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Mission Visits the UK - England & Wales, May 2013
Chapter 11th - Gareth 3
Chapter 11th: Speaking of what happened on Thursday morning and afternoon. Of Mission's computer power cable; Heading to Hereford and wandering about there; A not-secret meeting about potentially secret things; Seeing the Mappa Mundi and largest chained library in the UK; Taking lunch at a 'haunted' inn and Our visit to the Big Pit (No, not Mission's stomach, an old Welsh mine.)
Henry Morgan (the cat) Sitting Outside
Gareth's Kitchen Window
I awoke with greater concern about my lack of a laptop power cord this morning. I didn't have a working cell phone, so the computer was my primary way for communicating with Lee, whom I wanted to meet with the day before I left. I explained the problem to Gareth, who called Portmeirion. They said they hadn't cleaned the room yet, but they would check for it when they did so later that morning. If they had it, they would send it to Torquay – my next destination. Gareth suggested we pick a UK cable in Herefordshire later today, just in case Portmeirion didn't find the cable.
With that settled, Gareth made a splendid breakfast, after which we headed off. Gareth explained the plan in his usual crisp style. He pointed towards the distance. "You see those mountains?" I said I did. "Those are the Black Mountains.
Photo: M.F. Jordan
Someone Else's Photo of the Black Mountains of Wales
We'll be going 'round them today, first to Hereford, where I've got to meet with some men about an upcoming business trip, then to see the Mappa Mundi, the oldest map in the world, then on to the Skirrid Inn for lunch and then the Big Pit. (Gareth could easily write the introductions to my chapters. In fact, he basically just did.)
Off we went. If yesterday's roller coaster ride had been worth the price of admission, today's proved that I hadn't really seen anything yet. Apparently their idea of back-roads in Wales are equivalent to our idea of single track lanes. If I you've ever been to the UK and wondered why the cars are so small, I now know why. These narrow by-ways I am describing are two lane roads! (Well, sort of. When you meet an oncoming car, you each have the tacit understanding that you must get right up against the hedges that seem to line every minor road in Wales and crawl by, possibly tucking in your side mirror and maybe taking a bit of the hedge with you as a souvenir for good measure. OK, I'm kidding. A bit. I think.
Hereford - Third City Street Scape in a Series
Hereford proved to be quite a large town. Gareth told me the number of people who lived there (which I have since forgotten) and it was a far more than lived in the small villages around him. He also explained a bit about how they went about deciding what was a town and what a village and so on. Actually he explained this to me bits at a time, here and there which naturally means it's a confused jumble in my head. But I do recall that a village had a church and a borough did not. He also revealed that his zip code included three buildings including him, his neighbor and another place. Very precise, these zip codes.
We first
My Parking Stub Collection
stopped along the way at a sort of technology shop to get a power cord for my computer. This turned out to be unnecessary because Gareth later received a call from Portmeirion telling us they had found the cable and were shipping it to Torquay at no charge. (It is really such a lovely place in so many ways.)
Arriving in the downtown, Gareth pulled into a parking lot and got a ticket. (I have a collection of these tickets from own car parking experiences in the UK. Had I gotten the ones people had purchased while I was with them, I'd have had at least a dozen of them.)
Hereford's Market Hall/Butter Market (I think.)
Then we walked through a large, outdoor market area and into an indoor market that was called Market Hall, but which I believe used to be called the Butter Market. If I am remembering that right, it came from a plaque in the sidewalk which also told me that the place had originally started business in 1810. It was an eclectic mix of little stands within a high roofed building which included groceries, clothing shops, small electronics and so forth.
Continuing back into the open air market, we finally wound up at a serious looking building on which I don't recall a sign. This confused me a bit because I thought we were going to a coffee shop. Gareth had said about meeting Sion (pronounced Shaun, or Sean or Shawn or possibly SO:n) for coffee in town, making me think this. (I can't tell you Sion's last name. Not because it's a secret, which it may be, but because I didn't write it down when Gareth mentioned it to me.)
This was an office for a company which supplied training and military assistance to Gareth's company. "All the guys you
Hereford West Cornwall Pastry Shop - Another
Lame Attempt to Tie This Journal to Piracy
will meet are former SAS," Gareth had assured me earlier, "but you'll be amazed when you see them. They just look like regular guys."
Inside the nondescript building we were greeted by two girls at desks who knew Gareth instantly. They bantered a bit about Gareth going hunting with Sion last weekend, with 
That's a Lot of Bull. Kind of Like Me Pretending
This is Relevant to the Surrounding Text.
everyone agreeing that they would not admit to Sion that he was a good shot or else his head would be "this big."
Sion emerged as if on cue from a nondescript white door, greeted Gareth cheerfully and led us to the back where there was... a coffee room! So we really were going for coffee, just not in the way I had originally thought.
Two other guys joined us and although Gareth may have thought they looked "like regular guys" they had the bearing and fitness of military men. They conducted the meeting with precision and efficiency. (Unlike most of the meetings I've been to which are conducted with dithering and inefficiency.) This meeting was all about training three men who were going to the Middle East on how they should behave and what they could expect when they got there and so forth.
