the sort of map you would use to go places but as a tool for learning and spiritual guidance. Jerusalem was at the centre. It is so interesting to know that they knew a lot about the world at that time.  Hereford was a centre for pilgrims too  in medieval times and they have re-established a chapel for pilgrims.

The Mappa Mundi c1300.  

Chained books

 Hereford Cathedral

Ludlow has a castle and beautiful cathedral also but is renown for its Main Street which is almost unchanged and has real character. At one end is the Butter market building with a clock and at the other is the Norman gate. The town was planned and built along the lines of a Norman town.

 

There was a market on and they had great quality local products. I bought a David Austen rose, Abraham Darby which has the most devine  perfume as a thank you gift for Andy and Karen.

Karen and I walked around the castle walls because they were setting up for a concert inside.

 A view across Ludlow castle.

Logaston 2nd to 4th July

Andy has needed to do some book deliveries into Wales and  around the county. I have been accompanying he and Karen on the rounds. It has given me a good look at the countryside and also some of the villages and towns. We went into Wales to Abysthwyth on the coast. The weather turned drizzly and it was very cold by the sea; the town has a Victorian era pier that has been repaired after it was damaged during winter storms. It is a solid sort of place. The beach had black sand and was not at all inviting in the cold wind. There are the ruins of a castle on the headland which had access to the sea so if it was under siege they could get provisions by boat. 

 

All these castles and ruins reminds me of the Game of thrones series that I am reading. Karen saw some episodes  in Spain when she was staying with the AirB&B hosts and bought the series when she got back. We have been watching episodes every few nights.

This is a very nationalistic part of Wales with the Welsh flag flying everywhere. There has been a real resurgence in the Welsh language and primary schools are bilingual and  learning continued into high school. All the signs are in both languages and I became so intrigued with trying to understand and say the words I bought a little book on pronunciation. It isn't as difficult as it seems. I can almost pronounce words now. 

The countryside is much wilder and sparser in population. On the way back we came over a mountain track past lead mines and three dams that provide water for Birmingham. The three dams are  stepped down the valley below each other rather than one huge dam 

 The wild valleys with waterfalls

 The old lead minrs 

  Getting back to Herefordshire you can really see how lush and fertile the country is by contrast to this part of Wales.

That evening we went to Ivar and Susie's place for dinner. They run a successful cider company, Dunkertons Cider.. I haven't seen them since Salamanca. They have a wonderful garden and a menagerie of animals, a dog Meg who is a border collie but too white, a ginger cat and two geese. One of the geese is so old it can hardly stand and it just lies flat on the ground sometimes lije a deflated baloon! 

Susie had cooked lamb roast.which was delicious. Andy and Karen are vegetarians so I have been meatless most of the time here. Karen is a good, interesting vegetarian cook, so our meals are always delicious and I am learning to be less meat focused.  I wouldn't say I am missing meat but I did really enjoy that lamb! We had taken a bowl of raspberries fresh picked from the garden as our offering. While we picked, Karen and I were listening to a comedy show on the radio which had  us both cackling so hard. All Andy could  hear was the cackling laughter coming from deep in the raspberry bushes which was destroying the peace of the garden. There is nothing like a good belly laugh to brighten the day. They are both quiet types so I am like a whirlwind to them at times. 

The next day Karen and I went to visit the Owl sanctuary and small animals farm. They had fifty or more different owls. There were some you could stroke but one looked like a Harry Potter owl. 

     

He was huge with amazing pink eyelids and looked so haughty I was a bit nervous to touch him. There were lots of beautiful pheasants and funny chickens with feathers on their feet. When they ran they had a funny rolling movement.

  

They had lots of cute goats too. I love goats because they are so friendly and it is a hangover from reading Heidi when I was a child!

Another book delivery took me to Ledbury where they are  having a poetry festival and Logaston Press is launching a new book called Poems and paintings of the Malvern Hills at a gallery there next Wednesday.  Today we needed to deliver more books and especially the poetry book so the shops can start selling them. Ledbury turned out to be quite a charming place with some unique lanes. One of the lanes has been grafittiied with a stencil of the local poet John Mansfield  in the style of Banksi. Perhaps a guerrilla poet was the artist?

 Ledbury street scape.

Driving around I am conscious of so many names we take for granted in Melbourne are from here and even from Heredfordshire in particular. Malvern Hills were renowned for the 'healing' springs and it became a spa town. They are very pretty too with lovely trees and spectacular views. There is the Elgar route through the town also. I keep wanting to find out about everything and Andy and Karen are great fonts of information from publishing so many books about the history of the county.

Kilpeck walk 30th June

Today we need to deliver books to the Kilpeck church warden. Their church is historically significant as it is one of the most perfectly preserved Norman village churches in England and dates from 1134. Logaston Press (Andy and Karen's business) has published a book on the history and architecture of this church which is sold through the church, amongst other places.

