Hereford

After a while, touring gets a bit like the series "Friends" - places become "The One Where Alice Got A Really Bad Baked Potato" or "The One Where Amy Insulted The Irish Nation In Tesco". My only memory of Hereford from 2008 is it being "The One Where Our House Buyer Tried To Rip Us Off By £8,000", so it's very nice to rediscover this lovely cathedral town. Next to the cathedralitself,as if to reinforce the difference between here and Hudders, is a bronze of the quintessential Herefordian Elgar, looking up at the building whilst leaning on a rather preposterous bicycle. Inside are arty delights by John Piper and the legendary Mappa Mundi, which I nearly reject in favour of TK Maxx because I hear a rumour it's onlya few inches round and so dimly lit as to be invisible. It's not, and apart from being beautiful it's the largest mediaeval map to survive from Middle Ages. Well, it is since the RAF destroyed its only serious competition when they bombed Bremen in WWII.
It's all becoming rather idyllic. And then suddenly, Hereford becomes memorable for reasons unconnected with cathedrals, maps or gazundering...