Following the meeting,
The Cathedral. 'What is that ray coming from it?' you ask.
Lightning... fire... power of God or something. (UR:61%)
we were off to see the oldest known map in the country – the Mappa Mundi. This was in Hereford Cathedral located in Hereford (which is convenient, given the name of the Cathedral). On the way, Gareth took a photo of me with a large statue of a Bull that had recently been unveiled in town, which you see above. This is lucky because I was afraid to take any photos at the meeting, although Gareth assured me there was nothing top hush about the meeting. (He didn't say that, I just stuck in there as yet another Avengers reference.) So now you can enjoy that photo, although it is fairly irrelevant in the scheme of things. (But then, that's what I do best.)
There were actually two things of interest in the church – the map and the largest chained library in the United Kingdom. There were a number of displays leading up to the map including one that showed the map translated from the original Latin into English.
Gareth's Signed Mappa Mundi Mermaid
I'd post a photo I took of it, but photos were specifically forbidden and I didn't want to create an international incident by trying to get one. (Fortunately, as you see below, you can find them on the web using an image search and swipe... i mean, 'borrow' for educational purposes... other people's photos. (Hey, they took pictures when they shouldn't have, I don't feel too bad... er, borrowing... them. Gareth made a rubbing of a mermaid from the Mappa at one of the activity stations for me. It was so good, I had him sign it. (I plan to auction it on eBay.)
After a dozen or so stations, we were at the doors to the room with the 700 year old map. They were large wooden things that silently and slowly opened when you got near them. It was just like the moment when veils of
Photo: Borrowed
The Mappa Mundi Room Taken By Someone Intrepid
spiderwebs parted in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, only no one's head came tumbling out from them. At least not when we were there, it didn't. (Although that would have made the experience even more memorable.)
The map was behind glass. It was printed on a cow hide and you could clearly make out the symbols written on it over 700 years ago. The Middle East dominated most of it, with other, apparently less important countries (like England, Scotland and China) occupying spaces around the edge.
Gareth noted that America wasn't on there at all. "Your country didn't exist yet," he noted with a laugh. "Actually, you just can't see it – it's on the back," I assured him.
Some Scottish tourists which we had chatted with briefly in the exhibits leading to the map tried to reassure me. "Don’t worry. They may add you in another 700 years." Gareth thought this was tremendously funny.
 Photo: Don't Ask The Mappa Mundi Display Leading Up to The Room |
 Photo: Won't Tell The Mappa Mundi Auto Doors |
 Photo: Wiki Commons The Mappa Mundi Itself |
Photo: The Web
The End of the Chained Library Book Shelves
We then entered another set of large wood doors at the back of the Mappa Mundi room which did not open automatically (suggesting this was not as important as the Mappa, I suppose.) Inside was the chained library. Back before the printing press was invented, books were incredibly valuable, so rather than run the risk of them being stolen, they were chained up to long metal bars which were locked at the ends. All the books were set on shelves above an attached table, with the pages of the books facing out and binding to the back. The chains were long enough to allow the books to be taken down and placed on the shelf in front of them for perusal, as you see here.
At the end of each book shelf was a listing of the books included in it. Trying vainly to find some connection to pirate surgery, I looked for medical books, but didn't find any. I told Gareth what I was doing, so he
asked one of the museum attendants if there
The Bookbinder, from Etwas für alle. (1699)
were any. The attendant didn't know, but suggested I call the head librarian on the phone. This seemed like an awful lot of trouble, but the attendant was intrigued now, so he called them and handed me the phone. I guess I was going to be asking about this after all!
The girl on the other end didn't know, but she asked someone else, who came to the phone. She told me there were none in the chained section, but if I looked on the wall in front of me (which I did) there were some Herbariums. (These contain, shockingly, descriptions of herbs and other medicinals.) She told me the names and authors, but the point seemed sort of moot to me by then. Still, I explained to the helpful attendant what I had learned and we all mused on this for a bit.
I also learned a bit about bookmaking here from a display they had. Bookmaking is something that intrigues me because the availability of books from the golden age of piracy is crucial to my research.
Someone at the Pyracy Pub had told me that when you bought a book during the Golden Age of Piracy period,
Hereford Cathedral Main Area
you bought the pages which you then took to a binder who put a cover on them that matched your library. The museum display suggested that this was true up until the 16th century, and didn't explain how it was done after that. So I guess I still don't really know. You know, forget I even brought it up
We also wandered about the Hereford Cathedral after leaving the Mappa Mundi/Chained Library display. The cathedral was built in 1079 and really contained nothing of note to Journal readers. However, I shot several photos of it anyhow.
What can I say? I was frustrated after being thwarted from taking photos in the Mappa Mundi area and, more particularly, the Chained Library - which particularly fascinated me because I'm an avid, if amateur, writer and reader. So I had all this pent-up photography desire in me and I had to release it or my head might explode. So here are a series of photos of the Cathedral, which looks quite Gothic for some reason. (I can't imagine why.)
