Today’s drive from Llangollen was largely on secondary roads and Mary opted to drive. Our only deadline was an agreement to meet Pearl, the lady from whom we were renting the Chipping Campden apartment, at the apartment at 4:00pm. Even with an hour or so spent sightseeing at Hereford Cathedral we judged we could make this journey easily. Our reason for deviating somewhat to Hereford was to view the Mappa Mundi (Map of the World) on display in the Cathedral.
All went well and we drove into the centre of Hereford, found a parking area and had “Paid and Displayed” (bought a ticket to park, and displayed it on the dashboard of the car) by 11:50am, allowing us to proceed on foot for the Cathedral, a few minutes away.
The Mappa Mundi is an artwork depicting the world as known to the artist, created about AD1300 on a single calf skin, which material was the precursor to paper in Britain and Europe.
As an aid to navigation it would have been of little use, but it does show us that its maker did have some knowledge of the world and the general relationships between locations. No mention of the southern hemisphere, of course, nor of North America or indeed, China. Sri Lanka was specifically located right on the fringe.
Our curiosity satisfied, we contributed a little more to Hereford Cathedral’s coffers by consuming coffee and scones in the café which is included under the same roof. Then we left town, heading east.
Before reaching Hereford I noticed that the 3G signal, which we were using while travelling to help navigate, was non-existent in places. Up until now it was only in the remotest parts of Scotland that we hadn’t been able to get a 3G signal. However, the closer we got to the Cotswolds the worse the situation became and as we rolled into beautiful Chipping Campden an hour ahead of deadline I noticed that we had no 3G signal at all. On arrival I confirmed with some locals that the area was a dead zone as far as mobile Internet access was concerned which means that all smart phones and similar devices were of limited use. I find this puzzling in such a small country with such a large population. The backup is, of course, to use Wi-Fi, which is available free at many public gathering places, chiefly pubs. But for us this now means getting Internet access inside pubs and restaurants instead of at all times in our accommodation. Fortunately the Volunteer Inn pub (with free and fast Wi-Fi) is only a few paces away and sipping a beer or cider while checking emails etc is not too unpleasant. Having said that, at the Volunteer Inn there’s usually a soccer-mad crowd following the game on the massive flat screen TV situated directly above me. The corner I use is of course the only one from which the match can’t be seen so it’s unoccupied except by me. Every time I look up I feel as if I’m on centre stage.
Anyway, aside from the lack of Wi-Fi, we’re delighted with our cosy apartment, which is well located close to the village centre and has a designated off street parking space.
Saturday’s a day of getting to know our way around the village and settling in. Because of the limitations on Internet access, blog updates may be a little less frequent while we’re here but we’ll do our best, despite the soccer fans.
Location:Chipping Campden,United Kingdom
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