After breakfast we headed to Hereford to see the Cathedral, Mappa Mundi and chained library. The car park we chose wasn’t optimal  and as we stepped out of the car it started to rain lightly. Mr C was striding out leaving mum and I to catch up with him every now and then when he briefly stopped. I found out that my shower proof coat was not  up to the more persistent rain that developed as we were walking. Due to the quick pace there was no opportunity for me to rummage in my bag to get my umbrella out. By the time we arrived at the Cathedral I was absolutely soaked and my hair felt terrible clinging to my head.

The Cathedral has a special feel and I had forgotten how wonderful some of the stained glass windows are. I remembered to get my pilgrimage passport stamped and was presented with a lovely red stamp rather than the black and white footprint stickers I had received from other Cathedrals. When we had finished exploring the Cathedral it wasn’t quite lunch time so we stepped out into Hereford and visited the nearby Hereford Museum and Art Gallery. It had two interesting temporary exhibitions. The first was biographic display of Alfred Watkins who wrote the controversial book on Ley Lines ‘The Old Straight Track’. The second exhibition was entitled ‘Round the Year From Stonewall Hill. A journey in Time and Space’ featuring a 12 month panorama of paintings by Mary Rennell and a modern day response to her paintings by Richard Gilbert. Also featured are photographs by Brian Griffiths. I enjoyed the two individual exhibitions but found the exploration of Mary Rendell’s paintings more fulfilling because several artists portrayed the same landscape viewpoints from different perspectives.

Afterwards I persuaded Mr C that we should go back to the Cathedral for lunch. I had checked out the café options as we left the Cathedral and knew that there was something for all of us to enjoy. I chose a turkey bap with salad and mayo.

Amply replete, we strolled back through town in the direction of the car and along the way I spotted Boots where I made a detour to purchase a hairbrush. I hadn’t realised mum had followed me in rather than staying with Mr C. As I was leaving Boots with my purchase mum caught up with me all flustered because she couldn’t find Mr C. He wasn’t where she left him. I used my emergency purchase to sort my hair out (I felt so much) better and then I focused on the task of figuring out where Mr C had decided to hide himself in plain view, probably waving at us as we had our backs to him and wondering why we couldn’t see him…

All reunited we made our way to the car stopping off at Waterstones along the way. I couldn’t find a book I was looking for but I spotted ‘Walking the Great North Line: From Stonehenge to Lindisfarne to Discover the Mysteries of Our Ancient Past’. It had Stonehenge, Lindisfarne and walking all in one book so I just had to add it to my book collection. It was only later as I was browsing through it that I noticed early in the book it makes reference to Alfred Watkins. A strange coincidence.

Back at the car, we drove to the Hop Pocket shopping outlet where I enjoyed a lovely cake in the café and purchased a cardi. I was in a bit of a dilemma between two colour shades and which would match the outfits I had in mind. Eventually I plumped. Later I found it matched the skirt I had with me so my memory was correct. I also saw some lovely heart mats but they were slightly imperfect and the last  ones so I chose to leave them as there was no discount forthcoming.

Our evening meal was at a local pub, The Nags Head, as recommended by the proprietress of the Cotford Hotel. I chose Fish and Chips followed by Lemon Sorbet, both were delicious. We returned to the hotel for a nightcap in the residents lounge which for the first time had other people sitting there. It was nice to chat with others for a change.