 A Gated Vestry in Hereford Cathedral |
 Tomb of the Unknown Church Father |
 Another, Creepier View of the Central Church |
From
The Front of the Skirrid Mountain Inn
there we headed for the Skirrid Mountain Inn for lunch. Legend has it that the mountain in whose shadow the Inn sits split into two mountains when Jesus Christ was crucified. Now, I don't want to be skeptical, but who was at Skirrid Mountain when this happened to verify it? And how did they know that a Jewish religious man had died thousands of miles away at the instant the mountain split? (Perhaps I am over thinking it.)
The interesting feature about this Inn was that they used to hold trials here and then hang the tried man in the stairwell 
Skirrid Mountain Inn Sign Depicting
Lightning Striking the Mountain
of the Inn. (Well, they hung him if he was guilty. At least I hope that's the way they did it.)
Like many places in England, this was an ancient, long-going concern, with records suggesting it was open for trade as far back as 1110. In keeping with the jolly hanging theme, the menu boards all had ropes and nooses on them, which I desperately wish I had photographed for you. (But I didn't.) Gareth and I sat along the back of the pub and flipped through some of the Inn's guest books, many of which reported ghostly sightings. Although I didn't copy any of them, several were quite humorous.
While here, I took some of the absolute worst photos of my entire visit in the UK. I'd blame the ghosts of people who were hung in this place if I believed in ghosts. Unfortunately, I have so few photos from Thursday, that you have to have some of them thrust in here. (If you think these are bad, you should see the ones I didn't post.)
 The Inn's Fireplace (Dirty? Imagine How You'd Look if You Were Almost 1000!) |
 Gareth Admires the Hanging Rope. The 'Orb' is sunlight. (I Don't Want to Hear It.) |
 A View of the Hanging Stairwell Looking Up. Creepy, right? |
The Big Pit with the Town of Blaenavon in the Background
The last visit in our plan was the Big Pit. The Big Pit was not the end result of James meeting the Giant Peach, but an old coal mine 300 feet beneath the ground. (Author's note: That's two dumb jokes about the Big Pit name in one Journal! You're certainly getting your money's worth. Or something.) It is considered a worldwide heritage site, which is apparently quite impressive to those who know what that means.
Here again, no cameras were allowed, so I didn't get any photos of the pit itself. In fact, before going down, everyone was required to remove everything with a battery in it and leave it topside including watches, cameras and so forth. The reason they gave for this was that this was considered a working mine and those were the rules.
MIssion and Our Big Pit Tour Guide
(While I complied, I am always a bit suspicious that the real reason is so they can sell coffee table books featuring images of all the things you can't photograph. Perhaps I am just being
cynical.)
It was a fascinating trip, though, involving lots of stooping to get below low points in the ceiling and (in my case anyhow) banging my head on low slung support beams and whatnot. It's a good thing they issued hard hats at the beginning of the tour, particularly in my case. At one point, I managed to smack something hard enough that my little miner's light fell off and Gareth had to put it back on my helmet for me. I'd have put it on myself, but that would have meant removing the helmet for a moment and you can guess how that would have likely turned out.
I learned
A Mining Tool From a Display on the Mine Site
(This reminds me of Dr. Evil's Project Vulcan drill.)
quite a number of interesting things on this tour which could take several pages to explain and I can already see you squirming in your seats like you have to go to the bathroom and, besides, it's the last day of school on top of that. But let me give you a sample for good measure.
In the beginning of this mine's history, they had horses in the mine for hauling the little mine carts full of coal back to the shaft where the coal was brought out of the mine. The horses were stabled in the mine and kept there 50 weeks of the year. Once a year, they were brought topside for a 2 week vacation in the great outdoors. The guide explained that when the two week sabbatical was up, the smart horses would figure out they were being led back into the mine and would lie down and pretend to be sick rather than willingly go along. These horses had to be enticed with apples and sugar to get them back into the mine lift. (Say, those were smart horses. They knew how to cadge treats if nothing else.)
They
"Does that make you horny?" "Not now Austin!" (Urecognizability Rating: 11%)
(Notice how Austin Powers looks in no way like an American playing a Brit?)
had several other displays topside and we stayed looking at them until the museum closed. It was very interesting.
As we were leaving, Gareth and I agreed that that was no way we'd want to live like that. Our guide, who had actually been a miner when the coal mines were still running told us that his first job had been to go after coal while lying on a slope which water was running down. "It would come in around your neck and go out through your pant leg," he explained. For that, he got off an hour earlier than everyone else. (Nope, I wouldn't want to live like that.)
 A Big Pit Drilling Display. (The tunnels are nearly as tall as this looks.) |
 This is a Kitchen from the Museum About the Workers. I have no idea why I took this. |
 This is a Big Pit/ Blaenavon Train. I know EXACTLY why I took this. (I like trains.) |