Getting to join them on these expeditions means I get to see a wide variety of towns in Herefordshire and meet lots of locals. It gives me a great insight into the county. We are combining this delivery with a walk in the area. The Kilpeck walk is another of the walks in the book soon to be published and the directions need to be checked as Andy walked it in winter. 

We start at a little hamlet and walk up a steady hill that meets a common. The views are wonderful back to the Welsh border. 

The country is such a colourful patchwork of fields bordered by woods or hedgerows and little farmhouses or hamlets dotted here and there. While admiring the view a woman and her dog come from the common and she has a Bearded Collie just like my dear Cassie. I get quite a lump in my throat. He is called Sam and is 14 years old.

 As we turn into the common and proceed up the hill the bracken has obscured  the remains of an Iron Age village which was visible in winter. There are wild ponies,mainly white, grazing calmly and are not concerned by us walking through them. 

The top of the hill gives a 360 degree view of all of Herefordshire. The day is warm and hazy so the photos don't really do it justice but you can see it is a rural county first and foremost.  We plunge down the hill into woods and later across fields where startled pheasants fly out of the grass giving me a fright. 

We cross a few stiles which we rarely have in Australia. You need to be pretty flexible and fit to get your leg over some of these stiles as they are quite high and not always steady.

We eventually pass some charming properties and through fields of sheep with black faces.  The walk leads us down to a river and then back up the fields to where we began. A good 11kilometres. Walking over the grass was quite tiring.  While the grass is soft underfoot it drags at your legs.

  

We then go to deliver our books and visit the Kilpeck church. It has these amazing corbels (supports just under the roof line a bit like gargoyles but not just decorative) that are carved into all sorts of figures, animals, people, monsters. There is one of a woman pulling her vagina open! The sculptures are remarkably well preserved and are inspired by the Bestiary and other parts of Europe and the Mediterranean. They are pretty weird really and look more pagan than religious to me.

The church is very simple inside with the curved arches and hardly any stained glass. There is a wall nearby that is the remains of an outpost castle with moat but it was destroyed during the English civil war.  

  

Next we are off to Hereford the largest town in the county and is the commercial hub. I am starting to get used to the hedgerows now. They made me dizzy when I first came here and I felt like I needed blinkers like a horse! 

We pop into All Saints a church which has services one end and runs a cafe at the opposite end. The cafe has been built like a module that can be removed if the church was to return to full size.  We are all starving after our walk and I need to change from walking gear to city clothes. Karen and Andy's nephew is playing Oberon in a primary school production of A Midsummer Night's Dream which we are going to attend. The local theatre has a Shakespeare program for primary school children to introduce them to his writing. The standard of the productions( three schools performed) was excellent and the kids were impressive in dealing with the language and enjoying the stories.  

Dinner in a new Mexican restaurant followed and then home. I find England so expensive even compared with Australia. My money just disappears!

My first English walk

 Karen and Andy are publishing a book on walks in Herefordshire and need to check the directions of a walk around Lingen village. After a lazy breakfast we drive to the start of the walk. The hedgerows are so tall and make the roads so narrow that you can't see ahead very far and need to be careful about oncoming traffic.  Sometimes we had to stop and back into a gate entrance to let other cars past. The village of Lingen is quite tiny with only a pub and church and a few houses clustered together. It is a shock to realise that many of these hamlets have such limited services but there is a school and shops in a larger town nearby. Herefordshire is primarily rural and in many ways offers great opportunities for a quiet almost secluded life. In Australian terms it isn't too far from major centres but people here think 12 miles is a long way to travel!

The walk is through public footpaths that go through woods, alongside streams, across meadows with sheep, past farms with sheep and pigs. It has some good climbs with wonderful views. 

The countryside is so neat and picturesque. The warm weather and rain has caused a surge in growth and the path is overgrown in many places. I struggle with my friend the blackberries and nettles that sting my arms, as well as thistles to prick and long grass to trip over. The lushness is such a contrast to Spain and home. The pasture is so rich and succulent. This benign countryside is full of plants trying to scratch and sting me. Not so benign at all. Despite these small trials it was a beautiful walk. Towards the end we passed through a farm where the farm dog was so friendly and then rushed up to the pig pens with us wanting to play with the pigs. It was quite funny watching her jump and lie flat and jump up when the pigs stood up.

Eventually after two and a half hours we return to the village and take refreshment at the pub. It was a good walk and it felt great to be out in nature again. 

When we returned home we got stuck into the raspberry picking and now black and red currants are ripening as well. Picking raspberries is a daily task during the season and there are so many that we are filling two large containers every day. For me it is luxury to have so many. They are delicious. Andy and Karen's home is very quaint with a rambling garden, a field for a few sheep and another field where they have planted a huge number of trees to start their own wood.