Hereford

The drive from St. Ives to Hereford, miles and miles away, started off fine. We made a short detour and stop to see the Godrevy lighthouse not very far into the day. Not long after that side trip, we attended an impromptu party on the motorway. A vehicle fire on the eastbound motorway — our side of it, wouldn’t you know — stopped traffic. We got out of the car, enjoyed talking to other travelers, watched motorcycles go by between the cars without trouble, and in general groused to anyone who would listen.

When that finally cleared up, we were somewhere in the middle of a solid mass of cars moving on east, then up the coast headed for Wales. Entry into Wales was via one of those engineering marvels that can be quite beautiful to see and a terror to drive over. There we were driving on the “other” side of the road, in the middle of the pack but in the outside lane, tootling along several hundred feet above the water. Maybe a mile up, who knows. Luck must have been with us, because we came to earth safely in Wales, drove a bit, then re-entered England to make it to Hereford. Deo gratia.

We had left St. Ives at 9:30 in the morning on what we thought would be an easy drive, but straggled into the Hedley Lodge, on the grounds of Belmont Abbey, at 6:00 PM. It’s a good thing we were in a peaceful location, because our nerves probably wouldn’t have been able to take a night in a happening city center!

In spite of the troubling drive, our stay in Hereford coincided with the Three Choirs Festival, and that really made up for all the tension we felt when we got there. We spent the next morning touring the Chained Library and walking around the town a bit. We were able to sit in on a rehearsal for the concert, though we didn’t have tickets for the concert itself. We were able to attend Evensong that afternoon, however, so we got our English Choral Music fix in grand style.

When we left Hereford, we struck out for a final nights in England, a two-night stay in the Chester Guest House.